TUESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2003 __

          PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
                                ____

The Council met at 14:02.

The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

 ELECTION OF ROTATING DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF
                              PROVINCES

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Let us remember those who lost their lives on Remembrance Day, 11 November.

Hon members, on our own behalf, that of the House and, I am sure, our colleagues from the provinces, we welcome the President of the Republic of South Africa to this House. We also welcome the delegations from the provinces.

The Chairperson of the NCOP called for nominations.

Ms Beauty Nomvuzo Dlulane, seconded by Mr Mfuniselwa John Bhengu, nominated Reverend Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile for election as Rotating Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Are there any further nominations? Hon members, this, after all, is an election. You are free to nominate further. Are there any further nominations?

HON MEMBERS: None.

The Returning Officer reported to the Chairperson that the nomination paper had been properly completed.

There being no further nominations, the Chairperson declared Reverend Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile duly elected Rotating Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: On behalf of all delegates here present, I congratulate Rev Stofile on having been elected as the second Rotating Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in terms of section 64 (3) of the Constitution. Hon Stofile, you may now address the House.

The ROTATING DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Rev M A Stofile): Chairperson, hon President of the Republic of South Africa, esteemed delegates and colleagues, the NCOP was designed to be a platform for the provincial governments and their people to have a way of participating in the putting up of the structures of governance and to entrench democracy in our provinces. It was also designed to afford us with an opportunity to deepen our democracy and craft new programmes for our transformation agenda. It is a platform where we are also afforded the opportunity to oversee the extent to which quality delivery takes place in our communities. With the advent of developmental local government structures in 2000, the NCOP also afforded those spheres of governance the same opportunities. It became the grindstone for the sharpening of that cutting edge of service delivery, which is local government institutions.

It is therefore a humbling honour to be elected as part of that team which must pilot and chart the way for this very august institution. I hope that my participation will make a valuable contribution. I hope not to be the weakest link in the delivery chain. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Mr M C J van Schalkwyk): Chairperson, as the vacating office-bearer, I would like to offer my grateful thanks to the Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson and all officials with whom I have worked for the last year. With our current approach and emphasis on co- operative and integrated governance, the NCOP, together with other mechanisms like the President’s Co-ordinating Council, the Minmec, the Budget Council, the Budget Forum and the Financial and Fiscal Commission, is becoming more important by the day.

Nkulumbuso uStofile, sikujonge ngothakazelelo ukusebenzisana nawe. Uyindoda elumkileyo, ebonise ukuyiqonda indlela ekubaluleke ngayo ukuhloniphana nokusebenzisana kwabantu beli lizwe, abantsundu, abebala, abamhlophe namaNdiya. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[Premier Stofile, we are eagerly looking forward to working with you. You are a wise man, and have displayed understanding of the importance of the need for the people of this country, black, coloured, white and Indian, to respect one another and to work together.]

Premier Stofile, ek wil u alle voorspoed toewens. U is ‘n man met wie ons kan saamwerk. [Applous.] [Premier Stofile, I want to wish you every success. You are a man with whom we can co-operate. [Applause.]]

The PREMIER OF THE FREE STATE (Miss I W Direko): Chairperson, hon President and distinguished members of this House, I wish to join the previous speaker and everybody who will speak after me in congratulating Premier Makhenkesi Stofile on his election as Second Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP. We wish him well in his new challenge and responsibility. His election is yet another step in further deepening democracy in this country.

This process adds to our people’s voice and the system of government that has become a model for the rest of the continent and the people of the world.

To him I say ``sterkte vorentoe’’. [Every strength in the future.] [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF GAUTENG (Mr M S Shilowa): Chairperson, I will dispense with the niceties and give Premier Stofile some messages to carry forward on my behalf and on behalf of the provinces.

He is taking over at a time when we are reviewing our work over the past nine years going towards the next 10 years. There are two areas which we need to work on and resolve. The first is: How do we ensure that the programme of the national Government, the NCOP and provinces works in such a way that we have enough time for constituency work, mandating and reporting back to the NCOP? Secondly, how do we ensure that when we pass legislation, it has been well-thought-out and that we have looked into the implications for the finances of the provinces?

The Minister of Health is well aware of what I am referring to. Our province supports the work she does on the Health Bill. We hope that, in passing this Health Bill which we support, we will ensure that in redefining local to environmental health, it will not mean that Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni among others will have to close clinics, thus depriving us of resources.

My last comment is directed at the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, whom I don’t see here. We have no difficulties in agreeing to environmental issues in terms of declaring areas as provincial and local. In legislation, how can we ensure that if we declare some areas as environmentally sensitive, in provinces and local areas, those resources are available?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! I notice that the hon Premier forgot to congratulate the successful candidate! [Laughter.]

The PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL (Mr L P H M Mtshali): Chairperson, may I also add our voice in congratulating our colleague, Premier Stofile, for being elevated to this position of responsibility. As colleagues, we hope that he will take cognisance of the fact that our Constitution provides for provincial competencies and that these will be guarded quite jealously under his leadership in as much as he has a responsibility to ensure that, as provinces, we are able to exercise our part of the shared or concurrent competencies. Congratulations. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF LIMPOPO (Adv N A Ramatlhodi): Chairperson, and our President, ka se Pedi ke tlare: ke laka leo. In other words, what I am trying to say is that I join those colleagues who have congratulated Premier Stofile. I am sure that Premier Stofile is aware that he is joining an excellent team. Knowing him as I do, he will bring his own considerable experience and strength to strengthen this team as we chart the way forward. He will also strengthen our democracy and ensure that all levels of governance are indeed firm. Co-operative governance should become the hallmark of our democracy. Thank you very much, Chairperson, and good luck, my brother. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF MPUMALANGA (Mr N J Mahlangu): Chairperson, his excellency the President, it is very easy and simple to say ``Congratulations’’. In real terms, that is usually the end of the matter. But let me say that I know that brother Stofile will bring a lot of experience into the whole picture. Perhaps being a reverend, he will bring something for us. Of course, being a former Chief Whip of the ANC in the National Assembly, he will bring tons of experience to the team which will show us the way forward. He also brings us his experience of being a Premier of one of the poorest provinces in the country. That in itself tells us that we have the right person at the right time.

We have so much experience in the country of the democratic rule during which he started as a Chief Whip. It is no longer the same. I think he didn’t know, in 1994, what to do on the first day in the Office of the Chief Whip. Today he knows exactly what to do and how to do it. The country will look to him to come up with ideas. Brother, congratulations. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Mr E M Dipico): Chairperson, hon President, the Northern Cape wishes to add its voice in congratulating Premier Stofile who takes over as the Deputy Rotating Chairperson of the NCOP.

A former Deputy Chairperson who occupied his position tells me that there is outstanding work that the NCOP has to do and perform. Mine is just to remind him that this work needs to be completed. He has very little time and he has to leave an indelible mark on this position whilst he has it. There are a number of people who occupy positions and leave without having made any noise. We have seen it before in South Africa, in our new democratic South Africa, when one of our honoured members had to act as President and left a mark, having acted for one or two days. It is important to do this. [Applause.]

My advice is that he should leave a mark. When he leaves, there should be evidence that he did occupy this position and future generations will read all about his contributions. The Nama and Griqua people say they want to be united in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape. There is work to be done and once more, congratulations. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! I must also inform the House and hon members that Premier Dipico has sought my protection. He informed me when he arrived at the steps of the House that he was swamped by aspirant candidates. He has asked me to protect him from such actions. [Laughter.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTH WEST (Mr P S Molefe): Chairperson of the NCOP, hon President of the country and hon members, the North West province joins the rest of the provinces in congratulating Premier Makhenkesi Stofile on his appointment as Second Deputy Rotating Chairperson of the NCOP. I agree with Premier Mahlangu that the incumbent will bring in unique qualities which will consolidate the work that the NCOP has done so far. One of the key challenges that we have to face is to continue reflecting the diversity and uniqueness of the provinces, and yet, at the same time, demonstrate that we are one country with a common vision committed to a common programme of national reconstruction and development. Congratulations. [Applause.]

      ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA The CHAIRPERSON OF THE  NCOP:  Now  that  we  have  concluded  the  election proceedings, I am pleased to proceed to the address of the President of  the Republic of South Africa. President Mbeki, you may now address the  Council. [Applause.]

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Thank you very much, hon Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Naledi Pandor, Deputy Chairperson, second Deputy Chairperson, hon Premiers, leaders of Salga, delegates to the National Council of Provinces and distinguished guests. I did not know, Chairperson, when I arrived that I was sitting next to such an important person. [Laughter.] I would like to say thank you very much to you for giving me the honour to sit next to what Manne Dipico calls the second Deputy President. [Laughter.] Thank you very much for that.

I noticed, Madam Chairperson, that when the Chairperson of Salga arrived - I don’t know if you saw that - he did not know where to sit. Fortunately, your very efficient staff showed him where to sit, and it is at the back. He is in a corner somewhere there. I am not quite sure, Chairperson, that that’s where he should sit. He represents a very important constituency in our country. But I am very glad to see him here.

There was a call made to the new Deputy Chairperson to make a mark, following in the outstanding footsteps of a former acting President. I am glad to see that acting President present in the House. And I think it is good that there was an occasion to note this exceptional act which was done, despite the fact that that acting President was in that position for a few days. None of us have been able to repeat that. [Laughter.] We continue to look, Madam Chairperson, for an occasion when we might distinguish ourselves in a similar fashion. Perhaps the Eastern Cape might want to act against the Free State and the Western Cape, because I am told

• the second Deputy Chairperson has just told me - that the Premiers of the Free State and the Western Cape insist on calling him Stoffel. [Laughter.] I think that calls for a particular kind of intervention.

Hon Chairperson, at its Lekgotla in July, the Cabinet once more focused on the critically important issue of the struggle against poverty. In this context, it observed that our country is characterised by two parallel economies, the first and the second. It said the first economy is modern, produces the bulk of our country’s wealth, and is integrated within the global economy.

It said the second economy, or the marginalised economy, is characterised by underdevelopment, contributes little to the GDP, contains a big percentage of our population, incorporates the poorest of our rural and urban poor, is structurally disconnected from both the first and the global economies, and is incapable of self-generated growth and development.

To respond to the challenge of this second economy, we have examined the system of structural funds instituted by the European Union in respect of its regional policy, which is based on financial solidarity of transferring a portion of the EU’s budget to the less prosperous regions and social groups within the European Union.

The EU programme is premised on the reality that the market cannot be relied upon to meet the development needs of the less favoured regions within the EU, guarantee the achievement of the centrally important objective of social cohesion, and provide the means for the implementation of strategies for catching up.

In the same spirit, the Cabinet has resolved that the development of the marginalised economy requires the infusion of capital and other resources by the democratic state to ensure the integration of this economy within the developed sector.

The Cabinet’s decisions will necessarily involve active partnership with provincial and local governments and other social partners. Among the key strategies to meet the growth and development challenges of the second economy are the Integrated and Sustainable Rural Development Programme; the Urban Renewal Programme; the Expanded Public Works Programme; a major boost to infrastructure spending, with an emphasis on improved underdeveloped areas and communities; and further support to local government’s preparation and implementation of Integrated Development Plans.

It also includes the development of SMMEs and co-operatives, in both urban and rural areas; black economic empowerment, and special programmes for women’s economic development; the expansion of micro-credit to enable the poorest to engage in productive economic activity; the incorporation of the unemployed within the Skills Development Programme, especially as implemented by the Setas; the continued restructuring of our system of education so that it gives our youth the necessary skills to engage in economic activities of benefit to them and to the country; agrarian reform, including a farmers support programme and forestry development in the interests of communities; and the creation of the echelon of community development workers to help build social cohesion in the second economy, and to help to develop strategies and forge links that can transform the second economy.

The Cabinet made the determination that the advances we have made with regard to the first economy, during our first nine years of our liberation, have put us in a position to meet the objective fundamental to our strategic outlook, to reduce the numbers of those dependent on social grants, by enabling them to pull themselves out of poverty by engaging in gainful economic activity and exercising their right to human dignity.

In our first decade of freedom and democracy, we have had to tackle immense challenges with limited resources in all spheres of government. One of these challenges is meeting our water requirements on a sustainable basis.

Early in November, this month, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research launched their Challenge Programme on Water and Food and warned that one in three of the world’s people will be affected by water shortages in the year 2005 and that the annual crop loss in Africa could be as much as the entire grain harvest produced in the United States and India.

By 2025 the consultative group predicts that sub-Saharan Africa will show the highest increase in water consumption of any world region and that Africans without access to clean water, if nothing is done, will more than double, to 401 million and possibly 523 million people.

This year, 2003, was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh Water. We are proud of our own achievements in providing, as of June this year, nine million residents with fresh, running, potable water.

Following on after our highly successful hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, we have hosted a Commonwealth conference on local government and we are implementing intergovernmental programmes in accordance with Agenda 21, Habitat and the next WSSD cycle beginning in 2004 relating to water, sanitation, and human settlements.

It is critically important therefore that we, in South Africa, the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, should not become complacent and must take every possible measure to ensure that we implement viable policies consistent with the needs of our people and these international agreements. These also include the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the ILO programme, Working Out of Poverty, and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

Despite our resource limitations, we are pleased to say that the Government has delivered services to our people in a way that has turned the tide against many centuries of colonialism and apartheid characterised by the ever-increasing impoverishment of the majority.

I would like to commend, Chairperson, to the National Council of Provinces the Government’s Towards a Ten-Year Review for consideration and debate. The review frankly assesses how far we have come since we attained our freedom in 1994. It provides important indicators of what we need to do as we strive during our second decade of liberation to advance our goal of pushing back the frontiers of poverty and expanding access to a better life for all.

One of the clear conclusions of the review is that each and every one of us in the provinces, local government and traditional authorities has to continue to work together with national Government as partners in order to discharge our mandate to our people to create a prosperous, healthy and vibrant multicultural society.

Chairperson, in the state of the nation address at the beginning of this year, I said that we would launch an Expanded Public Works Programme to promote economic growth and create sustainable development.

I am pleased to report that the Department of Public Works, together with other departments, including those of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Agriculture, Education, Health, Social Development, and Trade and Industry, provincial and local governments, and civil society formations have come up with a comprehensive business plan, approved by the Cabinet on 4 November 2003, which will now be implemented in phases.

This Expanded Public Works Programme is a nationwide programme that will draw significant numbers of the unemployed into productive employment, so that workers gain skills while they are gainfully employed, and increase their capacity to earn an income once they leave the programme. The Expanded Public Works Programme is targeting one million unemployed people in the first five years. [Applause.]

The centrepiece of the EPWP is a large-scale programme of using labour- intensive methods to upgrade rural and municipal roads, municipal pipelines, storm-water drains and paving as well as fencing of roads, community water supply and sanitation, maintenance of Government buildings, housing, schools and clinics, rail and port infrastructure, electrification, and so on.

Some of the approved environmental and cultural programmes that will also contribute to the programme are the Land Care Programme of the Department of Agriculture, the Faranani- Pushing Back the Frontiers of Poverty Programme, People and Parks, Coastal Care, Sustainable Land-based Livelihoods, Cleaning up South Africa, Growing A Tourism Economy - all of these programmes are of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. It also includes the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s Working for Water, Wetlands and Fire Programmes, and the Department of Arts and Culture Poverty Relief Programmes.

The critically important area of health also forms an important part of that Public Works Programme and includes the Department of Health’s home- based care workers, the Department of Social Development’s community-based care and support workers, and the Department of Education’s early childhood development workers. The economic sector Public Works Programme initiatives include the Department of Agriculture’s agricultural and community production centres and the Departments of Labour and Trade and Industry’s micro-enterprise development and venture learnership programmes.

The success of the programme will depend on how well all our spheres of government will work together as partners to achieve practical results. I would like to share with you a concrete example of an existing provincial Public Works project, which is helping to give hope to desperately poor communities. There are plans to replicate this programme in other provinces.

I refer here to the Zibambele programme that was initiated in 2000 by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, and I am sure Premier Mtshali might speak about this. Its objectives are to maintain the province’s rural road network and to provide poor rural households which have no other source of income with a regular income. The programme is based on the ``length person’’ contract system, which has been used extensively in Europe and Southern Africa. In the year 2002-03 there were approximately 10 000 Zibambele contractors, maintaining approximately one third of the KwaZulu-Natal rural road network. In return for eight days of work a month, maintaining a length of road to an agreed standard, households received a transfer of R334 per month.

The part-time nature of the work, which may be carried out flexibly within the month, is designed to accommodate engagement in household tasks and other wage or subsistence opportunities, should they arise.

The work is allocated on a household basis, so that if the participating household member becomes unavailable, another member may take up the activity, and thus retain the monthly income. Households are selected for participation at a district level by representatives of the local community and by the elected Rural Road Transport Fora using criteria of poverty, unemployment and female or child-headed households. The scheme was initially reliant on support from external consultants, but in-house management and implementation capacity has been developed and the use of external consultants has been reduced. The department planned to extend the number of contractors to 14 000 by the end of the 2002-03 financial year and, ultimately, to a maximum of 40 000 poor households. The budget for Zibambele in 2002-03 was R55,7 million.

A recent study has concluded that the programme is cost-effective in terms of transferring resources from the state to recipients, the proportion of programme costs spent on labour and the cost of the creation of a day’s work. This is based on work that was done by Anna McCord at the University of Cape Town, at Saldru.

This study has also pointed out that if Zibambele were expanded nationally and focused just on the maintenance of the 38% of the provincial road network estimated to be in poor condition, approximately 135 000 jobs could be created on the basis of employing one worker per kilometre, at a cost of R691 million per annum. Zibambele is a clear example of best practice, which can be drawn on in the Expanded Public Works Programme.

The Limpopo province has also taken the initiative to implement this Public Works Programme in its road infrastructure projects, under the banner of its Gundo Lashu programme, which in Tshivenda is ``Our Victory’’.

This is resulting in six times more local employment creation than if conventional machine-intensive construction methods were used, without any significant overall increase in costs, and without sacrificing the quality of the roads being built.

The workers on the projects are also provided with training, with the aim of increasing their potential to earn an income once the projects are completed. By the end of the next financial year, the contractors will have completed 500 km of rural roads, and created 500 000 person days of local employment. A recent review by the British Department for International Development concluded that ``the demonstration of the viability of labour-based methods is likely to be completely achieved’’ in the Gundo Lashu programme.

Working for Water, with a budget of about R30 million, has over 300 projects around the country, operating in all provinces, and currently is providing work and training opportunities for some 21 000 people. There is a strong focus on those living in poverty, with concomitant support for black economic empowerment, women, youth, people with disabilities and single-parent households, among others.

Growing out of the Working for Water programme have been several aligned programmes. The Working on Fire programme is providing training and work opportunities to a similar targeted group of people, to help prevent and fight fires. Through the actions of the Working on Fire team, 22 people in KwaZulu-Natal were recently rescued from certain death. Similarly, this programme was praised by the forestry industry for playing a significant role in containing devastating fires in Mpumalanga and elsewhere in August, which cost the country about R3 billion.

Working on Fire is piloting its work in seven provinces at present, with the hope of becoming a national programme to address fire in a comprehensive and co-ordinated manner. It has a R20 million grant per annum from Working for Water, supplemented by significant support from the private sector.

The Working for Wetlands programme is similarly providing training and work opportunities in the rehabilitation of wetlands. And indeed, Chairperson, I think it is a fine example of co-operative governance, working across three national departments, that is the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and the Department of Agriculture, the provincial governments, local government and the private sector. These are a few examples of how Government has been taking progressive steps with our social partners to address significant threats to our social, economic and ecological wellbeing. Indeed, we are implementing our programmes in a pro-poor, transformation-orientated manner.

Chairperson, the youth of our country are significant stakeholders in our reconstruction and development plans. They are part of our population and many of them fall in the category of the ``economically active’’. Across all levels of government, we are striving to ensure that the youth are given the opportunity to create wealth and income for themselves and for our country.

A lot of energy has gone into infusing a youth development approach in the public delivery system, though the results, clearly, are still uneven. Through the National Youth Commission and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund it has been possible to provide guidance to departments and interact with senior managers to ensure that youth development is supported internally within the structures of Government.

Youth development must become an integral part of what we do in the provinces and municipalities. And youth development and participation must form part of our integrated development plans.

The partnership between the National Youth Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the South African Youth Council has developed a strong impetus for the decisions we took in terms of establishing and implementing a National Youth Service. In the coming months, we must scale the National Youth Service upwards, from pilot service projects administered through these three partners into a coherent national effort involving key national, provincial and local governments.

Other innovative interventions that can and must be made to address the challenges of the second economy are also exemplified by the public-private partnership ICT initiative between the Limpopo province, Mogalakwena District Municipality and Hewlett Packard. This exciting programme is using modern communication and information technology to bring allround development to the Mogalakwena rural area. We must work to expand this kind of programme to other rural areas.

The March 2003 Labour Force Survey of Stats SA showed that two million new jobs were created in the previous seven and a half years, bringing the total of those employed to 11,6 million. This represents an employment growth rate of over 2,5% per year. However, as indicated in the Ten-Year Review, the numbers of those joining the labour market has grown at a faster rate. Demographic changes, such as more women entering the labour market, have also intensified the need for our economy and society to create more jobs.

Our macroeconomic policies and microeconomic interventions have helped to place our public finances and the first economy on a radically better footing than they were in 1994. These improvements have helped to generate the resources we need to address the challenge of the second economy. This also means that we must persist in our work to ensure the further growth and development and modernisation of the first economy, including its capacity to absorb larger numbers of workseekers.

This also relates to the important issue of black economic empowerment, which remains one of the priorities of our Government, both to end the racial disparities in our economy and society and to address the challenge of poverty and underdevelopment. Government has also made significant sums of money available for this empowerment. The state corporations are also important partners in this regard.

The adoption of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill will also help to expedite the process of this empowerment. Government and black business have already held a two-day indaba to follow up on this development.

The fact of this indaba emphasised the need for our Government to continue to interact with a broad cross-section of our people further to strengthen the people’s contract to build the kind of people-centred society that we all want. Once again, the Ten-Year Review emphasised the need for us to strengthen this people’s contract, pointing to challenges we face to ensure that our social partners perform to capacity and in a manner that is consistent with the agreements they enter into.

The successful Growth and Development Summit held last June served as a positive signal of the ability of South Africans to work together to meet our economic goals.

Chairperson, the Government is paying the closest attention to the proper functioning of the Presidential Working Groups, further to consolidate the people’s contract for a better future. And these working groups create the possibility for an ongoing dialogue between Government and representatives of civil society formations, business and trade unions. As the Council knows, they include the Big Business Working Group, the Black Business Working Group, the Commercial Agriculture Working Group, the trade unions, religious leaders, the Higher Education Working Group, and the Youth Working Group.

I am pleased to report to the National Council of Provinces that our dialogue with these various working groups has been highly successful. We are considering the publication of a report to the nation covering the areas dealt with by these working groups as a practical example of how much our people are giving practical expression to the need for all our people to come together in the people’s contract of which we have spoken, to confront the challenges we face as a country.

On 6 May, we established the Higher Education Working Group to create a shared understanding of the challenges of transformation that confront our universities and technikons. It is critically important that these institutions produce the relevantly qualified and skilled people that we require to build our society and economy, and sustain our drive to advance ours as a winning nation. Recently we also launched the Youth Working Group directly to engage this important sector of our society. We also hope to engage in the near future with another very significant constituency - the women, who represent the majority of our population. Consultations are proceeding to establish this Women’s Working Group.

Since April 2001, the Presidency has engaged with the masses of our people across South Africa in the form of imbizo’s. This year, we have gone to the provinces of the North West and the Western Cape. We still have to visit KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.

The imbizo’s have given all of us a unique and personal insight into the lives of the masses of our people who have elected us into office. Our top priority is to ascertain what the actual needs of our people are; how efficient the delivery of services at all levels of government is, and to address whatever problems arise; and whether Government’s policies have had a positive and regenerative impact on our communities. In all provinces, we heard compelling personal stories of genuine concerns, and yet we also encountered real progress and partnerships between the rich and the poor, the young and the old, men and women - and indeed, it is inspiring to witness at first hand the spirit of Vukuzenzele.

These direct interactions with the ordinary masses of our people are an important part of the process of building and strengthening the people’s contract for a better future. That people’s contract will have meaning only if it impacts on these masses to transform their lives. That is why it is critically important that we constantly listen to what the people are saying and work with them to encourage their involvement in the struggle to change their lives for the better.

In this regard, I would like to express my sincere appreciation of the work done by this Council, and the elected provincial and municipal representatives to reach out to the people through their own iimbizo. We must sustain this work and ensure that we follow up on the observations made by the people to confirm that we are truly committed to a people- driven process of social transformation.

Similarly, we must continue to work both to refine and strengthen our system of intergovernmental relations and improve our governance capacity in all spheres of our government. A strong and effective system of co- operative government is one of the keys to our further advance during our second decade of liberation. Equally, we need a strong and effective people’s contract to meet the challenges of the decisive second decade of liberation.

This second decade of liberation will be decisive for our country, because it will determine whether we succeed to meet the challenges posed by the existence of the second economy. I am certain that we will meet our goals in this regard.

But equally, I am certain that we will not achieve this historic victory unless we join hands in a truly meaningful manner, in a real people’s contract that unites the majority of our people in action to eradicate the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.

Hopefully, in the debate which follows in this House, we will have the opportunity to address areas of mutual concern to ensure that we formulate and implement policies and programmes in which the people in all nine provinces and all our municipalities play an active and significant role.

We must move forward together in unity to push back the frontiers of poverty, to expand access to a better life for all, and to extricate millions of our people from the second economy which condemns them to poverty, underdevelopment, marginalisation and the loss of human dignity.

And I am quite certain, Chairperson, that this National Council of Provinces will play a central role in achieving these objectives. I thank you very much. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Deputy Chairperson, I listened to the hon President with some care when he made reference to the seating of the Chairperson of Salga. I have to say to the hon President that I thought to myself, ``If only we could have him more often in the House, sir; we would attract the numbers that you see before you because we never lack for seats on any occasion, except when the President of South Africa is in the House.’’

My mother passed away just over a year ago. I remember early last year we were having a conversation and she was telling me about the protests and demonstrations that they used to engage in as young people at Loveday College, and then at Fort Hare when they were at university. She said to me in a little whisper of a voice: You know, when we were at Lovedale, and I was in my last year at high school, we had a very strong protest and demonstration as students, and we had a song we used to sing: Freedom in Our Lifetime!'' She kept singing this refrain to me and said: While we sang it, we hoped for freedom in our lifetime, but over the decades I began to believe it was not possible.’’ And she said: ``I’m so happy that I actually saw freedom in my lifetime!’’

I think, in reviewing these ten years of democracy, we must thank the leaders of this country that indeed we have had freedom in our lifetime. [Applause.] I would like, in making a small contribution - and I thank the Whips for affording me the opportunity - to reflect on these years of democracy, but to more particularly look at the institution of Parliament and its contribution to our democratic success.

I attended a meeting recently of African Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers. We spent a great deal of time and attention on debating the status of parliaments in the emerging fabric of an African commitment to democracy, good governance and progress. Several participants referred to the easy manner in which democracy, good governance and transparency roll off our tongues, and the sad reality that there are parliaments that are often a caricature of democracy, resplendent in design but unfortunately impoverished in practice.

Do parliaments, it was asked, have a place in advancing democracy? Are parliaments merely places where acolytes serve the executive in the hope of a ministerial appointment? Can Presiding Officers and the executive be relied on to strengthen parliaments so that they more effectively promote the public interest rather than party-political advantage?

As often happens in such meetings, the colleagues asked South Africa, as a newer and so perhaps, in their view, less tainted democracy, to reflect on its experience and respond to these important issues. Some of the responses that we gave are an interesting commentary on our first decade of parliamentary democracy.

Firstly, we stressed that democracy should neither be confused with voting nor with winning or losing elections. Our constitutional framework, we said, clearly provides for the protection of civil and political liberties; promotes respect for law, for free discussion; and facilitates access to Government plans and policies.

In our view, we said, democracy is about the intrinsic importance of political participation and freedom in human life; it is also about the instrumental importance of political incentives in keeping governments responsible and accountable; and it is also about the constructive role of democracy in the formation of values and in the understanding of needs, rights and duties.

Given that these important features of democracy are encoded in our Constitution, we were able to state that our Parliament has indeed played a central role in promoting and developing democracy. We confirmed that Parliament is a forum for debate on vital national issues. And all of us, as Presiding Officers of South Africa, agreed that our parliaments are indeed important talk shops.

Secondly, we indicated that Parliament acts to hold the executive organs of state to account, not entirely effectively as yet but we try. Thirdly, our Parliament passes legislation and, in doing so, ensures public access to policy debates and full attention to the careful crafting of national law.

Fourthly, our Parliament is also innovatory in its promotion of gender equality as a precondition for deepening democracy and generating sustainable development. Gender equality, we stressed, is not merely a desirable by-product of human development; it is a core goal in its own right. All in all, there is no doubt in our own mind that our system today is an incomparable improvement on what it replaced.

Colleagues vigorously challenged me on this positive report and asked me for an outline of the rationale for this character I was outlining. My response stressed that South Africa’s constitutional design has given life to the emergence of a viable parliamentary democracy. Parliament, and all the legislatures, are premised on the notions of inclusivity, respect for diversity, openness, accountability, multipartyism, co-operation and decision by logical consensus. The structure of legislative governance, and of Parliament in particular, places our democracy on firm ground. I claimed that the key to our success lies in the concept of co-operative governance. We cited the model of the National Council of Provinces as an example.

In May 1998, barely a year after the Council was established, Mr President

• you were then Mr Deputy President - you addressed a national conference on the role of the National Council of Provinces. I think at that time you called the National Council of Provinces ``our unique contribution to democracy’’. You asked then how we should measure the success of the national Council. You suggested that the number of Bills modified or rejected should not be the measure of success. The reason for this is because our Constitution, as you said, is designed around the concept of co- operative, and not competitive governance.

You suggested, Mr President, firstly, that success could be measured by how effectively the national Council was in reviewing provincial and municipal interventions; and secondly, whether the provinces were using the national Council to participate more effectively in national policy formulation. That is, Mr President, you suggested that the House be judged not on its role on passing Bills, but on its role in reviewing intergovernmental oversight functions. The NCOP is the hinge around which co-operative governance swings; or, in our mind, it should be.

Back then in 1998, in response to your comments, you were told that the provinces regarded the Council as an add-on, but that the national Council itself had been extremely successful in its review of the one intervention in Butterworth, at that time. There have been many interventions since then and the provinces have come to take a more enthusiastic approach to the Council as the upper House of Parliament.

But we must ask similar questions again: How effective has the Council been in deepening democracy? Are there any lessons that the African Union can learn from us? In 1999 the Department for Provincial and Local Government conducted an intergovernmental audit, and their criticism of the NCOP was the following:

A general complaint has been that the system is too complex to work effectively. As an institution articulating the provincial voice, the NCOP is seen to be overloaded with work and its mandate to debate both section 75 and section 76 Bills too broad, given its limited resources and the composition of its membership. Its composition of four special and six permanent delegates from each of the provinces is a handicap in that the special delegates lack continuity and, more pertinently, play no part in the NCOP’s select committee system. This leaves the processing of Bills to only 54 delegates - far too few to deal with the large number of Bills to be scrutinised. The Audit report calculated that NCOP permanent members serve, on average, on eight different select committees as opposed to their counterparts in the National Assembly who serve on two portfolio committees. Consequently, the quality of input and degree of scrutiny may be suffering.

Despite these negative comments which do, I believe, require serious consideration, today I can say the following. The strengths of the Council lie in a number of characteristics: in allowing for the reflection of the provincial voice; in holding the executive accountable; in the accumulation of a pool of knowledge about the provinces that does not exist in any other institution; in a better understanding among permanent delegates and provincial representatives of the national constitution than members in any other House of Parliament because of the unique position that the Council occupies in intergovernmental relations; in that the smaller size of the NCOP is conducive to more supportive relations between members, parties and staff than is the case in any other legislature; and in the excellent liaison we have developed with the other House, especially through our committee chairpersons.

The weaknesses of the House lie in the following: the current practice of public hearings which limit our liaison with civil society; a low public profile; the lack of an integrated oversight process because the House is so much smaller than the other House; an inadequate identification of the provincial interest; and a poor working relationship with the national executive in the tabling and formulation of debates in the House, as well as in our failure to make better use of Budget debates.

How then can we improve legislative intergovernmental relations and deepen democracy? Some, who have criticised, state that the executive intergovernmental relations undermine the democratic process in this House. They often say that the Minmecs work so well that actually there is no effective space or need for debate in the national Council on the provincial issues which have already been articulated and resolved by the executive branch. Although this is said, we have no factual evidence that this assertion is true; but we must consider these criticisms if we are to deepen democracy.

There are two suggestions that I believe deserve consideration. Firstly, regarding the designation of delegates in the National Council of Provinces, we use a complicated formula. It had to be complicated because we were starting an institution and not quite knowing the direction in which we would proceed.

We have national and provincial lists in our electoral system to present candidates for election in the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures. There is no list for the National Council of Provinces. This has become a problem in that it effectively means that the national Council is apparently composed of those candidates who do not make the grade for the National Assembly or a provincial legislature. Effectively, it means, in the view of many, that the National Council of Provinces delegates are the third team. This cannot be good for an upper House of Parliament. It is time that we considered alternative ways of electing delegates to the National Council of Provinces so that its profile reflects the vital role that we have given it in intergovernmental relations. [Applause.]

Secondly, we need to consider ways of deepening democracy by raising the profile of legislative intergovernmental relations. Can this be done without affecting executive intergovernmental relations? The answer is not clear, but we have to find a response to it. I do not believe it is a zero- sum equation. I do not think we should abolish Minmecs. We cannot and do not want to abolish them, but either procedurally or through the Budget process, we can enhance the NCOP’s ability to influence national legislation.

The design of our democracy, as the inclusive diverse unity that we described at the Commonwealth Presiding Officers’ Conference, augurs well, in our view, for African efforts to build a lasting democracy. We believe we will be able to make important contributions to the African Union, New Partnership for Africa’s Development and to the Pan-African Parliament. We will take to those institutions our experience that democracy requires concrete constitutional expression; that development is reliant on tools of accountability that are transparent and open to review and validation; and that the values of good governance are values that are synonymous with democracy.

Our experience of over nine years of parliamentary democracy tells us that the constitutional status of Parliament is a significant contributor to building a sustainable democracy. It also identifies co-operative governance and concrete structural relationships across spheres as necessary elements for the achievement of consensus and national unity.

Values that underpin parliamentary practice must also receive attention - respect for diversity, parliamentary prominence rather than party prominence, and the existence of a form of parliament in which all the people have a voice and an opportunity to make an impact on national discourse. I could not answer the rather more difficult questions of the role of big majorities and the sweaty palms occasioned by ministerial ambitions, but I believe my colleagues eventually accepted my assertion that in these nine years and more, our Parliament has indeed played a singular role in providing firm building blocks for a viable democracy, and that we have the base to continue to do so. Thank you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF LIMPOPO (Adv N A Ramatlhodi): Deputy Chair, our President and colleagues, I can’t resist the temptation to respond to what the Chair was saying about the system of bringing delegates here. The argument sounds, to me, fundamentally flawed in the sense that when we created this institution, the idea was not to reproduce the old Senate. The idea was to create a forum for people in provinces to come to meet here. So, from that point of view, without really having all the facts, it just sounds a bit flawed.

Nevertheless, let me respond to the speech of the President, which was very enlightening and which was excellent. I just want to talk a bit about Limpopo - the Third World of South Africa, as I describe it. This is because you do have Third and Second Worlds in one country.

I’ll tell you a story which will illustrate the difficulties that we were faced with. It must have been in 1992 - I was still at the headquarters of the ANC - when we were called together with the former President to rush to Lebowa. When we arrived there, the chief Minister told us that his police were at the border facing the police from Gazankulu, armed with pistols, trying to make war.

I am telling this story because we were such a diversified and fragmented province in 1994. By the way, that area, which was the Northern Transvaal then, was also the only place where the white voters in South Africa had voted no in the referendum for change. We found four governments there in

1. I am glad to say that today, as we speak, we have one Limpopo and that it works and functions well.

I do not want to dwell on the administrative problems of files and files of civil servants packed in dark rooms somewhere, no computer system, nothing. All that is water under the bridge. I want to thank colleagues in the national Government, the Presidency and colleagues in the other provinces for really supporting us to deal with a rather difficult situation.

So, that success there cannot be attributed only to the people of Limpopo, because through, in fact, collectively exchanging ideas and experiences - sharing - we eventually produced the product that we have.

We inherited a debt from the previous administration - excluding the parastatals - of R1,4 billion. By our last budget, this year, we had paid it off, all that debt. This means that we have made quite a lot of progress. We are beginning to save money and to put it where it can begin to impact on the lives of our people. [Applause.]

When we started, the pass rate for matriculants was 32%. By last year it was 78%, so we have turned the corner. We have begun the journey. When we started we were rated ``G’’, as it was then referred to, and the economic growth rate was at minus something. By last year we had reached well above 5% in our growth rate.

I want to talk about the interventions of the parastatals and the national departments in, for instance, electrification. If you fly over that vast area at night, it is very difficult to tell where a town or a city is because the villages are alight, and so on. That is why I am saying that by working together we were able to deliver a better life for our people.

Regarding the question of water provision, there has been significant improvement. There is work that must still be done, but no one would surely be telling the truth if he or she were to say that we have not begun that job.

We have worked on and have been guided by what we have developed as a growth and development strategy for Limpopo, or Vision 2020 as we call it. That vision has guided us over the years and in terms of it, amongst other things, we have envisaged a situation in which we do co-operative work on the ground. We put people together who work, for instance, on farms like Zebediela. We put them there because these are Government farms and we make them the people’s farms. We then bring in the villagers and thereafter South Africans experienced in farming - without reference to their ideological positions - such as Dries Bruwer. I’m sure you would know him. We bring them in to partner with our people and to pass on their experience. They also bring in resources, and that is how we managed to send oranges to the World Cup the other day from the Zebediela estate which had become nonproductive.

We are doing another interesting co-operative with chickens at a lower level. You have a co-operative, then you have a slaughterhouse, then you have a high level. So this is a chain linking up these co-operatives so that they work together and begin to synergise. This is so that we can create more jobs. I think the President has referred to Gundo Lashu, so I won’t talk about it.

I’d like to say, before I conclude, that if you want to see the progress we have made in Limpopo over the past years, you must go to Mafefe on the Olifants River. For over 100 or so years, people have been using what is called Sewayawaya - the cable car - to cross the great Olifants River. These people are children going to school, and people bringing coffins and all those sorts of things. They couldn’t cross that river. They had to use a cable to cross it. If you go to Mafefe today you will find that there is a brand new bridge beautifully settled next to the Sewayawaya. Our people have made a beginning. I thank you very much. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF GAUTENG (Mr M S Shilowa): Chairperson, the President of the Republic, the Chairperson of the NCOP, hon members of the NCOP and Ministers, when the Premier of Limpopo was speaking about there being the First, Second and Third World in the economy, I am on the third side of what he was referring to, on the other side of Limpopo. I look forward to when that area also joins the first and the second economies.

I think maybe I should take on board some of the issues that were raised in the House. Let me start with the point which I think Premier Ramatlhodi was responding to. My view is that there are various ways in which we can respond to the point that is being raised. I think the way we respond to it is to call on all political parties not to wait until the lists and people have gone through into the NA Legislature, to then say that those who are left will go to the NCOP. We should rather be able to designate right upfront as political parties that, regardless of what numbers we get, these are the people that we are going to send to the NCOP. That is really the point that she was making. If we deal with it in that way, we will then be able to constitute the NCOP in accordance with ideas that were raised before. I really want to urge political parties to take these issues on board. Secondly, I thought that as part of the response to the hon President’s input today, we should consider the NCOP as being the imbizo in which there are many stakeholders, coming here to talk about how their lives have changed or not changed over the past ten years. We should accept the fact that there will be critics who will always argue that the democratic Government has not achieved what it had promised. There will always be some who will even go so far as saying that indeed the democratic Government has brought misery to millions of South Africans.

But if we were to have that imbizo here, the majority of the participants who represent the overwhelming majority of South Africans would acknowledge that all policies and programmes that we have been implementing since 1994 have taken forward our vision of a new South Africa, as outlined in the policy documents - the Freedom Charter and the RDP, amongst others. Those who spent decades living in slums will say that the democratic South Africa has brought about better lives for them, because they now live in decent homes built on land that they proudly own.

If you have always had a home and have never lived on the river banks of Alexandra - or inside the river in Alexandra - the move to an RDP house means very little to you. I think we have to begin to understand that sometimes those people are raising these issues and disagreeing because they just can’t comprehend how somebody could say that they now have dignity when they are simply moving from a slum to what they would call a one-roomed or a two-roomed house.

If we were having an imbizo, many who did not have access to health care will say that South Africa is now a better place because they have access to quality care near where they live. Again, if you have always had hospitals and clinics near where you live, you have no conceptualisation of these changes. But people who have had to walk very long distances, whose family members have died because they could not access hospitals, would better understand what these changes mean. Parents who could not give their a children decent education, would say, if this were an imbizo, that the democratic South Africa is a better place for their children, because the democratic Government has opened the doors of learning to all. Now this is not to say there would not be children in some parts of our country who learn under trees. The fact of the matter is that we can say with dignity that we have been able to extend education to all.

If you live in the rural parts of Gauteng - by the way, Rev Stofile, we do have rural parts in Gauteng, even though I always refer to those as the peri-urban areas - you know that your children had no access to schooling, let alone a farm school. As we speak here today, they now have free scholar transport to go to school, wherever their school may be. You can then begin to understand the changes that have taken place. But, of course, if you have always had access to a school, the changes mean nothing to you.

Many of the most vulnerable of our people, who previously could not get any help from the state, including poor parents who could not afford to support their children, will say that the democratic South Africa is a better place because they now receive social security grants.

Millions who did not have access to basic services such as water and electricity, especially those who live in the rural areas, will testify that South Africa is now a better place than it was in 1994, because they now have access to free basic amounts of water and electricity. For workers who have had to participate in, among other things, the 1973 Durban strike that spread over to the East Rand and other parts, who have had to win some of their rights through the Wiehahn Commission, who have had to go through a number of strikes, with further changes being made to the Labour Relations Act in 1988, whose leadership has had to stage sit-ins in 1990 around issues of worker rights, when they say that today with the new legislation in terms of worker rights, enshrined in the supreme law of the court - the Constitution - you now have a better understanding of why, for them, this is indeed a better life. Indeed, the unemployed will also be able to say that they do know of relatives who have benefited from programmes such as the ones we spoke about in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng province under Zivuseni. They also know of work around labour - intensive programmes - and they themselves look forward to the implementation of the expanded Public Works Programme, the employment of the community development workers and the implementation of learnerships and internships, so that they, too, can find employment.

Indeed, businesspeople - both black and white - who previously found it difficult to do business in our country because of the unfriendly apartheid laws, would also be able to say that indeed South Africa is a better place to live in because of what the democratic Government, working together with them, has been able to do.

If we had an imbizo where women were present here today, those who were never treated with respect and dignity during apartheid, they would say that South Africa is now a better place because their rights are enshrined in the Constitution. Our programmes and policies have resulted in a sharp increase in the number of women who occupy decision-making positions in all spheres of society.

Similarly with the youth of our country, many of whom were neglected under apartheid rule, they would say that South Africa is now a better place because the democratic Government has implemented programmes that advance their interests and has created many opportunities for them to acquire skills that will make them worthier citizens of their country.

Even children, I would venture to say, who were born free, and who may not know what life under apartheid was, will say that South Africa is a better place. They can see that their Government is doing everything to secure their future.

The senior citizens, especially the blacks who were victims of apartheid’s racial old age policies, will say that South Africa is now a better place than it was before 1994, as they are now enjoying equal treatment and care from the democratic Government.

Again, if in the old apartheid South Africa you used to receive your social pension once every month, the change means nothing. If you are an African male or female who received a R100 social pension once every two months, the fact that it has now moved to R700 on a monthly basis can only mean nothing else but a revolution that has become very successful.

These are some of the things which we think it is important always to bear in mind. Indeed it may be that as the old South Africa recedes further and further, and memories recede, we now forget how far we have come. We begin to judge the progress that we are making on the basis of the successes we have made, rather than on what it was that we inherited when we came into Government.

I am using that analogy of the imbizo because we prefer our judges to be the people whom we were elected to serve. It is they who chose us to implement a particular mandate. It was they who rejected other positions and manifestos. Any call for us to implement a manifesto, a policy and a programme for which we were never elected, is just not going to happen. We use our people as judges because they know what we are doing.

Lastly, I won’t repeat what I said to hon Stofile because … ka Sepedi ba re tsebe ya kgaoswi e ya ikwela. Tsebe ga e na sekhurumelo. O nkwele morwa. [… in Sepedi they say you have heard for yourself. You did not miss a thing. You have heard me, friend.]

For us as the province they remain very important. We want to participate effectively in the NCOP. To do so, we want our delegates to have enough time to come back to the province, to report back, and for us to engage with them and to give them a mandate. When they come here, they are fully representative of the mandate, because they don’t represent political parties; they represent the legislature. So we want to ensure that they have enough time with the entire legislature. We also do want to ensure that national legislation is implemented without any reservation, but we also do want to ensure that we don’t end up with an unfunded mandate.

To conclude, Mr President, I would to say that the successes we have made though, bring about new challenges. The successes for social grants mean that more people are now going for social grants, yet I think we can’t just be happy about the successes. We have to say what resources we are going to make available for capital expenditure, and for infrastructure development, because it’s only through growing the economy that we can deal effectively with issues of poverty, thereby ensuring that people do not rely solely on social grants. Thank you very much, Mr President. [Applause.]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, proudly perched on pedestals of privilege, ranting and raving, whinging and whining, reactionary and, regressive they resist reform. Why should we transform, ask these renegades of change, determined, zooming up from the depth of deprivation, reconciling and reconstructing, empowering and embracing, resilient, relentlessly responding to a new democratic vision. But, respond the revolutionaries of reform: So much to change!

Chairperson, hon Premiers, Speakers, Chief Whips, special delegates, Salga, hon President, as we gear towards a decade of freedom, we are compelled to reflect on the arduous task of uniting a once divided nation. We do so in the knowledge that on the one hand there are those amongst us who seek to perpetuate the privileges of the past, and there are those on the other hand who relentlessly strive to transform our nation by pushing back the frontiers of poverty and seeking to change the quality of the lives of our people. This is the visionary and revolutionary task which faces us as a nation. In order to achieve this there has to be a synthesis, or at the very least the convergence of the ideas that the task of transformation is neither the responsibility nor the monopoly of one political party or one racial group. As ten years of freedom swiftly approaches, I reminisce about an important milestone on my journey: How I celebrated Freedom Day this year - a day which turned my soul and reignited my passion and my commitment to make a difference to the quality of the lives of our people.

Freedom Day started with a journey, as Premier Molefe would confirm, in the rural intellect of Orkney in the North West Province, where the Government of the North West hosted our President. It was a day about which we can deliberately say: ``Orkney snork nie.’’ The President, addressing the nation, reminded us of our collective responsibility as citizens, black and white, to push back the frontiers of poverty, to pay special attention to social development and to ensure an efficient and effective service delivery. He then, as he did today, expressed the importance of local government in ensuring that the quality of the lives of our people changes in a dramatic way.

More importantly, there was in his speech an invitation to the nation to unite as one, in transforming South Africa into a prosperous nonracial and nonsexist democracy. That afternoon I joined the delegation of the ANC that met the New NP in our capital city, Tshwane, a city over which Father Smangaliso has jurisdiction, even over the President and his Cabinet, and that is why he is quite concerned about proceedings there.

The co-operative agreement between the parties was one in which the parties would mutually commit to an agenda for transformation, a shared understanding of the need to redress the inequalities of the past and build a very vision of a united South Africa. Central to this message were the remarks from our President that Government belongs to all of us and that there is no reason for self-inflicted alienation or deliberate polarisation, and further, that political parties must together and collectively take executive decisions and actions to eradicate poverty and affirm the dignity of all our citizens.

The messages of the morning and the afternoon of Freedom Day resonated with the spirit of reconciliation and rebuilding. These were very powerful messages of unity, consistent with the ethos and aspirations of our movement, our Constitution and our Government. Yet it is what occurred after this event that gave content and meaning to the humane and caring nature of the leadership of the ANC. After the culmination of the meeting with the New NP, our President elected to make an unscheduled appearance at the park at the foot of the Union Buildings located in Tshwane, where thousands of our people had gathered to celebrate Freedom Day.

I had the privilege of joining a very small entourage as we searched for the point of entry to the park where the festival was taking place. Upon entering the park, as the President may recall, an old woman approached the President. She pointed repeatedly at her watch, gesticulating that he was late. She remonstrated and then acknowledged our President. Little did she know or realised that this visit was not a visit that had been scheduled in the programme of the President, or that he had travelled hundreds of kilometres from Orkney in the North West and had just finished a meeting in a venue located nearby. What was the response from our President? Our President did not even try to explain. Instead he gave her the most endearing, gentle and disarming smile. The effect was astounding. She embraced him affectionately, forgot about any grievances that she had and departed absolutely content.

Fa bagolo ba bua o tshwanetse go didimala. Seo ke tlotlo. [When the elders speak, you should keep quiet. That is respect.]

Loosely translated it means: When the elders speak you must be quiet. This is a sign of respect. Mr President, you displayed humility, respect and empathy. You understood the expectation and anxiety of an old citizen, unaware of the details of your programme but nonetheless with the expectation that her President would be visiting her in the capital city of this country.

I can imagine her, though, reprimanding her grandchildren about keeping time and should they dare to talk back, she would remind them that if the President could be silent when she reminded him about time, how dare they even raise their voices. People soon discovered the arrival of the President. I soon became part of the security chain protecting the President from a very excited group of people that wanted to touch and embrace him and perhaps that is a good deployment for the future President.

Thankfully the stage was not very far away. The news had reached the multitudes of people, made up especially of the youth, and there was great excitement and expectation. It is here that another remarkable event took place. The President noticed three paraplegics at the rear of the stage and went to each one of them and spoke to them very briefly. The excitement and pleasure was clearly visible on their faces. This occurred away from the glare of the crowds and it was an action that optimised the caring nature of a leader for his people, particularly those with disabilities.

As we stepped onto the stage there was the finest reception from the thousands that had gathered. The President was invited to speak. Instead he chose to dance with Mzekezeke and Solly Moholo and his group. The movements were physically rigorous, extremely challenging and certainly more difficult to accomplish than the Madiba jive. The crowd roared with delight. Mr Ebrahim Rasool will remember this - he was part of the small entourage that sat on the stage and really enjoyed the glory of our celebration and our freedom.

There was no need to superimpose a magnified image of himself on the stage, nor to use the platform to speak in the hope of hearing the masses. They loved their President. As he danced he was in perfect harmony with his audience and they were very happy that their President was celebrating Freedom Day with them.

What is remarkable about this Government is its ability to reach out and touch the lives of its citizens. We have a President who is accessible and is constantly holding iimbizo to stay in touch with them, to sustain the bond with our people, particularly at grass-roots level. It is a rare quality, which seldom occurs in other countries. Mr President, it was a privilege walking with you. It is now my pleasure and responsibility to follow you. The spirit of Oliver Tambo, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu continues in the humaneness and compassion you have demonstrated as a leader.

As I reminisce about Freedom Day, I should not forget to remember the millions of people who laid down their lives for peace and justice in both World Wars and other conflicts since then. Today is Remembrance Day and we all are remembering all the women and men who died in these conflicts, and we pay special tribute to the sacrifice for peace and justice. It is in this context that we wish also to acknowledge the sterling role that you have played, Mr President, to achieve peace in the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi. We also wish to thank you for playing a role globally in areas such as Palestine and Iraq.

Multilaterism was in fact the cornerstone for the establishment of the United Nations. A departure from this convention and practice jeopardises the very peace and stability that we seek to achieve under the banner of the United Nations. Peace may sometimes appear to be elusive, but with determination and commitment you have shown that it will and must be achieved.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the premiers, as the leaders of delegations, for the support they have extended to this particular House. We also would like to encourage local government to participate more meaningfully in the activities of the National Council of Provinces. There has been significant improvement. May we also say to our departing premiers in terms of the constitutional provisions that you have done wonderful work in your provinces and we wish you the very best in the future. It has been an honour and a privilege to participate in this debate.

The PREMIER OF THE WESTERN CAPE (Mr M C J van Schalkwyk): Chairperson, a decade may be a relatively short period of time, but ten years do much to dull the memory of specific events, specific emotions and also specific concerns. A comparison of the headlines from November 1993 with those of November 2003 speaks for itself. Let me ask you to recall with me this day a decade ago - Thursday, 11 November 1993.

One headline in a local Afrikaans paper, Die Burger, of 11 November 1993, as translated, read: Crisis SA close to war''. We had no finalised Constitution and we had no culture of human rights. South Africa was still in shock about the assassination of the late Chris Hani. It was a month in which 351 South Africans died as a result of political violence. Today that is unthinkable. It was the month that all soldiers had their leave cancelled because of the explosive situation of tension. It was two months after the revelations of a right-wing plot to kill the late Peter Mokaba, whoseKill the Boer, kill the farmer’’ call was a frequent refrain in that year. It was five months after a group of AWB right-wing fanatics drove an armoured vehicle through the front doors of the World Trade Centre. Many of us were there that day during the multiparty negotiations, raising serious concerns about a right-wing military coup attempt. It was four months before the AWB and Constand Viljoen marched into Bophuthatswana to support Lucas Mangope.

However, 11 November 1993 was by no means a time without hope. It was two days before Chester Williams made his debut in a match against Argentina. It was a week before the interim Constitution was adopted. It was a month after the UN introduced its resolution on the lifting of economic sanctions against South Africa. And it was five months after the date had been set for the first democratic elections and five months before the elections themselves.

Next Tuesday we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the interim Constitution. On the morning of 18 November 1993, the then President De Klerk had just outlined the final deal on power-sharing to an emergency Cabinet meeting. After he finished, Dr Tertius Delport, currently a DA Member of Parliament, allegedly grabbed the President by the front of his shirt and shrieked: ``What have you done? You’ve given South Africa away!’’

That attitude and approach still characterise some of the right-wing parties in South Africa today who are being dragged kicking and screaming into the new South Africa. [Laughter.] They continue to believe that equality for all means that white South Africans have somehow been diminished, when in fact all South Africans have been affirmed.

The historic agreement on the interim Constitution initially included primarily the ANC and the then NP. Some parties opted not be part of that agreement, for different reasons of course.

Although we are in 2003 a nation both bursting with potential and pride, there remain those who would return our people to the mistakes of the past. Let me read to you from a letter published only a few days ago in the Citizen newspaper: President Mbeki represents the greatest threat to black people in this country.'' In a reference to Mr Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, the letter writer continues:Once these icons of humanity and reconciliation have gone, he [President Mbeki] will be free to accelerate the destruction of the whites to the applause of his brother Mugabe.’’

I’m quite sure that the President and the ANC can fend for themselves, but this kind of racial venom stokes the fires of racial hatred in South Africa and it undercuts the building of our one nation. The letter was not written by a member of the Boeremag or the AWB or the Freedom Front-Conservative Party alliance, but by a public representative of the DA. [Interjections.] To this day he has not yet been publicly repudiated by that party or their leadership. This is from a party that portrays itself as liberal, yet the same party continues to execute a deliberate agenda of racial intolerance. Maybe this is a case where the leadership of that party practises silent diplomacy on ``swart gevaar’’ among their own ranks. [Laughter.]

There are many leaders in this country, from all communities, who are doing the opposite of what that letter writer and his party are doing. They are reaching out, listening to other communities, convincing people to share, giving reassurances and demonstrating how far we have come in just ten years.

This takes a commitment beyond simple superficial words and it was this same difficulty that was expressed in the 1960s already by the well-known Afrikaans poet and philosopher Uys Krige, in one of his lesser-known works, ``Vishoring’’:

Daarom moet ons in vrede leef, wit, bruin en swart en kind en kraai, moet ons mekaar verdra, verstaan, ja, hiersô aai en daarsô paai … Ek weet dis swaar, verbrands, maar ons moet traai om te probeer en traai … en traai … en traai …

Hierdie verbintenis word vergestalt in die sigbare vordering in so baie dele van die Suid-Afrikaanse lewe. Vir die eerste keer is daar nou eenheid in die sakesektor met die samekoms van Nafcoc, die Chamber, die AU en dies meer - ‘n eenheid wat vir eens en vir altyd wegdoen met die valse onderskeid tussen swart en wit sakebelange. Op godsdiensgebied het kerkeenheid in die afgelope weke alleen weer eens belowende tekens getoon. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[This commitment is embodied in the visible progress in so many areas of South African life. For the first time there is unity now in the business sector with the amalgamation of Nafcoc, the Chamber, the AU and suchlike - a unity that does away with the false distinction between black and white business interests once and for all. In the sphere of religion church unity has once again displayed promising signs in recent weeks alone.]

Where we have not done as well as we could and should have, is in the area of land reform. Minister Thoko Didiza is a very able Minister and has the right approach, but even she has to operate within the limits of available finances. We may well be expecting from the Minister the almost unachievable with the instruments she has been given to perform this job. Given current budget projections it seems unlikely that we will reach even one third of our target to transfer 30% of commercial agricultural land to emerging farmers by the year 2015.

Mr President, to illustrate the importance Government attaches to this issue, we request that you, as President, call for a national land summit to be convened in the early part of 2004. Such a summit should bring together the most important role-players and stakeholders in the economy such as, inter alia, existing organised agriculture, unions such as NAFU and Ubuntu, emerging farmers, farmworkers, all three spheres of government and, very importantly, the financial institutions, the Land Bank and our agricultural support and advisory services.

The aim must be to find national consensus on how we will achieve the 30% target or how close we can come; how we will address the need for greater community goodwill towards this process; how better management and better skills transfer and sharing will be achieved; how water rights and other critical issues will be approached and, most importantly, how each sector and each stakeholder can contribute to the success of South African land reform. To avoid such a summit simply becoming another forum for stating differences between stakeholders and to apportion blame, comprehensive preparation by all stakeholders will be necessary.

What we must avoid is what happens too often with well-intentioned land reform here in our own country which, instead of creating more wealth, sometimes creates poverty traps when people are simply dumped onto land without the necessary support services and the development of skills.

In 1993 our rural economy was in many ways similar to that of feudal Europe, with a few landowners and a multitude of landless workers whose lives and livelihoods depended on the goodwill of the farmers. Protection, shelter and food were approached in most cases as privileges, not rights.

By 2003 we have largely pushed back the Dark Ages with great progress made in terms of farmers and farmworkers working together to build agriculture and our rural communities. In the Western Cape we are particularly proud of the improved relationships in almost, but not all, of our farming communities. There are however, throughout the country, too many feudal elements that remain. We must continue to work to put the relationships on our farms on a footing of mutual respect and partnership.

In conclusion, in 2003 we must recall how far we have come in the building of real reconciliation. Strife has been replaced by stability, division by democracy, and pessimism by patriotism.

There is cause for celebrations of these last 10 years, but our celebrations must also be a firm acknowledgement of the challenges that remain for us to face in the next 10 and 20 years. They are challenges best faced in partnership, building our common future together. Thank you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE FREE STATE (Miss I W Direko): Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Deputy Chairperson, hon President of the Republic of South Africa, hon members of the NCOP, premiers of the provinces of the Republic of South Africa and all distinguished members present here this afternoon, the remarks by the Chairperson regarding the choice of delegates to the NCOP are appropriate. Having served in the NCOP myself, I can confidently say, in support of the Chairperson of the NCOP, that the limited number of delegates to the NCOP and the monumental load of work do impact negatively on the NCOP’s performance. It is therefore absolutely imperative that those deployed to the NCOP from the provinces should really be the cream of those respective provinces.

Today we stand on the threshold of a very important era of democratic rule in this country. Central to this period is the evident shift by this Government away from the practice of serving the privileged minority. Our services are now targeted not only at the majority, but, most importantly, at the poorest of the poor in our land.

This, however, was never going to be an easy journey, as we knew. The higher test of this maiden decade of our democracy remains how we broaden access to a better life for all our people. It is for this reason that the past nine years have always been characterised by tensions.

These tensions are naturally between those who want to preserve the old order and those who are determined to transform that old order. There were justified expectations by the poor masses of getting a better deal from the new Government on the one hand, and, of course, the critical shortage of resources on the other hand. There was also an obvious distrust of the new dispensation by the rich, predominantly white, communities, which distrust manifested itself in the immigration of financial and human resources from this country to foreign countries. The Free State government inherited a socially divided and poor province that was a bastion of apartheid, as a result of the inequitable distribution of services and resources based on the policies of the past. We were faced with the challenge of creating a new democratic and accountable institution by integrating the former Orange Free State provincial administration, parts of the Bophuthatswana homeland, Thaba Nchu, and the QwaQwa administration. Our challenge in this regard was to build a credible Public Service and a united and prosperous Free State.

As part of our building blocks in this process, we called for a new Free Stater to partner this government in making the Free State a better place. The set of values for this new Free State was to include hard work, perseverance, excellence, ethical conduct and a commitment to the creation of a better life.

Indeed, we’ve worked hard to achieve these values, and we are on track because it is through this hard work and dedication that an increasing number of our people now have access to services like health care, education, social security, housing, electricity, and other things.

Today we take pride in the achievements of this government, made possible by the Public Service infrastructure that has been built, and by the Public Service experience gathered in the past nine years. Chief amongst these are the alignment of the programmes of different departments to avoid duplication and to ensure an integrated approach to service delivery and value for public funds.

We have built a public management system that has directly impacted on service delivery. By the admission of our counterparts elsewhere in the country, our cabinet system, cluster approach and interdepartmental management system compare favourably with similar governance systems elsewhere in the world.

We continue to work hard towards economic transformation in order to improve opportunities that were hitherto not accessible to previously marginalised Free Staters. This, amongst other things, we do by exposing them to the international arena and by promoting partnerships within the business environment.

Our matric pass rate has improved from 45% to 70,7% over the past nine years. Through our holistic intervention, the number of dysfunctional schools has been reduced from 133 to only 32 over the same period.

Seventy-nine hospitals were refurbished through our hospital revitalisation programme in our quest to improve access to quality health care for our people. Similarly, our clinic building and upgrade programmes have significantly enhanced health infrastructure, particularly in our rural areas because that’s where the need is greatest.

Our fight against hunger and poverty is an ongoing one coupled with our integrated food security programme, labour-intensive programmes and social security programme. While I mention social grants, I need to indicate that we have insisted that our new social grant processing system take only 25 days. This is because there is money available - it is a question of expediting the processing of the applications of those people who are really in need. We, as Free Staters, have more or less cleared the backlog in this area.

In the Thabo Mofutsanyana district, the presidential nodal area and the Xhariep district, which is the second poorest area in the Free State, 30 000 households are being targeted for food parcels for now, not sustainably, but as an interim measure which is absolutely cardinally important. Today we have more than 460 000 beneficiaries who receive social grants, compared to 180 000 in 1997. This includes 240 000 children under the age of nine, and our uptake for social security grants as our main strategy to alleviate poverty grows by 10 000 people per month.

Many of our people now own their own houses for the first time in their lives. Our housing programme has delivered 91 496 houses in the province in the past nine years. We intend to accelerate the pace because housing gives back the human dignity of our people living in shacks.

The rehabilitation and maintenance of 48 000 km of the road network in the province has been done at a cost of R4,5 billion. Through this programme we were able to create more than 90 000 jobs. Some of these people had never worked before.

After the cash flow crisis of 1997-98, the Free State provincial government introduced tight fiscal discipline underpinned by prudent financial management. Today about 90% of our creditors are paid through direct bank deposits, minimising fraud and benefiting mostly small businesses. From a hopeless situation in which interest charges were R5,9 million, the province is now able to budget for reserves to address natural disasters and macroeconomic adjustments to avoid a negative impact on the provincial budget.

Our quest for enhanced skills profiling in this region is evidenced by the establishment of the Free State Training and Development Institute. This institute is not only intended to improve the skills of the 60 000 public servants in the province, but to serve as a pivot around which our human resources strategy will revolve. Among other things, this institute provides financial and project management, and customer care skills. The Free State Training and Development Institute will make a huge contribution to Nepad by offering training to public servants from our neighbouring countries in this region. In fact, a formal request has already been presented to the province from Angola. We hope that other provinces in the country will utilise this facility while they try to get on their feet.

Our land reform programme is way ahead of schedule, with more than 150 000 hectares having been handed over to about 23 000 beneficiaries. This is about 9% of the population of the Free State.

The Mangaung Cultural Festival, popularly referred to as Macufe, is fast gaining the status of the biggest cultural tourism event in the Southern hemisphere, after attracting 130 000 people in September 2003.

These achievements, and others not mentioned here, have been made possible owing largely to a deep commitment to improving the way government engages its stakeholders and the community in policy and decision-making so that the knowledge, wisdom and practical experience of the community sector contribute fully to policy decisions and service delivery.

Co-operative governance remains the cornerstone of the Free State provincial government. The following milestones have been achieved in this regard: the premier’s mayors forum to ensure the implementation of integrated development planning; the Provloc Forum that serves as a platform for consultation between the provincial government and municipalities; and Mecloga, in which the MEC of local government discusses day-to-day management issues with municipalities and plans intervention strategies.

At this stage I wish to make a brief reference to voter registration in the Free State. Our sense is that the past weekend was a success, albeit based on provisional figures. The Free State has about 1,7 million eligible voters with 1,1 million people on the voters’ roll. About 600 000 people have not registered. In the Free State 256 000 people came to register, or reregister, and 281 000 people visited voting stations just to check whether their names were on the voters’ roll. We therefore believe that in the Free State we are on track.

Despite what cynics and detractors may have to say, our people know and have experienced a better life in the past nine years of our democratic rule. However, we have to continue with the offensive against hunger, poverty, disease and ignorance. There is no better time to celebrate the gains of democracy than now. Indeed the tide has turned. The Free State has never been better. I thank you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTH WEST (Dr P S Molefe): Madam Chair, I am another neighbour of Gauteng … [Laughter] … so I expect the same lenience. [Laughter.]

Chairperson, hon President, hon members, this gathering is taking place at a time when the people across the length and breadth of our country are preparing to celebrate the first decade of freedom. These celebrations clearly would mark another political watershed in the unfolding process of transformation in our country. They will mark 10 years of the triumph of progress over stagnation, of unity over division and of stability over instability.

We, gathered here, are also therefore called upon to use this gathering to celebrate the achievements of the nine and a half years of our freedom, as we march towards the tenth anniversary of our liberation. We must use this gathering to reflect on the challenges we face as we advance towards the second decade of freedom.

As we cast our glance at the road we have travelled since 1994, we see the massive progress we have made in the ongoing effort to build ourselves a better country. We see growing evidence that the quality of life of our people is changing for the better. We are humbled by the fact that increasingly our people are taking an active part in the reconstruction and development of our country. We are inspired by the work of our people, in partnership with Government, to address challenges such as crime, hunger and disease.

In our province of the North West we are proud of the rural women of Kgalagadi, Mmotla, Makgabetlwane and other areas, who are working hard to make a difference in their lives and in the lives of their communities. As opposed to waiting for Government to do things for them, they have opted to be their own liberators and are seizing opportunities created by our democracy.

All this, Mr President, is in response to the call you made earlier in the year for partnership between Government and the people, and on our people to Vukuzenzele! So our people have responded to that call. In the North West we count amongst our successes the fact that we were able to merge three disparate administrations, characterised by duplication and maladministration, into one coherent administration that upholds the values of Batho Pele.

We pride ourselves on our track record of good governance and dealing decisively with corruption. We have also succeeded in uprooting the scourge of racism in our schools, on our farms and in our communities. Ours has become a province where racial harmony reigns supreme. Only a few days ago, there was a good report by the SA Broadcasting Corporation on the unity that is emerging in the small town of Vryburg and that made headlines on CNN and all other known international media of note.

That in itself suggests that, one, indeed we have moved rapidly forward in consolidating this new nation that we are building and that reconciliation is succeeding; and two, that our people have listened and understood the message that identified the challenges of working together as critical building blocks for the building of this new nation.

We are impressed by the progress we are making in upgrading access to basic services such as electricity, water and housing. Between 1994 and 1996, we completed over 497 000 new electricity connections. And between 1996 and 2000, the proportion of houses with electricity increased massively from 42% to 74%. Close to 60% of rural households in our province have access to electricity.

With regard to the provision of water, we are proud that in the period from June 1994 to 2001 the number of households with piped water inside the yard increased from 145 000 to 320 000. During the same period, households whose source of water supply was dams, rivers and rainwater tanks declined significantly.

It is also a matter of pride that in just five years of democracy we were able to build over 50 000 houses and approved housing subsidies to the value of R1,7 billion. Between 1994 and 2001 the total number of households under construction was 97 000, and 125 000 housing subsidies were issued.

As I am talking now, with regard to the land redistribution programme, based on the land restitution process, at least 92% of all the claims in the North West province have been settled. So we are left with 8%, which we believe we will reach within the target set for the end of December 2005.

We are also following the call made by the President at the beginning of the year to intensify the registration of those who qualify for social grants. We have been able to register no fewer than 92 000 between April and September this year. I agree with Premier Shilowa and other speakers that, quite clearly, as these numbers increase, they put major stress on the limited resources that we have. They do not represent the solution to the problem; it is a short-term measure that must be addressed by sustainable economic growth, the basis of which must be infrastructure development, SMME development and the acceleration of black economic empowerment.

So these are the challenges that we would need to deal with very seriously in the coming period. Hon members, these challenges clearly convince me - and I am sure all of us - that we have laid a firm basis, a firm foundation, to sustain our offensive against the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. They convince us that indeed the future continues to look qualitatively better than the past. We will therefore enter the second decade of freedom confident that, acting together, there is no challenge that we cannot overcome.

We are comforted by the knowledge that our forward march to a better life for all has gathered sufficient momentum to allow us to confront the future challenges with even greater vigour and determination. Acting together with all stakeholders, we are determined to continue finding appropriate responses to the key challenges of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment. We will not tire until the benefits of our hard-earned freedom are felt in every corner of our country.

Indeed, we will not yield until we have redeemed the pledge we made to our people, and that is the pledge to build together with them a better life for our country. A critical part of sustaining the momentum that we have begun building is to ensure that we strengthen the institutions of intergovernmental relations and co-operative governance. It is only when this is effective that we will be able to ensure better co-ordination, better co-operation, and ensure that there is mutual capacity that we build as a result of this co-operation. As a consequence of that, we would then be able to enhance the quality and quantity of services we deliver to our people.

In this regard, we must therefore continue to strengthen the system of our intergovernmental relations and our intergovernmental structures. The impressive progress made in the Kgalakgadi development node, now designated as a Nepad pilot project, is a direct result of this co-operation that I am talking about, and we must continue to consolidate that co-operation. We must take the lessons we have learned in co-operative governance with us as we continue confronting the challenges that lie ahead and as we continue to prepare for the next 10 years of democracy. I thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE EASTERN CAPE (Rev M A Stofile): Chairperson, hon Premiers, President of our country, colleagues, before 1994 when we were fighting for the liberation of this country we were always aware that the biggest challenge was not going to be the defeat of apartheid but the reconstruction of our country and the establishment of a democratic order.

From 1994 until now, our country has been blessed with leadership of great calibre, from Madiba to you, Mr President - not only our country, but our continent and the rest of the world. We have enjoyed your leadership and you have given us the kind of courage that we need at this juncture of our struggle. You inspire us and you make us very proud.

The Sunday before last, at the church established by Van Der Kemp 200 years ago, Rev Jakes Albert and his congregation prayed for you, your strength and, indeed, for clarity as you continue to guide us. On Saturday, at Ikhwezi Lokusa in Umtata, Pastor Sithole and his church prayed for you and your Government. On Sunday, at Duncanville, Bishop Siwa, preaching in that function, called upon the whole Methodist Church to pray for you, Mr President, and the leadership of this country.

This is because of what our people believe to be a special blessing, not just to South Africa but to our generation, to have the kind of leadership that will be able to lead us in the right direction and also to identify the kind of direction on our behalf, because a leadership that simply reflects its followers is not of any real advantage to those that follow it.

For this reason, Mr President, the daunting challenges of dealing with transformation and the legacy of our past do not scare us at all. We are resolved to succeed in building the South Africa of the dreams of our forebears and, indeed, of our own generation. The ups and downs of these programmes were anticipated and they cannot scare us away.

Scientific and professional institutions, independent and informed bodies show that the Eastern Cape province has not been left behind in the changes that took place between 1994 and 2003. We have made a mark, Comrade Dipico. They say that today is different from those years. Statistics South Africa 2001, the South African independent government auditors, the Intergovernmental Review and a whole lot of other reports continue to show that in some areas we are performing a little better than the average. The Public service which was composed of five different administrations from the past homelands has now been united into one motivated Public Service.

I am not saying that it is free of corruption, but I am simply saying that it is, nevertheless, a motivated Public Service which has left the squalor of demotivation and hanging of jackets on chairs when they should be doing service to our communities.

The Auditor-General indicated in 1996 that we had an overdraft of almost R3 billion, and the central Government swiftly moved in to assist us by imposing section 100 in 1997. We are proud, Mr President and colleagues, to say that our financial management ability has been spoken about in the National Assembly and in this House. It is one of the best in this country, there is no question about it. With regard to the departments that could not get proper reports from the Auditor-General previously, at least some of them have now received 100% clean slates - even the department of health, Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, got a clean slate for being able to perform properly in terms of managing our resources.

Human resource development has also integrated those citizens of our province who are not necessarily employed by Government, the unemployed and those people who have no skills whatsoever. We are proud about what we have achieved to date. Economic growth is characterised by above national growth levels in terms of the automotive sector and agriculture. These, indeed, contribute to our fight against poverty and starvation.

The schools, clinics and road constructions are some of the sectors where we are right at the top, and second to none in building and construction in this country. In housing, the report shows that we are second to KZN only. We are not satisfied with that. We think more houses still need to be built.

More children than ever before benefit from the child support grant as you called for, Mr President, on 12 January this year. More children are benefiting from the primary school nutrition programme. Again, there lies a problem, as my colleagues have said.

As we become more efficient in the management of these things, the more we are exposed to more financial pressures. We have now discovered that it is our fault - we are not blaming anybody for this - and it is the fault of our inefficiency in the past and, indeed, of our efficiency in the present that we now realise that, in the PSNP, we have been receiving a conditional grant for grade R to four when policy says we should be funded for grade R to seven. So, we have been receiving 50% of what we should have been receiving. We are not complaining, but we are saying that we get more and more efficient and as we do so, more pressures are exposed.

We are proud of our efforts at food production. When we started our mass food production programme, we were producing 50 000 tons a year. I am very excited to announce that this year we have produced 150 000 tons of grain, and that we are almost at our stated objective of producing 300 000 tons of grain by 2005.

I was travelling with Chief Matanzima last night and he said that his subjects are complaining that they now don’t have enough rooms to store their grain. There is more food than there is space to store it; be it in Cofimvaba or eNgqushwa - pineapples, chicory, maize or sweet potatoes, pumpkins or potatoes - our people are beginning to have more than they have ever had before. And we are not satisfied. We still say we must do some more.

Traditional and religious leaders, women’s groups, youth formations and people with disabilities are all participating in these initiatives. As a result, we are confident that this is the sort of sustainable development that will not only solve our food problems, but will also relieve our cities of the ever-growing squatter camps. Because these, Mr President, are people who have flooded the cities in the hope of getting a better life there. If we improve their lives from where they come, I have no doubt in my mind that we shall be able to call them back to where they belong.

I was watching the group of people who call themselves ``the landless people’’. The young lady who was announced had a surname that either comes from Butterworth or Idutywa - and she is too young to be landless anyway. I think she left her home, the land that belongs to her family because she thought that there was hope of getting land and a better life in Eikenhof. All I am saying is that this food production and agricultural performance is, no doubt, going to assist us relieve the problems of our colleagues as well.

One of the oldest schools in Port Elizabeth, Patterson High School in Korsten, has started a soup kitchen programme this week to feed their poor community members. I was there on Tuesday, and they told me that this was because they were inspired by the way in which our Government has made it possible for all sectors to participate in these programmes. Those schools that have gardens are now coming forward, they want to feed their children. Those schools that have people who can produce from their own neighbouring gardens are coming forward to say that they also want to contribute towards a better future.

Nepad is at work in our endeavours to resuscitate the Majola-Magwa tea estates. Both Ferrostaal and a group of businesspeople from Uganda have met with us twice. The next meeting is on Wednesday in Port Elizabeth to look at how to put together a joint partnership with the trustees of those skills and improve the productive and marketing capacity of those estates, because they produce good tea, but they are just being stifled by their competitors.

Mr President, I am not saying that the picture is all roses in the Eastern Cape. The road is still long. But we are willing and ready to walk it, because we have great leaders like you. We can, as long as we are afforded an opportunity to do what we think should be done.

Last but not least, we want to assure the NCOP - I cannot assure the NCOP for the Eastern Cape - on behalf of the ANC in the Eastern Cape that the delegates that we send here are some of the best cadres that we have in that province. [Applause.]

Unfortunately we cannot dictate to the other parties who to send here. But for our part we pledge, as we have done in the past, that we will continue to send our best cadres here. We have already identified the people who must come here in the next term, because we want this body to succeed. We want our voices to be expressed in no uncertain terms. We want our will to be carried equally to everybody’s will.

Madam Chairperson, congratulations on the good work done so far, I think your leadership has been outstanding and we shall be right there behind you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL (Dr L P H M Mtshali): Chairperson, I stand before you as the premier of our most populous province. KwaZulu-Natal has been the province most infected and affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic and has one of the highest rates of unemployment. However, KwaZulu-Natal is providing innovative and imaginative solutions to its problems, and it is moving by leaps and bounds towards a better future. Part of the success of KwaZulu-Natal lies in the uniqueness of its people and the political system which they have chosen to express their governance. Our political system is the expression of the willingness of our province to take charge of its destiny and deal with its problems the best it can, through the autonomy of its government.

When I spoke in this debate last year, I expressed the concern that I might not have been able to speak to you in my capacity as premier because of the effects of the floor-crossing legislation. At the time, my premiership was being undermined, not because of the will of my province but because of amendments that this Parliament intended to make to our Constitution. Some such amendments would have operated with retrospective effect to bring back into the legislature of my province members who were expelled from it because of their crossing the floor under unconstitutional legislation passed by this Parliament, in spite of our objection. The retrospective amendment had the purpose, not of taking KwaZulu-Natal through an election, but of tampering with the Constitution, and was defeated by the willingness of our province to resort to an early provincial election. By resorting to an early election, we intended to juxtapose the mandate of the people to the mischievous will of politicians to ensure that the will of the people could remain supreme.

When the constitutional amendment was passed by this House without such a retrospective provision, the crossing of the floor altered the will of the people and another attempt was made to oust the IFP premiership. Months later, it is clear that such a shift of power was the result of expediency on the side of the individuals concerned and of promises made to them by the majority party. It did not reflect fundamental issues of policy or the interests of the people of my province.

However, again, the democratic system of KwaZulu-Natal defeated political expediency and undemocratic tendencies unleashed by the laws passed by this Parliament. KwaZulu-Natal proved again to be the most vital democracy in South Africa. Political forces reorganised themselves not just to solve an immediate problem, but to forge a better future in the interest of South Africa. The partnership of like-minded parties which was formed last year between the IFP and the DA maintained the premiership there, where the electorate placed it. [Interjections.]

KwaZulu-Natal’s democracy moved forward to create the basis for a democratic alternative, which has now brought new hope for all the genuine democrats. As I stand before you, I’m conscious that my premiership is the expression of this process and the modest hopes of our democracy. Today I’m the only premier who is not directly or indirectly controlled by the majority party and who presides over the only government which is not beholden to the majority party. [Interjections.] With KwaZulu-Natal lies the hope of a vibrant democracy for the whole of South Africa. And we are committed to extending this hope to ensure that the regular dynamics of democracy may one day become a reality in all provinces in this Parliament.

This past weekend the President campaigned in KwaZulu-Natal and called on the people to elect a new premier in April. [Interjections.] One needs to ask oneself what that would do to our democracy. Perhaps the President would prefer a premier who would not question in this venue why the agreement with the global fund to receive international assistance for the treatment of HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis has not yet been signed in spite of the plight of millions. Perhaps some people would prefer silence from the only voice today which is questioning why Cabinet cannot find the time to receive and process the report on the roll-out of antiretroviral drugs, which was due by last September - as if this matter was not urgent in spite of our people dying in their thousands.

It may also be convenient to silence the voice which questions why the IFP- ANC coalition in KwaZulu-Natal has collapsed. I must set the record straight on how much we did to make the IFP-ANC coalition work and to promote reconciliation. The IFP believed in its partnership with the ANC at all levels. While the partnership worked better at the national level, KwaZulu-Natal has been the venue where this partnership proved its shortcomings and inimical effect towards the long-term interest of our democracy.

Ten years ago it was formally agreed that the monarchy of KwaZulu-Natal would be recognised and accommodated within the parameters of the new South Africa. This was one of the items that the IFP-ANC KwaZulu-Natal coalition was duty-bound to deliver on. Yet, after 10 years, nothing has been done for our monarchy, and the record of history shows a stream of broken promises and switched positions. The latest of these was the KwaZulu-Natal Royal High Commission Bill, which was meant to strengthen our monarchy and was duly approved by the Cabinet, but was then stopped by the ANC leaders during the parliamentary process.

This matter affects the majority of the people of our province who wish the monarchy to be recognised. It shows how the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is not pursuing the agenda of meeting the wishes of our province but rather that of serving what is wanted, wished and decided nationally. There is no doubt that if the IFP didn’t hold the premiership, the entire issue of the monarchy would be dropped together with any KwaZulu-Natal perspective when dealing with KwaZulu-Natal issues and situations. I hope that one day such a provincial perspective may inspire the work of all premierships, thereby fulfilling the constitutional vision.

In KwaZulu-Natal, we unanimously approved a constitution for the province at a provincial level but when the issue was conceded by the national ANC, the provincial constitution was rejected and its certification opposed even though it contained compromises which would have accommodated everyone, including cultural councils important for the IFP and the NP; provisions on the monarchy accepted by everyone; and a number of features aimed at ensuring better and more effective governance in our province. Also, on that occasion, a national perspective obliterated a provincial vision crafted over two years of negotiation.

Our democracy needs the type of pluralism which the perspective of provincial autonomy can contribute. Without it our democracy will wither away and issues such as the monarchy of KwaZulu-Natal, which are important to the people, will be neglected merely because they are not important to the rulers. Issues such as the war on HIV/Aids would have no champions in a venue such as this, in spite of millions suffering from HIV/Aids, merely because everyone else feels compelled not to challenge what is obviously utterly wrong.

I’ve been brought up in a culture of respect but I have learnt that the most important measure of respect should not be for those who are above us, but for those who depend on us and have placed their trust in us. The people of my province trust me to come to this venue and ask: Where are the antiretroviral drugs which would have been made available to them years ago? And, why has Government not yet fully complied with the order of the Constitutional Court to make nevirapine available to all mothers to prevent the transmission of HIV/Aids to their newborn babies?

The people of my province trust me to raise the issue and question why Government has failed to generate employment as if this was never one of its real priorities, and why it has neglected to take the many measures which are available to curb crime and corruption. [Interjections.] The people of my province also want to know why poverty alleviation programmes are not working; and why Government has not prioritised measures for fighting poverty in rural areas.

Our democracy is about raising the issues of this time clearly, without fear or prejudice, and openly discussing them in a debate of this nature. Without this difference of views, this debate would be a single-tonality chorus singing a requiem for the many hopes for freedom, democracy and pluralism which arose at the dawn of our new Republic almost 10 years ago. I thank you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Mr E M Dipico): Chairperson, hon President, members of the House, colleagues, we have come a long way since the democratic breakthrough in April 1994. We have listened to our colleagues demonstrate that we have come a long way.

What my hon colleague Premier Mtshali has just demonstrated to us is that we still have a long way to go. [Laughter.] What a long way to go! When I was appointed as the premier of the province, people started to ask questions about delivery or about their pension not being paid on time, about school teachers not being there, about nurses who are not in the wards where the patients are, and about children passing matric and not getting jobs. I can’t blame God. I can’t blame somebody else. I must take full responsibility. The buck stops in my office. In the Northern Cape we speak Afrikaans and we say: ``‘n Man maak ‘n plan.’’ [A man makes a plan.]

We have to go out and solve those problems. That is why we are premiers. That’s why we have powers vested in us in terms of the Constitution. We have a responsibility as leaders to answer the people who trust in us by saying: ``Ek gaan ‘n plan maak.’’ [I am going to make a plan.]

You have to create the jobs. You have to get the drug. You have to go out and find a drug, even if it is a Disprin. Go and find a drug, that is your responsibility. I am only disturbed when we sit here as the leadership of this country, nine years down the line, and this language comes in this fashion, that we have to go and account to the people, that we pass the buck.

We enjoy the privileges as premiers - driving up and down and all the niceties - but when we are asked pertinent questions we talk in general about the majority party. [Applause.] For example, we are asked very simple questions like: ``Why don’t we have jobs?’’ But when good things do happen to us - when the President signs a certificate to give me land as a premier

• I don’t say: ``Thank you, President.’’ When my hon colleague accepted his title deed the other day, getting land for himself and his family, not for the people of KZN, he did not thank the President. It is important for us to be honest and sincere as people who have grown up in this country.

Thank you very much. I have met people who are older than me before. When I was at the University of Fort Hare, I met hon Premier Stofile, driving up and down to Grahamstown in his car. He stopped for me, and he told me that even if things were bad, I had to tell the truth. It is now the time that we must learn to tell the truth. Go and tell people that you have failed them. You can’t be premier for life. The time has come. [Applause.]

The President of South Africa must have a scorecard for all of us, because we perform these duties on his behalf. When we don’t perform, he can see the graph going down. Yes, we say the people must speak. The people will speak next year. They have to speak. If we have to account to them we say other things.

But, Mr President, there are good things happening in our country. We are proud, as a province, that we have managed to make a contribution, small as it is, in the Northern Cape to transform the lives of our people. We can say we have travelled a journey. Today the Northern Cape has an identity. We had no infrastructure and no administration. We were part of the old Cape Provincial Administration consisting of the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. We were unknown. No one gave us a chance that we would succeed. It was a challenge to unite the people of the biggest province. Its land consists of 30% of this country. We had to travel and bring the Nama, the San, the Koran and the Griqua people in. Everybody today has a sense of belonging that they are ``Noord-Kaap mense’’ - Northern Cape people. That is good for us. It is good for democracy.

When I started on that fateful day, that first day as a premier, there was no place to get a cheque. There was no place even to get a spoon to make tea. We could not call the President of South Africa to get a spoon for us. That time the office of the Cape Provincial Administration was in the Western Cape. The premier then was Premier Kriel, the former premier of the Western Cape. I called him and said that the budget was in Cape Town and asked him to send us money to buy teaspoons. He said: ``Send a requisition.’’ [Laughter.] That is what he told me. Send a requisition, and I complied and sent one. He bought the teaspoons here and sent them by courier to the Northern Cape. [Laughter.]

I said that there were no toilet rolls. He said: ``Send a requisition.’’ [Laughter.] He bought them here and sent them there. I had to travel and come and fight. Strong language had to be used in Afrikaans. As I was still busy with him, trying to resolve the problems of the division of assets of the Eastern Cape, and so on … [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Hon Premier, could you please wrap up?

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Mr E M Dipico): Look at the time, it is 12 minutes. [Interjections.] The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! There is a problem with my stopwatch, but the Secretary has corrected it. Could you please continue?

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Mr E M Dipico): Chairperson, how much time do I have?

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Please continue.

The PREMIER OF THE NORTHERN CAPE (Mr E M Dipico): Chairperson, I was still trying to get a record of those assets when we were informed that the premier was no longer Kriel; it was Morkel. We came back to negotiate, and he constituted a task team. When I came back, he was no longer there. It was another premier, Premier Marais. I met him two weeks ago and I said to him: What happened, Premier?'' He said: My premiership was stolen.’’ [Laughter.] I cannot understand him. But today I am proud, hon President, that the issue of the assets has been resolved. Thank you very much, Premier Van Schalkwyk. Thank you very much for your leadership.

Today we are also proud that the Nepad spirit is alive in the Northern Cape. Together with Namibia we have a joint team working towards utilising the Orange River, and ensuring that we grow and bring life to our people and create many jobs. Regarding the grape industry of the Northern Cape, we have taken the farmers into Namibia to grow the grapes, also in other parts. As you know, in the old South Africa that whole river belonged to South Africa. In this new democracy we had to halve that border to ensure that the border runs in the middle of that river. Then we could develop that growth. That is going very well according to a report.

The Mier and Kgalagadi people are very thankful to say that their dignity has been restored. As indigenous people, as Khoisan people, they got back large tracts of land through your assistance, hon President. They got ownership of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. They got electricity through the Nampower initiative through which we draw electricity from Namibia. They got sanitation and water. Their children now also study in English. They also study the Nama and San languages. That is very good. We got them teachers. They also have a radio station brought to them by the SABC. It is managed by their own children who have been trained, and they speak to their own people. That is the dignity we have restored to our people.

We have ensured that the flying doctor scheme will take the specialists to all those faraway places. We have removed cataracts from the old people. With the specialist there, one ouma woke up after the operation. They removed the cotton wool from her eyes and when she looked for the first time, she said that after eight years she could see a person. And I was the first person to be next to her and she said: ``Nei man, ek het nie geken jy is so nie.’’ [No, man, I did not know you were like that.]

She was really confused. She thought I was her husband, because she had not seen her husband for eight years. [Laughter.] She said that God had performed a miracle. When I explained to her that I was the premier, she said: ``Ek glo dit nie. Jy is ‘n engel.’’ You are an angel sent by God. This is the type of expression you hear when you go to the people and when you go to iimbizo. The people express happiness for the things we do when we speak to them and govern with them.

Various projects have unfolded of partnerships with the farmers in the grape industry. We even build roads together with the mining houses. We have been building roads and contributing 50-50. We will continue with this. We say to the hon President that this is the time that we should unfold the extended Public Works Programmes. They have a chance to succeed. What is important is for all of us to move, as provinces and municipalities, with speed. That is the implementation arm. We are called upon as leadership to rise to the occasion.

Project management is one of the key elements to make these projects move faster. We think of the private sector. We will also speak to the mining houses to second some of the people in project management to ensure that these projects can kickstart immediately without hiccups. These are issues which we believe can make a difference. Another suggestion, hon President, when we deal with these public works: We have a lot of mines throughout this country which are unrehabilitated dumps. Together with the mining houses we could undertake the labour- intensive projects of flattening those dumps and making the environment much friendlier. That is also a good partnership, we believe, we can bring to our people.

The learnerships of the youth do deal with one big problem. Many youths tell us that when they finish their matric, diploma or degree, employers immediately ask of them to have experience. They do not have that experience. They ask where they should get that experience. The learnerships have closed that gap. It is important that education at institutions of higher learning should ensure that there are programmes that prepare children to be employable. It is important that those very degrees can speak to the labour market, so that it will be able to absorb these people.

We believe through this work we can only see a better South Africa for the coming years. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Dr Z L MKHIZE (KwaZulu-Natal): Mhlonishwa [Chairperson], His Excellency the President, may I thank the President for a very inspiring address.

Of course, if any of us were to roll back time and take a glimpse at 1993, one year before our day of freedom and democracy, few of us would have been able to guess where we would be after the first decade of freedom. The violence, the tension, the fear, the uncertainty and instability of the time simply faded away in our memories.

If South Africa were a patient then, we would have diagnosed it as having a very poor prognosis indeed. Fortunately, we had very good leadership and 10 years in the life of any nation is a very short space of time. But today we count amongst our virtues the peaceful climate, the political and economic stability, our world-renowned Constitution, and today we enjoy the confidence of political stability to an extent that we have no sleepless nights even though the high security treason trial of the Boeremag is in progress in Pretoria. Anyone who may suggest that there is a threat of a coup can only be laughed at as daydreaming.

I thought that we would be dealing with issues that relate to the province in a different way, but it would appear that the NCOP does not need to come to KwaZulu-Natal to enjoy our vibrant debate, seeing that we are going to be bringing it into this debate.

The unfortunate thing is that the premier has largely represented the views of the IFP component of KwaZulu-Natal, with which the ANC differs markedly. Firstly, the coalition government of the ANC and IFP was done to promote service delivery, not to guarantee or save any position. The ANC voluntarily withdrew the premiership candidature of Comrade Sbu Ndebele, which Roger Burrows contested, and the IFP needed the ANC in order to get the premiership. It was our considered decision to assist and support the IFP in that regard. It was not an act of folly on our part, and 40% does not allow any party to choose a premier if it does not have 50% plus.

The law on crossing the floor was passed in Parliament and, of course, whether we like it or not, it is a democratic law and there is nothing immoral about it. Some parties and many did benefit from this Act. The ANC is of course not an NGO. It’s a political party which contests elections in all positions. In KwaZulu-Natal, like any other part, the ANC is a democratic party and it does not operate on the basis of control from anywhere.

The basis of the deterioration of the ANC-IFP relations actually arose because certain IFP leaders actually frustrated the ten-a-side process and they reneged on a coalition government. The issue of the constitution of KwaZulu-Natal was, in fact, dismissed in the Constitutional Court. The court said that it was fatally flawed and that it had very exotic ideas which were not in keeping with the Constitution of the country. Furthermore, the basic understanding of law would make us understand that that constitution would have been rejected in any case.

The second effort of the constitution failed, again as far as the ANC is concerned, because of the IFP. Prof Khubisa, who is a member of the IFP, was the chairperson of the committee. It actually did not operate until it was disbanded three years later.

We also believe that the Royal High Commission Bill was an implementable proposition, and the ANC passed a resolution recommending a parliamentary councillor to His Majesty to actually assist the IFP in the process because we had agreed with the proposal of getting someone to represent His Majesty. So we do not agree with most of the things that have been said.

However, KwaZulu-Natal, despite the existence of a fractious and sometimes tumultuous coalition government, has also seen an advent of peace and relative stability. Violence, though not entirely eradicated, has significantly receded to open the way for economic development, new investment and a boost to tourism. There are challenges to face, particularly the one of pushing back the frontiers of poverty. We are heartened by the finalisation of the plan to implement the Public Works Programme. We await its implementation with eagerness.

The issue which the President spoke about, namely Zibambele, is actually one of our areas of pride in the province. At the moment, they estimate that it offers jobs to about 28 000 people, and it really makes a difference between life and death.

Service delivery has also improved. With regard to health, in 1994 we saw 1,6 million people annually in the clinics and today we are seeing 18 million, and 5 000 community health workers promote health in villages where there are no health facilities for tens of kilometres. Therefore the provision of water, sanitation, houses, social grants and so on has actually reduced the impact of the burden of diseases on our people.

The severe impact of poverty, HIV/Aids and other preventable infections can only be reversed significantly by improving the socioeconomic status of all those who are in the second economy that the President referred to. Those are the ones who die of HIV/Aids, cholera, TB and malaria in our province, and we are therefore grateful for all the decisions that the Cabinet has taken, particularly on the financial commitment and in relation to HIV/Aids. We therefore also need to mobilise our people, in the spirit of Vukuzenzele, to actively participate in their own upliftment in partnership with Government.

Our real challenge, for example, on the issue of antiretrovirals, is care for patients once they leave the hospital, where the communities must now come forward as volunteers and care-givers and so on, because that is the area which has no nurses or doctors to supervise patients. It is in that kind of spirit that our people need to understand that it’s not only about what the hospitals can do, but it’s also about what they themselves could also be doing. The other issue which I believe is also important to raise is that the international standing of South Africa has significantly improved. Its people are represented in more countries than the previous regime ever imagined was possible, having become the champion of developing countries within and outside the continent. And on that basis, we believe that there is an obligation on our Government to deal with this issue. We therefore do not understand the basis on which some of the opposition leaders are complaining when the President and the Ministers are fulfilling this task.

I think they have actually not shifted from the mindset of the apartheid times and they are looking at the new South Africa through the eyes of the old apartheid regime, which was not wanted anywhere in the world. Thank you. [Applause.]

The PREMIER OF MPUMALANGA (Mr N J Mahlangu): Chairperson, His Excellency the President of the country, hon premiers and members of the House, we are gathered here today to look back at the nine years of great achievements.

Indeed we can say we have achieved a better life through effective implementation of Government programmes and the delivery of services that respond to the needs and expectations of our people. It will not be possible for us to measure how far we have travelled down the road of a better life without looking back at what we inherited from the past nine years.

When we look back, we find that the majority of the people in Mpumalanga were living in rural areas with no source of income. Many communities had no basic facilities such as water reticulation, bulk water supply, electricity, proper sanitation, roads and streets, recreational facilities or housing. There was an inequitable allocation of social grants founded on a discriminatory practice, and based on gender and race.

In the health sector there was a lack of adequate health facilities, health personnel and basic health services such as primary, preventive and curative health facilities. The majority of schools were overcrowded, underresourced and had no proper buildings. This skimpy and skewed distribution of resources was also felt on the farms. Apart from being exploited, farmworkers had no access to basic facilities such as clean water, schools, health institutions, electricity or recreational facilities.

We also inherited an economy that relied heavily on the natural environment with very little beneficiation of the natural resources with which the province is endowed. Since 1994, our major challenge has been to eradicate poverty and thus improve the lives of our people. One way to do this was to transform the fragmented and discriminatory social security system. Through careful planning, the number of social grant beneficiaries has grown rapidly to 395 722. These include old age benefits; war veterans’ payouts; and disability, care, dependency and child support grants. Child protection is a key priority of the province. Thousands of children are reached annually through awareness campaigns on children’s rights and parental responsibilities.

Great strides have been made in the provision of health services to the people of Mpumalanga, specifically through taking health care facilities to the rural poor areas of the province. Secondary and specialised health services were nonexistent in 1994, but with the intergovernmental agreement between South Africa and Cuba, as well as the joint contracts between Mpumalanga and the University of Pretoria and Medunsa, the province has developed basic capacity to provide this essential service.

The introduction of community service doctors and other health professionals in our primary health care facilities and district hospitals has improved the accessibility and quality of health care. There are 239 fixed primary health care facilities and 80 mobile clinics. Since 1994, 19 new clinics have been built and seven clinics are in the process of construction. There are now 22 district hospitals and six were declared baby-friendly by the World Health Organisation and Unicef. Those are Themba, Barberton, Bethal, Witbank, Delmas and Shongwe hospitals.

The primary school feeding scheme programme, which started in 1995 when 350 000 learners were fed, has grown and now provides for 1 325 needy schools comprising 460 000 primary school learners. The programme also provides work to a number of people. More than 2 200 unemployed women receive honorariums per feeding day. There are more children receiving quality education at well-equipped schools than there were nine years ago. We have enhanced the provision of learner support materials, infrastructure, scholar transport, scholar feeding, and the general quality of teaching and learning.

More than 2 million people now receive clean water in the province. We continue to house our people in decent houses that they can call their own. A total of 113 771 units were built and transferred since 1994 to date. More than 345 553 new households have been provided with electricity. We have been able to do this and more because we are in constant touch with the people. Since 1999, the Mpumalanga executive council has been holding fortnightly outreach programmes in different regions of the province. The executive council outreach programmes and imbizo’s were most enlightening and educative. A total of 64 sessions of the outreach programmes were held and a total of 512 communities visited.

Being largely a rural province, we have made great strides in improving the relationship between Government and traditional leaders in the province. As a province, we have brought services closer to the people by utilising traditional authority offices for Government functions such as processing applications for old age grants, disability and child support grants. We have also provided transport for the traditional leaders. The Department of Home Affairs has trained all our provincial officials whom we have deployed in the offices of the traditional leaders. They now process applications for identity documents as well as birth and death registrations.

The youth in our province have not been idle. They are involved in a number of community-based projects which include the rehabilitation of dilapidated houses in Nsikazi, Nkomazi, Elukwatini, Mooiplaas and Nhlazatshe. They are also involved in five poverty alleviation projects in Mbuzini, Leroro, Moutse, Moretele and Nhlazatshe. Our youth also participate in the premier’s special projects, valued at R131,978 million. To date, up to 12 youth companies have successfully tendered and completed work allocated to them. The question of these allocations was due to lack of water and road construction in the rural areas.

When we realised the situation of the lack of skills in the fields such as mathematics, science, technology and engineering, we initiated the establishment of the Premier’s Bursary Fund to deal with this matter. The bursary fund was established to cater for the pupils of Mpumalanga who have excelled and showed strong potential in the fields of mathematics, science and technology. The bursaries are awarded on merit and the recipients will be carried through until they complete their studies. They will have to utilise their knowledge for a particular period in the province.

In order to fight poverty the province initiated a number of poverty alleviation programmes. One of the first poverty alleviation initiatives embarked on was to address rural poverty among women with children under five years of age. Part of the five poverty relief programme objectives of the Mpumalanga provincial government is the development of household food security through the establishment of food production clusters in communities, with a particular focus on households affected by HIV/Aids.

We have also gone a long way in improving the economy of the province and in the process created much-needed jobs. For instance, we have established petrochemical projects as well as wood and forestry projects, mining projects, agriprocessing and other projects valued at more than R2 billion which provide employment to more than 2 000 people.

That is, briefly, what we would like to say. But we acknowledge that more needs to be done in order to ensure that we create a better life for all and, of course, we will continue on this noble course. I thank you. [Applause.]

Father S MKHATSHWA (Salga): Chairperson, the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to come and share with you some of our own thoughts regarding the progress that we have made over the past 10 years. Now, unlike other speakers, we are not going to be giving you too much detailed information, too many statistics, for the simple reason that we have a limited amount of time.

Also, another reason is that every year each and every municipality must prepare an annual report with detailed information about the progress made on their different responsibilities. We have just produced what is called a mid-term report, which is a report on the past two and a half years since we came into office - especially those of us who are in municipalities.

Thank you very much also, Comrade Naledi, for expressing a wish to see more of us. Definitely! We love this forum. It is very important. That is why from time to time we send all kinds of people and members of Salga to participate in the debate. However, you said something that I thought was even more interesting. Somehow you alluded to a debate that we have been having, namely, that we feel as Salga, that whilst it is good for us to be members here, we also want to enjoy full membership with a right to vote. So, I thought that was what you were probably indirectly suggesting. [Laughter.] And we welcome that very much.

Secondly, I, being a man of the cloth, also just want to point out that there is a verse in the Bible that says that when you are invited you must stay right at the back until you are invited to come up. [Laughter.] So that is exactly what I did.

On 24 May 1994, in his first state of the nation address, President Mandela stated that the time had come for us to define for ourselves what we wanted to make of our shared destiny. He mapped out a vision for that destiny where he emphasised Government’s commitment to creating a people-centred society bound to the pursuit of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear.

This year, President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address, reflected on the hard work over the past few years which has laid the basis for a better life for all. He emphasised that at the centre of a better life for all is the eradication of poverty and the fundamental transformation of our society into one that is nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous.

The social statistics of the Ten-Year Review confirm the rewards of Government’s progress towards ensuring that better life that was effectual. The state has become people-centred. Programmes to alleviate poverty have brought improvement in the lives of millions of people. As our President said earlier this year, truly, the tide has turned, but as emphasised in the review, there are still some major challenges that need to be addressed as we enter the second decade of freedom.

Ten years ago our challenge was to gain an understanding of what we needed to do to transform our society and to eliminate poverty. Today we are beginning to see the benefits of our policies, legislation and transformation initiatives. Today our challenge is not about what we need to do, but about how to do it better.

At the heart of improving our performance is the issue of capacity - capacity to implement, capacity to deliver and capacity to govern. Our challenge is to gain a better understanding of how to develop our capacity and how to improve our performance.

The local sphere of government is at the coalface of delivering a better life for all. Over the past few years local government has been through a substantial transformation process: from the first democratic elections in 1995, through the interim phase, while local government awaited constitutional finalisation of its form, as well as awaiting the new local government policies, legislation and outcome of the demarcation of municipal boundaries.

Being at the coalface of Government obviously means that when people see local government practitioners and the leadership, they see Government. That is why they will ask us: ``Where are the schools and the clinics?’’ They will ask us about social grants, they will ask about all sorts of things and services that are provided - sometimes at national or provincial level.

They do not understand what we mean by competences of provinces or of national Government. Hence the need for us, all three spheres of government, to work much closer together. I am happy to announce that in some provinces this is beginning to happen already. Our experience has shown that for many public representatives IDP is still the business of local government - it really has very little to do with them; we see IDP as a planning instrument for all three spheres of government. Hence the need for what is now being called the intersphere IDP. It will help to slow down the fragmentation and lack of co-ordination that still sometimes characterise our work.

As local government practitioners, implementing the new legislative framework for local government, we are increasingly finding that municipalities are experiencing enormous difficulties in complying with the new requirements. In particular, certain sections of the Municipal Systems Act pose a major challenge for municipalities.

It is one of the situations where some laws are now beginning to deliver unintended consequences, and therefore our idea now is to look at all the pieces of legislation that have impacted on local government, to see to what extent we can get them amended in such a way that they help us to enhance service delivery.

Local government is still dealing with unfunded mandates. What are the challenges that are facing us? There is also the problem of functions being delegated where there is insufficient capacity at the local level to fulfil these functions effectively.

The findings of Census 2001, updated in 2003, illustrate a number of trends, including rapid urbanisation, as well as an increasing number of households. All these, again, are challenges that we are facing. I therefore say that there is an urgent need to review equitable share allocations so that these allocations more accurately reflect the population statistics. We are in discussion with National Treasury with regard to some of these issues.

We remain committed to our millennium targets for water, sanitation, housing, electrification, repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure. However, we will not be able to meet these targets if capital investments remain at current levels.

We need to have capacity in order to deliver. The good Latinists say: Nemo dat quod non habet. I am sure some of you will remember that. ``No one can give that which they do not have.’’ So, if authorities do not have the resources, the capacity to deliver the services, well obviously, that is not going to happen.

Another challenge that we obviously have to face is inadequate communication. This applies, I suppose, to all three spheres of government. Excellent work has been identified as having been done in the 284 municipalities. But there are also quite a number of boo-boos that one encounters - you know, glaring mistakes - because people who are active, people who get things done, who work, will sometimes make mistakes.

But what Salga has done, is to come up with a new strategy, namely, that we need to encourage peer review. The municipalities and their leadership must themselves try to sort out problems that may crop up from time to time, rather than wait for a national or provincial intervention. That should happen only when there is a genuine need for it to be done, as provided for in law.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me just mention one or two other points that perhaps are not always mentioned when we discuss delivery. There are certain intangible deliverables that this Government has delivered on. I say intangible, because we cannot always quantify them.

How do you, for instance, quantify the feeling of dignity that many of our people have experienced? They now have self-worth, a pride in what and who they are, in being South Africans. They are no longer called piccaninnies'' orboys’’ or things like that. They have a feeling of respect, of being respected. Instead of being called ``Mister’’, we were referred to as Bantuman so-and-so. Those kinds of things are no longer happening now, thanks to this Government.

Yes, we concentrate on the physical and material wellbeing of people, their economic wellbeing. That we have to continue to do and intensify, but I am merely saying that there are other more hidden or spiritual realities that have made a difference in the lives of the people.

Finally, I saw a picture of a grisly old man hugging the President some time last week. When I looked at the eyes of that old man, I am sure that what went on in his heart was: Here is my leader, the leader of the country. I can touch him, I can greet him. He is not out there on television. He is like us, he is one of us.

I am also quite aware that some children have been visiting the President. Again, this is something that is very interesting. Where do you find children coming to spend three or four hours with the President, arguing with him and so forth. Again, that influences the way people think and feel and relate to one another.

There is even more racial integration in our institutions, including even Correctional Services. I have visited hospitals and I have seen black and white patients, black and white criminals staying together, working together. And I said to myself, this would never have happened before 1994.

Moral regeneration is the last factor. It is also very important, although intangible, but it is there. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [Applause.]

Me E C GOUWS: Agb Voorsitter, agb President, agb premiers en lede van die provinsies, gun my net die geleentheid om ook my gelukwense oor te dra aan die Oos-Kaapse premier, ``Stoffel’’. Dit is ons premier en dit is ons troetelnaampie vir hom. Baie geluk met jou verkiesing, premier Stofile.

Dan wil ek ook net sê hoe teleurgesteld ek is met die swak smaak wat deur een van die premiers geopenbaar is deurdat hy hierdie platform gebruik het om politieke munt te wil slaan. Dit lyk vir my werklikwaar die DA is besig om sommige mense nagmerries te gee. Maar laat ons nie almal daal tot daardie vlak nie.

Geagte President, dit is goed om stil te staan en ‘n terugblik te gee op die eerste dekade van demokrasie. Daar was baie positiewe veranderinge waarvoor ons u krediet wil gee. Vir die eerste keer was Suid-Afrika werklik deel van die wêreld en veral die sogenaamde ``global village’’. Dit was eensklaps wonderlik om ‘n Suid-Afrikaner te wees. Ons het die Wêreldrugbybeker gewen in die goeie ou dae van ‘95, en daarna die Afrika- sokkerbeker. Ons spreekwoordelike beker het oorgeloop van vreugde en trots. Almal het ons land en die vreedsame oorgang na demokrasie aangeprys en geloof. Suid-Afrika se toekoms het blink gewink. Baie mense het baie seergekry, maar ook baie mense het gewys wat ware vergifnis is. Ons demokrasie het gewerk, maar daar was baie groeipyne.

Die eerste vyf jaar was ons nog vrolik op die golf van bevryding en toe, meneer die President, het u die leisels oorgeneem. Dit was in dié tyd wat ons rand ‘n nuwe laagtepunt bereik het, maar toe ook weer skitterend herstel het. Ons rentekoers het gedaal en op die oomblik is die inflasiekoers gerieflik laag. Goeie werk, meneer die President. U geniet die respek en die agting van die wêreld daarbuite, maar u moet nie u eie land opoffer vir die agting van die mense daarbuite nie. Vanaf April 2002 tot einde Maart 2003, het u 30 buitelandse reise onderneem. Dít is ‘n gemiddeld van 2,5 reise per maand. Agb President, dit kos baie geld. U reise toon ‘n oorbesteding van byna R2,6 miljoen op die Presidensie se begroting van R138,7 miljoen. Suid-Afrika se mense soek u híér. Hier in Suid-Afrika het ons genoeg probleme wat eers opgelos moet word en ons het te min geld daarvoor. Daar is ‘n Afrikaanse uitdrukking wat sê: ``‘n Leier moet vuur in sy hart hê en ‘n kompas in sy kop.’’ Dit beteken, die vuur in die hart moet jou mense warm maak, hul naby jou hou en die kompas in die kop, wel, dié moet die regte roete aanwys om jou mense te lei. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Ms E C GOUWS: Hon Chairperson, hon President, hon premiers and members from the provinces, allow me the opportunity also to convey my congratulations to the premier of the Eastern Cape, “Stoffel”. He is our premier and this is our pet name for him. Congratulations on your election, Premier Stofile.

Then I would also just like to say how disappointed I am with the bad taste manifested by one of the premiers when he used this platform to score political points. It seems to me that the DA is really giving some people nightmares. But let us not all sink to that level.

Hon President, it is good to pause and look back on the first decade of democracy. There were many positive changes for which we want to give you credit. For the first time South Africa was truly part of the world and especially the so-called global village. Suddenly it was wonderful to be a South African. We won the Rugby World Cup in the good old days of ‘95, and then the Africa Cup for soccer. Our proverbial cup was running over with happiness and pride. Everybody praised our country and our peaceful transition to democracy. South Africa’s future beckoned brightly. Many people had been badly hurt, but many people also showed what true forgiveness was. Our democracy worked, but there were many growing pains.

The first five years we were happily riding the wave of liberation and then, Mr President, you assumed the reins. It was during this time that our rand hit a new low, but then also recovered spectacularly. Our interest rate dropped and at the moment the inflation rate is comfortably low. Good work, Mr President! You enjoy the respect and esteem of the outside world, but don’t sacrifice your own country for the respect of the people out there. From April 2002 up to the end of March 2003 you have undertaken 30 foreign visits. That is an average of 2,5 visits per month. Hon President, it costs a lot of money. Your travels show an over-expenditure of almost R2,6 million on the budget of the Presidency, which is R138,7 million. The people of South Africa want you here. Here in South Africa we have enough problems that must be solved first and for which we don’t have enough money. There is an Afrikaans saying that goes: “A leader must have fire in his heart and a compass in his head.” It means, the fire in your heart must warm your people, must keep them close to you and the compass in the head, well, it must show the right direction in which to lead your people. [Interjections.]]

Hon President, life is always about choices. It is about what you regard as important. More often than not, it is a question of what you regard as the most important amongst all the important matters. It is thus about preferences and priorities. That is true for any person, but especially so for leaders. Our personal choices as individuals affect ourselves and a small circle of family and maybe friends. However, the choices made by a leader are of much greater significance.

When it comes to a president, his choices have a profound effect on a whole country and all its people. Mr President, do you realise how your choices, in other words, your preferences, affect government policy and government actions? Do you realise how your choices affect the lives of the citizens?

Let me point out a few examples. There is your choice of preferring arms to the alleviation of poverty. Think of the millions who could have gained from the money you preferred to spend on sophisticated arms. [Interjections.] I do not see dark clouds of war on the horizon for the immediate future at least. Why not rather keep your people warm with a fire in your heart than blast them away with the fire of a gun? [Interjections.]

Then secondly, there is your choice of preferring not to see, on the one hand, the sea of corruption and, on the other hand, the sea of malnutrition and suffering children. [Interjections.] No person can survive if the little grant they are entitled to is not being paid out because some corrupt official forced their hands into the social development purse. Please eradicate corruption and the enrichment of the few to the detriment of the needy. [Interjections.]

Thirdly, the choice of vigorously implementing affirmative action, instead of opting for the development and training of all our people, leaves many of your young South Africans bewildered and depressed. These young people did not have a hand in history. Yet they are the ones who bear the brunt of the decision; they have no choice other than to look for work in a foreign country. They have study loans to pay, they have a family back home to support and they want to save for the day when they can afford to buy property in the land of their birth. [Interjections.] They are young, loyal South Africans.

Chairperson, I need your protection. My comrade here next to me is … [Applause.] They are young, loyal South Africans. They are our sunshine ambassadors. Yet your decision to deny them their right to vote in the next election with the excuse of ``not an affordable operation’’ is unbelievable. Some time, somehow, we must get our priorities right. If this country is to become a world leader, which is what it should be, then we must care about all the people and respect their rights. Only then will everybody be enthusiastic about creating a great South Africa.

We regret your choice to rely on the indefensible policies of a Minister instead of insisting on proper medical care. Garlic, olive oil, African potato and lemon cannot cure Aids. Now comes the rather late reaction to the threat of Aids instead of immediately countering the pandemic. While we were accusing each other and fighting about the reasons why Aids is with us, hon President, your people, my people, died. This country simply cannot afford this. We want to see the fire in your heart save our people from pain and suffering.

Hon President, we may differ on ways of how things should be done, but believe me, we all want the best for this country. [Interjections.] That is why we are here. We are concerned, loyal South Africans. [Interjections.]

When I was in Tanzania a year or two or three ago, as an observer during the elections, I had the opportunity to visit the head office of a woman’s organisation. Women’s organisations will always be close to my heart. [Interjections.] This visit proved that the Tanzanian women were no exception. Women, after all, form the backbone of society. The poster that those ladies displayed on their notice board caught my eye and stayed with me ever since. The poster read: ``If a lawyer makes a mistake, one person may be imprisoned; if a doctor makes a mistake, one person may die, but if a politician makes a mistake a whole nation suffers.’’ Please, Mr President, be very careful when taking decisions. That poster in Tanzania is haunting me! [Time expired.]

Mnr P A MATTHEE: Agb Voorsitter, wanneer ‘n mens vandag terugkyk na die eerste dekade van ons demokrasie, en veral die bietjie meer as vier jaar sedert 2 Februarie 1990 wat dit voorafgegaan het, kan ek nie anders as om vervul te word met ‘n diepe dankbaarheid teenoor oor ons Hemelse Vader nie, dat Hy ons as nasie weggeruk het van die afgrond van ‘n volskaalse burgeroorlog wat ons geliefde land en al ons mense sou vernietig het. Ons bring hulde aan ons leiers van daardie tyd wat bereid was om met groot waagmoed, durf en visie die realiteite van dié land in die oë te kyk, en met groot insig en wysheid ‘n wen-wen-oplossing onderhandel het, waarvan deelnemende demokrasie, gedeelde en samewerkende regering ‘n sentrale rol speel.

Terugskouend was dit sonder enige twyfel in die beste belang van Suid- Afrika en al sy mense dat die Nasionale Party van destyds, onder leiding van mnr F W de Klerk, en die ANC, onder leiding van mnr Nelson Mandela, en persone soos u, Mnr die President, met mekaar onderhandel het, oplossings gevind het, en daarná deelnemende demokrasie en samewerkende regering daargestel het.

Ons as nasionaliste is egter deur die Konserwatiewe Party, die destydse amptelike opposisie, uitgekryt as verraaiers en uitverkopers van wit Suid- Afrikaners. As ons na die werklikhede van vandag kyk, kan daar tog nie by enige denkende Suid-Afrikaner twyfel bestaan dat deelnemende demokrasie en samewerkende regering steeds in die beste belang van Suid-Afrika en al sy mense is nie. Wat Suid-Afrika nodig het, is vir swart-, wit-, bruin- en Indiërgemeenskappe om uit die verlede te leer en om hande te vat, én om saam te werk om die groot uitdagings van ons tyd, soos armoede, MIV/Vigs, werkloosheid en die steeds onaanvaarbare hoë vlakke van misdaad, daadwerklik saam aan te pak, en ‘n gedeelde en beter toekoms te bou in die beste belang van al ons mense. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr P A MATTHEE: Hon Chairperson, when one looks back today to the first decade of our democracy, particularly the little over four years since 2 February 1990 that preceded it, I cannot but feel filled with profound gratitude towards our Heavenly Father, that He has plucked us as a nation from the precipice of a full-scale civil war that would have destroyed our beloved country and all our people. We pay tribute to our leaders of that time who, with great courage, boldness and vision, were prepared to face the realities, and with great insight and wisdom negotiated a win-win solution, in which participatory democracy, shared and co-operative governance play a central role.

On reflection, it was without a doubt in the best interest of South Africa and all its people that the then National Party, under the leadership of Mr F W de Klerk, and the ANC, under the leadership of mr Nelson Mandela, and people like you, Mr President, had negotiated with one another, found a solution, and afterwards established participatory democracy and co- operative governance.

We, as nationalists were however branded as traitors and sell-outs of white South Africans by the Conservative Party, who were the official opposition at that time. If we look at the realities of today, then surely no right minded South African can doubt that participatory democracy and co- operative governance are still in the best interest of South Africa and all its people. What South Africa needs is for black, white, brown and Indian communities to learn from the past and to join hands, and to work together concertedly to tackle the huge challenges of our time such as poverty, HIV/Aids, unemployment and the still unacceptably high levels of crime, and to build a shared and better future in the best interest of all our people.]

Ironically, the official opposition of today, the DA under the leadership of Tony Leon, is just like the official opposition of those years - frantically trying to mislead the people into believing that they can turn back the clock and change the direction of the winds of change by, inter alia, whipping up the fears and emotions of minority groups and calling the New NP traitors and sell-outs for working with the ANC Government to create a better future for all our people.

Ironically, their new-found partner, the IFP, is also in Government with the ANC, with even more members at national Government level than the New NP but that, according to the DA, is okay. What kind of logic is this? The DA asks the people to vote for them to keep the ANC out - as in a recent by- election in a ward in Pietermaritzburg in which council the ANC has an absolute majority and where this could not change because of that by- election.

Likewise, at national level, the DA is trying to mislead the voters with posters proclaiming You can fight crime,''You can fight for jobs,’’ and ``You can change the country’’, thereby indicating one of two things: either that people can fight crime on their own, change the country, etc, or that by voting for the DA, people can fight crime, change the country, etc. Whichever of these two interpretations one gives to these posters, the fact remains that they are false and misleading in the extreme because the DA cannot do anything to fight crime on their own. They cannot change the country in any positive way on their own either, simply because they are not in a position of power to do so - there isn’t the slightest chance whatsoever that they will be in such a position of power in our lifetime - and furthermore because they have no influence whatsoever on the ANC- controlled governments anywhere.

The only thing that they can do is to change the country for the worse in the sense that they could isolate a large number of people from the minority groups from any decision-making in this country, if they should succeed in their fervent attempts to mislead these South Africans from the minority groups. The stark contrast between the posters put up by the SA Police Service to the effect that ``Together we can fight crime’’, is there for all to see. The true position in South Africa, in respect of the police posters, is, namely, that it is only together that we as South Africans can build our country and overcome the many challenges facing us.

I was again struck by the vital importance of working together to address problems during the last few days when I was able to lead the New NP delegation to meet with the Minister of Safety and Security and the Deputy National Police Commissioner, within hours after having requested the meeting, to discuss the unfortunate arrest of Magistrate van der Walt at Groblersdal in a solution-orientated way.

The immediate, well-considered, absolute and clear assurances given by Minister Nqakula to judicial officers, and the immediate appointment of a high-level investigation, under the leadership of the national chief of detectives, again proved the commitment of this Government to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. This had the immediate effect of limiting the opportunity for parrot-like critics to fear-monger and whip up emotions.

In this regard I also wish to thank the President for the remarks he made, according to press reports, on Sunday in Phoenix in respect of the electoral law and the possibility of relooking at the question of South Africans overseas voting in the election. Our viewpoint regarding this matter has been made clear to the President and ANC leaders in a constructive and solution-orientated manner.

Ek wil graag, soos ek begin het, in Afrikaans afsluit, want ek wil graag in my moedertaal as ‘n wit, Afrikaner man - en daarom deel van die etniese en taalminderheidsgroepe in dié land - maar ook as ‘n mede-Afrikaner en ‘n mede-Suid-Afrikaner, én as leier van die Nuwe NP in dié Raad, my vandag - Wapenstilstanddag - die 11de dag van die 11de maand 2003, met al die erns waaroor ek beskik tot my landgenote rig en ‘n beroep op hulle doen om soos ek en die Nuwe NP en ons leier, wat ook hier is vandag, die uitgestrekte hand van welwillendheid van hierdie President - ook ons President - te neem. En, ten spyte van die verskille wat nog tussen ons en die meerderheidsparty is, en waarom ons sal voortgaan om opbouende interaksie met hulle te hê, saam die uitdagings van hierdie land oplossingsgerig aan te pak, sodat ons saam ‘n beter, gedeelde toekoms vir ons en ons kinders, en al Suid-Afrika se mense hier in hierdie geliefde land - waar ook ons ‘n geboortereg het - kan help bou.

Ek pleit by hulle om nie toe te laat dat hulle mislei word deur sinnelose, korttermyn en valse politieke propaganda wat geen verband hou met die werklikhede van Suid-Afrika nie. Die politiek en die arrogansie van hul leier … (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[I would like to conclude, as I started, in Afrikaans, because I want to use my mother tongue as a white, Afrikaner man - and therefore part of the ethnic and language minority groups in this country - but also as a fellow Afrikaner and fellow South African, and as leader of the New NP in this Council on this day - Armistice Day - the 11th day of the 11th month 2003, to direct myself in all seriousness to my fellow citizens and call upon them, like the New NP, our leader and me, to take the extended hand of goodwill of this President - also our President. And despite the remaining differences between us and the majority party, and why we shall continue to interact with them constructively, together to tackle the challenges of this country with a view to finding solutions, in order to help to build a better, shared future for ourselves and our children, and all of South Africa’s people in this beloved country - where we also have birthright.

I plead with them not to allow themselves to be misled by senseless, short- term and false political propaganda that has nothing to do with the realities of South Africa. The politics and the arrogance of their leader …]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, hon member! I’m afraid your time has expired.

Mr P A MATTHEE: I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr K D S DURR: Chairperson, after reading about what Mr Essop said about the President’s suitcase in the early days of his life, I just want to say to you, Mr President: Don’t unpack your suitcase. I know that South Africa is always critical of people who travel. They used to criticise General Smuts, yet he brought more investment to this country than anybody in our history, and he was vilified for travelling. I know how tough it is, and I know how difficult is, and I know how lonely it is. Don’t lose your ambition for South Africa, and don’t stop travelling and making friends for South Africa. That’s all I want to say to you.

In politics people inevitably make mistakes. Often these can be corrected. What is vital, though, Mr President, is that we do not make mistakes on issues which are irreversible or of an intergenerational magnitude. I thus wish to request sincerely that you consider my recent appeal to Government to introduce a moratorium on the further application and use of genetically manufactured organisms and cereals in South Africa until more credible research is done.

I want to say simply, because my time is so limited, Mr President, that the worldwide insurance and reinsurance industry, which you would know is one of the most sophisticated in the world, will not give insurance cover for the possible effects of genetically manufactured organisms on public health or on the environment. They compare the risks to thalidomide or asbestos. Those risk analysts know their business. They won’t take chances with their money. The questions is: Are we going to take a chance on our people that insurance companies won’t take? We can’t risk the health of our people, our environment, our agricultural economy, our exports and our food sovereignty.

I want to say to the President that the large multinationals are a new form of colonialism. It’s food colonialism, and food colonialism breeds dependency. The large US multinationals involved have recently been stopped or sidelined in Europe, Australasia and Africa. Over 37 countries worldwide have already enacted laws to restrict imports and to regulate consumption by requiring the labelling of food containing GM ingredients. Inter alia, the British Medical Association - and a more hallowed body than that you cannot get - warns of the possible long-term dangers to health of consuming what the Daily Mail calls ``these Frankenstein foods’’.

Other important scientific authorities warn of the real threats to biodiversity and to the environment. In this week’s Mail & Guardian, you can read an article headlined: ``GM crops face ban’’. But here in South Africa we are failing to act in spite of the overwhelming evidence that is building up. By not acting we threaten our biodiversity, one of Africa’s greatest gifts to the world. We endanger the long-term health of our people, already reeling under a health assault. We rob our consumers of their freedom of choice as to what they may eat, because we have no labelling or consumer legislation in place on genetically modified food.

We compromise the independence of particularly our small farmers in Africa who traditionally keep seed over for planting the following season. If these people get their way, Mr President, next year those small African farmers will have to go to the US corporation Monsanto for some more seed. We need to look at these things in the face of overwhelming evidence that should caution us.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Mr K D S DURR: There is a major trend towards organic and natural foods.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, hon member! Your time has expired.

Mr K D S DURR: I can say no more. I’ll send in my speech. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mr R M NYAKANE: Chairperson and hon President, the millions of South Africans who queued for long hours in the blazing sun, thirsty and without meals and water to drink, could perhaps be the relevant people to evaluate to what extent the Government has satisfied their needs. The decline, coupled with the lethargy on the part of new interest to go and register for the coming elections, serves as an effective instrument to measure their views in response to our performance.

This dragging of feet and the decline in interest signify one’s inner feeling. It could be that we have not performed to the expectations of the majority of South Africans, let alone the constitutional imperatives. It is a serious warning and thus calls for introspection.

Having served on a cluster of select committees for almost four years, I am left with no doubt that the Government has achieved its objectives of transformation. A great number of pieces of legislation have been passed with a view to meeting the imperatives of our Constitution; needless to mention the roll-out of social grants, the globalisation of our economy and the great amount of work done on land reform.

The public is perturbed by the media reports of corruption practised by both political office bearers and state organs. Practices of bias, cronyism and favouritism in the tendering sector have become the norm. Functionaries in all spheres of government have fallen into the trap of this temptation and it has tainted the image of Government, despite the good job that the Government has done. Self-gratification has become dominant at the expense of the tenets of just administration practices such as equity, fairness and justice. We must tighten our screws, Mr President, and come up with zero- tolerance regulatory measures.

One of the challenges facing us in the next decade is unemployment and the narrowing of the gap between the rich and the poor. South Africa’s entry into the global economy has compelled the manufacturing industry to restructure their businesses and in the process job losses were bound to occur.

I commend the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism - I am a member of that committee - for the effective manner in which it addresses the problem of unemployment. It employs 7% of South Africa’s work force, and it is projected that by 2010 more than 1,2 million people will be employed. I think Minister Valli Moosa owes us the secret of his department.

It is true that we cannot point fingers at Government and cry for jobs. A lot can be done in our own backyards. The pursuit of primary agriculture at home or at village level could be a fitting example. Given that agriculture contributes 2,6% to our gross domestic product, and most importantly, 9% of formal employment, its importance cannot be overemphasised.

Primary farming, be it livestock, piggies or cash crops is ideally suited to the rural sector. What is more important, these examples of primary agriculture call for the provision of infrastructure development, such as access roads, electricity, mechanisation and agricultural co-operatives.

Perhaps one should ask this question: Why not offer tax concessions to the farmers who are battling to employ people and perhaps address the problem of unemployment? May I rest my case at this point? [Applause.]

Mr M A SULLIMAN: Chairperson, hon President, premiers, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, I would be failing in my duty if I did not comment on the hon Gouws’s speech. Hon Gouws is trying to use this platform to complain about our President’s travelling abroad, and so forth. I can assure you, hon Gouws, that the President is not having a nice holiday abroad. He is busy with very serious matters relating to our country. What I have noticed about the DA is that they just continue to complain and complain. Our President is going to other countries and speaking to businesspeople to come and invest money in this country so that we can create jobs for the poorest of the poor. So stop crying about the President flying overseas. [Interjections.] We must be serious in what we do; we must not use these things for tacky politics. We are sick and tired of the DA.

Before 1994 we had to deal with the draconian laws of the apartheid government, where there was no rule of law and where the law only served a particular section of the South African population. The primary focus of national security was to secure and advance the interests of a white minority and the apartheid regime.

The ANC-led Government has expanded the notion of national security and positioned it within the ambit of a human rights security paradigm. Instead of applauding the justice system and crime prevention, the opposition parties deliberately do not want to acknowledge the achievements of our democratically elected Government in fighting and combating crime.

The police, in particular, are subject to varying degrees of oversight and control by both the executive and legislative branches at national and provincial levels, and above that by the Independent Complaints Directorate. Our transformation programme has seen the restructuring of the police management and of about 500 specialised units into three multidisciplinary units focusing on organised crime, serious and violent crime, and commercial crime. The introduction of the automated identification system enabled the police to trace 300 previous convictions this year, compared to a figure of 163 369 last year. The system also allows the police to expand services to include the palm printing identification system.

We in the ANC are sensitive to the issue of farm killings and have established a rural safety programme, which will see the phasing out of the commando system, and whose functions will be rationalised with the South African Police Service.

The National Crime Prevention Strategy emphasises that crime is not merely a security or law enforcement issue, but it is a social issue. The National Crime Prevention Strategy therefore integrates crime into a socioeconomic development priority for our country. It has resulted in important projects that have borne good results and partnerships with Business against Crime, the integration of the justice system, the establishment of a witness protection programme, as well as a victim empowerment programme.

The national crime combating strategy and integrated justice system have borne visible results. There is evidence that the ANC-led Government is making an impact on the crime situation, and the serious crime levels in South Africa have continued to come down. Our resolve is to make South Africa crimefree. We applaud the work that is being done by the community policing forums in our cities and towns, whose aim is to combat crime holistically.

This shows that our communities are responsive to the Government’s mechanisms for fighting crime. Another of our sound successes is the fact that with regard to high-profile crimes such as aggravated robbery, car hijacking, truck and robbery, in-cash transits and bank robberies, serious inroads have been made and these crimes are therefore decreasing. Analysis of crime trends as reported by the Minister of Safety and Security at the national, provincial and special levels, clearly indicates that the national crime combating strategy, popularly known as Crackdown, has been sustained and is stabilising and decreasing the impact of crime.

The NCCS, with its geographic approach of focusing on crime prevention, is paying off. The integrated efforts of crime prevention operations such as Siyachuma and Fikila have yielded positive results in fighting serious crimes. The ANC-led Government has also dealt effectively with the spectre of right-wing extremism and urban terror, and we commend the investigations that led to the convictions of Pagad members. As we speak, there are those who are behind bars for treason.

The murder of police officials remains a source of paramount concern for both the South African Police and the public. During the financial year under review 150 police officials were murdered. We acclaim the Ministry of Safety and Security for the launch of the death grant scheme for members of the South African Police Service, which will be a once-off payment of R200 000 to the dependants of a member who dies as a result of extraordinary circumstances relating to the performance of duty.

We know that life cannot be equated to a monetary value, but with this gesture we will go a long way in assisting the families of police personnel who are murdered on duty. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr J O TLHAGALE: Hon Chair, His Excellency the President, hon Premiers and Speakers, hon members of Salga and my colleagues, today is a red-letter day, not only because this plenary is attended by His Excellency the President and a contingency of hon premiers, but, more importantly, because it is a day on which we can look back with admiration or disappointment and account for our performance to our constituencies or support bases.

Owing to time limitations, I intend to deal with only one issue. One of the most significant achievements of the new South Africa in the North West province is in the area of land restitution. Several communities have regained possession of their ancestral land from which they were forcefully removed during the yesteryears.

In addition to this, the redistribution of state funds to potential buyers is also progressing at a fairly moderate pace and the present indications are that the land grabs taking place in our northern neighbour will not happen here, as the President once assured some panicstricken farmers’ unions.

The only point of discontent in respect of these farms is that they are not utilised profitably or to their maximum potential. In the Gysdorp area near Delareyville, and the Ramatlabama area near Mafikeng a number of farms that were allocated to farmers by the previous government have collapsed owing to climatic conditions. The farmers are in arrears with their rentals and/or interest. Most of them have lease contracts with an option to buy the farms, but are incapacitated and prevented from proceeding further by the rental arrears.

The Government is requested to consider the advisability of consolidating such rental arrears and other debts into the purchase price of the farm so as to allow the prospective buyers to go ahead, in order to break the present deadlock.

Crop farming is very expensive and can ruin a prospective emerging farmer within one year. Pastoral farming or ranching, on the other hand, is less expensive and if emerging farmers could be guided to follow this type of farming and to plant pastures for their stocks, they could make the grade. The market for growing vegetables is unlimited and our emerging farmers should be encouraged. [Time expired.] [Applause.] Ms B N DLULANE: Mr President, Sir, Madam Chairperson, hon premiers, hon members, first of all let me just ``ndizithabathele ithutyana ndibhekise phaya kuMa Gouws’’ [take a few minutes and respond to hon Ms Gouws].

Ms Gouws, surely there would have been something wrong if the ANC had the same priorities as the DA. It is not surprising to hear the DA ``incoma ukuphumelela kwethu iNdebe yeHlabathi’’ [commending us for winning the World Cup]. But whilst we don’t have any problem with that, our feeling is that the DA should rather commend the ANC-led Government for its successes on issues of poverty alleviation and those that are related to the rights of the people in general.

Let me go back to my speech. The ANC, through its vision of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, realised that the vast majority of our people lived in abject poverty and were kept there by the racist apartheid rulers. This means that when we came into power we understood that we needed immediately to begin the process of social redevelopment and transformation. We had to pay particular attention to the ways in which we could provide relief to our poor and vulnerable citizens; more precisely, to the RDP vision. The ANC stated that we needed to transform, and I quote:

… social welfare policies, programmes and delivery systems so as to ensure that basic welfare rights are provided to all South Africans, prioritising those who have been historically disadvantaged.

One of the first measures put in place by the then Department of Welfare was to deracialise social services. Many of us remember how huge the discrepancy was between what white old age pensioners received compared to what our own grandparents received. Of course, the other disadvantaged race groups received progressively less pension than white pensioners, with the majority black pensioners being at the lowest end of the scale. Now no matter the colour of your skin, if you qualify for social security, you receive the same amount as everyone else without exception.

Yiloo nto ke endothusileyo ngoMam’ uGouws, ukuqala ancome inkulumbuso yephondo lakhe, kodwa akwazi ukugxibha uMongameli welizwe kwakuba kwenzeke ezi zinto zintle azincoma ngayo inkulumbuso yephondo lakhe. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[That is what surprised me about Ms Gouws, for commending her own Premier first and then having the audacity to criticise the President of the country when she commends her Premier about good things that she can see are happening in the province.]

Social Development has also tried to reach the poor and the vulnerable wherever they find themselves. So even if you live in the remotest part of the rural areas, you would find the Department of Social Development trying to bring social security services to potential beneficiaries.

This process of reaching out to all our communities has, of course, had some failures. These include mobile services not reaching the outlying districts or that there are insufficient mobiles for the demand; the absence of official documentation showing that an applicant qualifies; and corrupt officials and the like.

``Ebetshilo ke noNkulumbuso okokuba’’ … [As the premier stated … ] despite these and other challenges, the Department of Social Development has shown a steady increase in the number of beneficiaries across all grant categories.

The expenditure on social security has increased significantly since 1994, from R10 billion to R34,8 billion to date. Additionally, the number of beneficiaries has increased from 2,6 million recipients to 6,8 million for the same period.

Ukuba ungakhe uphinde ujonge ezinye zeendawo esithi siqhwalele kuzo, siyile Ndlu yoWiso-mthetho sikuyo sikhe saphuma iphulo sajikeleza sikhangela okokuba le mibono mihle kangaka yokuba kubekho abantu abaya kuthi bancedise ekususeni ezandleni zikaRhulumente inkqubo yobonelelo loluntu (welfare system). Kodwa sifumane umnqa wokuba kusekho oozingel’ ichele, aba bathi bayile ezi zinto ekuthiwa zizikopari''. Baguqule nje igama elithi oomatshonisa’’ laba ``zizikopari’’.

Ngumbono ombi ke lowo obonisa okokuba lo gama isebe linika abenkamnkam kunye nabezibonelelo zikaRhulumente iimfanelo zabo, kukho oomatshonisa abahlalele ukuthabatha ezo mali zincinci zabo bantu basokolayo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Perhaps you could look again at those problem areas that we seem to be failing to attend to. I must also mention that we, as Parliament, have undertaken a fact-finding mission in order to establish the role of those people who are assisting with our welfare system. But to our surprise, we found chancers, people who were referring to themselves as zikopari'' ["scorpions"]. What that means is their actions suggest that they just changed the nameloan sharks’’ to ``zikopari.’’

This is really a horrible situation which undermines the efforts of the Department of Social Development. While the department is busy providing social pensions and benefits to the needy people, there are loan sharks out there who are stealing money from the poor.]

Social Development also inherited a highly fragmented social security system. The departmental audit for the period between 1994 and 1999 cited 14 different departments which administered social services to the different population groups, including the welfare systems of the former homelands. These disparate systems provided inequitable and fragmented services which failed to meet the development needs of the people. The realignment and amalgamation of Government departments also brought its own administrative nightmares, such as poorly equipped offices and personnel who had low levels of capacity.

Kodwa ngenxa yeenkqubo zikaRhulumente ezikhoyo, zinikwa ingqwalasela ezo zinto. [However, because of the existing government programmes, these problems are being attended to.]

And, as we speak, so many people in the Public Service are well equipped with many skills that they did not have before. The primary challenge of the Department of Social Development is to eliminate all hindrances to the prompt payment of social grants. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr E RASOOL (Western Cape): Chairperson and hon President, over the last 10 years when we did the review, the Western Cape has often stood in a twilight situation with regard to the progress that has been made across the country. We shared in many of the national achievements, but were often held down by the state of our province as we went forward.

I must say that if I were the hon member Gouws I would have spoken with much more humility about what is possible, especially because we saw the DA in action in this province when they were in government. We have seen under the government of the party of which she is a member uninterrupted white privilege and the belief that it would go on forever. We have seen heightened coloured fearfulness and dependency as the feelings of those communities were exploited to the maximum, and we have seen continued African marginalisation as they were called ``Oos-Kapenaars’’ and made to believe that they did not belong in a place like the Western Cape.

It was 20 months ago, Mr President, that the ANC-New NP co-operation came into being and we formed a coalition government in this province. It was this coalition government between the ANC and the New NP that gave us the opportunity to start changing the mood in the Western Cape. It was this coalition that created a new discourse to deal with our challenges, not by simply labelling our problem as being a migration problem from the north or from the east, but by dealing with it in a discourse of nonracialism, speaking about the development of all our people and co-operative governance rather than blaming the bad things on the national Government and claiming the good things as the achievements of the DA government. We could speak the language of partnership.

Indeed, Mr President, we have turned an atmosphere of scandal into one of greater dignity for our people. We were able to turn instability, when there were revolving doors for premiers and mayors in this province, into stability, and we could turn years of neglect into an atmosphere of caring for all our people. Therefore I think that we have increasingly moved away from fearfulness amongst our people, racial fearfulness particularly, to tentatively getting people to reach out across the colour divides that existed. The removal of all this baggage began to allow us to get on with the job.

The job, Mr President, that you had set for us was an imposing one. In your opening speech to Parliament this year you said that we must move from welfare dependency to economic self-reliance and that is an imposing job. In July you added to the burden of that job by saying that we have got to integrate a second economy with a first economy, if we are going to get economic self-reliance on the agenda.

So, we face major challenges for the Western Cape and for our country. The first challenge I want to speak about is indeed the challenge of partnership. Across the board, from the things that you said, Mr President, to what all the premiers had reported and many other speakers had reflected in this notion of a 10-year review, we get the distinct impression that if Government was not there, there would be no bulwark against poverty, and that puts partnerships into some kind of perspective.

Everything that has been done to keep our people away from the abyss of poverty has largely been because Government has introduced free basic services and free health care, and extended the social safety net through welfare and child support grants, through pensions and through increasing the value of pensions and their reach.

Indeed, Mr President, if those interventions had not taken place, I shudder to think what would have happened to the statistics and the indicators of poverty in this country. What it basically begins to tell us is that Government is often called upon to carry the burden against poverty all on its own, and that the partnerships that we are calling for are not meaningful, have not been responded to adequately and indeed we need to take into the second decade of freedom a far more meaningful partnership where we hold our social partners to account for their interventions.

The second challenge is certainly at the level of skills. The Chairperson has been a member of a task team. I want to look into human resource development in the Western Cape. I simply want to quote one statistic, which deals with the sample of African learners doing maths. The total number of African learners in schools doing maths was just over 5 400. Only approximately 270 of them did it on the higher grade. Of these, in the year 2002, only 162 passed. It showed a complete absence of numeracy foundation amongst our learners. The absence of teachers to teach maths and the absence of the choice to do maths in certain schools and the absence of teaching aids to learn maths all translate into an absence of a meaningful future for the next few generations that come out of our schools.

This is but one indicator of the skills challenge that we face and, therefore, if we go into the second decade, we have to do so on the back of greater human resource development plans for our people, to make our unemployment and unemployability problem one that we can manage.

To end, I think the third major challenge is the one of building equity within our society, both in the Western Cape and the country. The two economies that we speak about may simply be a national reflection of globalisation on the whole, had it not been specifically colour-coded, that the first economy is dominated and owned largely by whites, although not exclusively, and those who are in the second economy are largely black people.

Therefore I think that the second decade must not only see an integration of the two economies but a symbiosis between the two. The one must be able to feed off the other and there must be mobility between the two. Greater equity, particularly racial equity, must be achieved through the enforcement of the mechanisms for black economic empowerment and SMME development. We must also insist on geographic equity, because too many rural towns, black and coloured townships are simply places where people go back to sleep without any viable development.

I think that those are the three major issues that we have to take into the second decade of freedom if, indeed, we are to succeed. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Mr T S SETONA: Chairperson, hon President, hon Ministers, hon members, fellow comrades and friends, this debate represents yet another moment of celebration of unity in diversity. It has represented a nation in dialogue, busy redefining and shaping its future in the global map of nation states. It has done so, proud of the past nine years and confident of the future. The millions of people of this country are proud and inspired that, through the leadership of the ANC, together with other political parties, the endemic political violence that had defined the lives of innocent men, women and children in KwaZulu-Natal and on the trains in Gauteng has been brought to an end.

Surprisingly, as representatives of the people gathered here in this august House to celebrate this glorious past, some amongst us have had the audacity to tell us about their obsessions with their personal power and privileges. I do not think that is the focus of the debate this afternoon. The focus of the debate this afternoon for all representatives of the people gathered in this august House, across party-political lines, is to honestly assess the extent to which we as the representatives of our people have gone further to make their lives better. But few people have focused on this issue.

As we take a step forward and prepare ourselves for our democratic elections we do so proudly and enthusiastically, at that. The Government of the people has done well for them and has made a mark on the continent with its conviction and determination that this century will indeed be an African century, and its commitment to good governance in an Africa, free of corruption.

We come from a past where governance was largely defined by a security doctrine with little respect for the rule of law; where the abuse of power and injustice was the order of the day; where what was practised was contrary to good governance and promoted corruption, corruption that undermined the principles of accountability, integrity and transparency.

What we inherited therefore was a fragmented, corrupt, unethical and ineffective public sector. However, that has changed as we are gathered here today, for only one reason: because millions of the people of this country queued on 27 April 1994 to vote for the government of their choice, led by the ANC.

As we are debating here today we want to make a clear statement to our detractors that the people of our country will never be distracted by statements that are sowing hopelessness for them, namely, that this Government will not deliver. Our Government has made remarkable progress in transforming the state machinery, to make it more responsive to the needs of its citizens and more accountable. There is no other government in the history of this country, not only in South Africa but continentally, that has had the successes that the ANC-led Government has.

Our Government is engaged in a vigorous process of transformation, which is geared towards creating a democratic society based on the principles of nonracialism and nonsexism. The progress achieved in the 10 years that our Government has been in power has been recorded in particular in terms of voice and accountability. Today we have a voice. The voice of our people is heard right here within the corridors of power, unlike before.

Today we have political stability in this country, which we never witnessed before the 27 April 1994 democratic breakthrough. Today we have an effective Government and regulatory frameworks which ensure that no citizen is above the rule of law. Today we have a Government with integrity and legitimacy, where everyone has the right to make choices about his life.

Central to these accomplishments has been our undoubted commitment to good governance and anticorruption. Driven by a conviction to create a better South Africa that is free of corruption, numerous anticorruption programmes and projects were put in place. I shall just mention a few.

In 1997 the Government sectors responsible for the SA National Crime Prevention Strategy established a programme committee to work on corruption in the criminal justice system. I am not sure where hon Gouws was when our Government initiated that particular programme, because today she is singing a hymn of corruption. After 1999 the National Anticrime Corruption Summit was held in Cape Town with the purpose of discussing the importance of the elimination of corruption in both the public and the private sectors. The National Anticorruption Forum was established in 2001. Hon Gouws must listen to this very carefully. To add, a review and revision of anticorruption legislation was conducted, whose end results was a new Prevention of Corruption Bill which was developed later.

Last but not least, the Public Finance Management Act was introduced in

1. Its sole purpose was to improve accountability within Government and to Parliament. This simply illustrates our Government’s commitment to combating any form of corruption. I hope his Excellency the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal is also bound by some of these laws which this Government has enacted without any protest.

Good governance is without any doubt not only a prerequisite but essential for sustainable development, not only in South Africa but also in the broader Africa, in order for us to be a success. Good governance as an exercise of power by all levels of government must be effective, honest, equitable, transparent and accountable. Our past has taught us that corruption will never bring prosperity and peace, and that good governance is the fuel that takes the truck of progress forward. It is that which will turn our visions, dreams, hopes and ambitions as an African people into reality.

Therefore, without that fuel the truck cannot move. It is in that context that it is only the ANC that does not only preach about corruption but fights it, irrespective of who commits it. Our commitment to good governance and anticorruption does not end in South Africa but extends to the broader Africa. For South Africa to succeed, Africa must succeed - hence our undoubted commitment to the objectives of Nepad. Anticorruption and good governance are therefore imperative to Africa’s success. It is in this context that Nepad is reflective of the current democratic wave and the move towards good governance and prosperity, so that this century can indeed be our own.

Through Nepad our leaders have made a commitment to strengthen our political and administrative frameworks … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Madam Chairperson, I will not exceed my three minutes! Chairperson and friends, the hon Premier Mtshali made a campaign speech for the elections. I hope he will pardon me, therefore, if I don’t respond to that. We’ll respond during the election campaign. I will gladly do that. [Interjections.]

I received some communications from the leader of the FF, Dr Pieter Mulder, as well as some reports about concerns of the New NP. These had to do with the matter that the hon Matthee just raised about electoral law and people who might unavoidably be travelling on election day. We have discussed this matter. I have since spoken to the Leader of Government Business, the Deputy President, and indeed will be taking up this matter, because I think the matter that both the FF and the New NP raised with regard to this is reasonable. And I am sure steps will be taken to make sure that the necessary amendment is done to ensure that people who will unavoidably be travelling have the possibility to vote. [Applause.]

Generally the Government, with regard to genetically modified organisms, GMOs, has sought to be very careful and cautious about this, and the existing legislation has sought, among other things, to address this question that the introduction of these organisms into the country is carefully handled. I have received a number of communications, in the last two or three weeks, from the general public about this, and indeed have discussed it with both the Ministers of Agriculture, and Science and Technology. We are looking at this matter to see what else needs to be done. This is a matter that was raised by the hon Kent Durr.

We had a meeting recently with the Working Group on Agriculture. Two of the questions have been raised here, Madam Chairperson. One of them has to do with land redistribution and was raised by the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Premier of the Western Cape, and the other one was raised by the hon Tlhagale with regard to the viability of the farms acquired by people as a result of the process of land redistribution. It relates to issues of the profitability of these farms, and what might need to be done. Both of these matters were discussed at that working group meeting with both AgriSA and Nafu.

I am not certain, Madam Chairperson, that there is a need to call a land summit on the redistribution matter, because indeed there is no disagreement about the need to move faster towards achieving this objective that we have set, of 30% within a particular period. What we are looking at is what practical steps to take to get there. I don’t really believe that it requires a summit for us to restate an agreement that exists between the farmers and the Government on this. It’s really a matter of ensuring that we are able to move with the necessary speed.

As I indicated, Madam Chairperson, with regard to the matter raised by hon Tlhagale, we discussed that matter too - of the burden the new farmers have to carry, which in some instances makes farming not viable for them. And again, I am sure with regard to that we will take some steps. So they are not matters that have been ignored.

I would say to the hon Nyakane from the UDM that I would not be too quick personally to draw conclusions with regard to the matter of voter registration. He spoke about warning signals as a phrase which was quite ominous - a serious warning. I wouldn’t be so quick about this. I am quite certain that all of us in the room can see great enthusiasm among our people to participate in the elections, great interest in their Government and what the Government should be doing. And I do not believe that there exists, among our people, a certain sense of disillusionment such that these dire warnings should be given. And the people will register.

But I think what is critically important, is that all of us, including members of this Council, should indeed go out among the people to encourage them to register, and that we should go out among the people to assist them to overcome problems that still do exist, of access to identity documents. I think that’s the response. I honestly do not believe that there is much to worry about in the sense of people being disillusioned with one thing or the other, as a result of which they will not be registering or voting. I don’t think it will happen, but I think we must get out to mobilise the people and assist to solve problems. That includes solving the problem of IDs that have been issued and are not collected or delivered, which sit around in the offices, in very large numbers. I think that we can assist, and I think all of that would help, indeed, to move forward this process of registration.

The hon premiers of Gauteng and the North West raised this important question with which indeed I agree. We have to discuss this matter at some point in some depth. Because, yes, indeed, the hon Ebrahim Rasool quite correctly referred to the positions that the Government has taken as a bulwark against the further impoverishment of the people. It’s been critical intervention over the last nine and a half years - critical and necessary.

We’ve done all of the work that people referred to, of ensuring that people entitled to social grants get them. Important campaigns have been run with regard to this to make sure that indeed people do have access. This is all very important work. But indeed we have to look at this question of the balance between that social expenditure and economic expenditure that produces the resources so that you can engage in that kind of social expenditure. We can get to a situation where our levels of social expenditure become unsustainable. We don’t want to get to that situation, but I am saying I agree with the premiers that we have to address this matter.

A few years ago we had a look at this question in comparison with other countries. We looked for instance at South Korea. And proportionately they were spending less on social expenditures than on economic expenditures. I am not saying that was a good thing, but that’s what they were doing. And one of the things that was happening was that they were attaining higher rates of growth and expansion of the economy than we are doing. But it’s a matter, I think, that we indeed have to look at quite closely, because it’s a matter that cannot be dealt with just on a voluntarist basis - that we just decide to spend so much on social expenditure and there is no consequence to it. There is a consequence to it, and I think that perhaps in the new year we should indeed focus on this matter quite sharply.

I would like to say to the hon Kent Durr that I am glad about the comments that he made about the foreign engagement of this country, and to say that actually it’s not going to stop. It’s actually going to grow, and that’s the reality, that’s a fact. And the reason for it, apart from matters mentioned here by hon members to do with mobilising foreign investment and so on, or part of the reason, is that the things that our people have done over the last ten years - the matters that hon Matthee referred to even before 1994 - serve as inspiration to the entirety of humanity.

We were in the United States not so long ago for the United Nations General Assembly, and met the leadership of the Council on Foreign Relations. These are very important people - big business, diplomats, newspaper editors. It’s the top of US society. And they were asking what we want them to do to observe the tenth anniversary, the decade of the liberation of South Africa. They want to do some major programmes in the United States. And they said part of the reason for that was that as they looked around the world they could see no example better than South Africa over the last ten years … [Applause.] … which has given so much hope to the whole of humanity. And they say you can look at every respect. You can look at politics and constitutional things, look at the economy, look at race relations, look at the gender issue, look at any issue - you will find that there is no country that can actually compete with South Africa. And they said, therefore, their celebration of the 10th anniversary in the United States also had something to do with communicating particular messages to themselves as Americans as to what they should do to meet their own challenges.

That is general. The peoples of the world are immensely inspired by what the people of South Africa have done. It is true that there are some people who don’t know this. I am talking about our own citizens. And as a result of that inspiration there are many, many people around the world who are asking: Can you please come and work with us? Talk to us, do whatever, to help us also make this movement forward. What inspires me a great deal about our people, Madam Chairperson, is a very deep seated sense of humanism among our people. And they respond. It’s another human being who says: Can you please come and help? Our people will respond. Premier Stofile was just telling me here that the MEC for Agriculture has been asked by a number of countries within the SADC region to come and visit them to discuss agriculture and to see what has been done. They ask: ``Can you help us in the region?’’ And the MEC must go. He has to go. And that is affecting everybody.

Our Chairperson here … I get told about her in many places. I was told about you last week, Chairperson. [Laughter.] It was in Canada, and they were talking about a meeting that you had in Bangladesh. They told me about things that you did and said there, and the impact that you had on these other parliamentarians. They thanked me for releasing our parliamentary leaders to interact with these processes.

So, I am saying, hon Kent Durr, I agree entirely with you. South Africa’s role in the rest of the world is not going to diminish, it is going to increase. It is inevitable, but it is also correct. We, as this country, ought to be particularly sensitive to the fact that we owe our liberation in good measure to other people in the world. [Applause.] I think we need to be sensitive to that.

The hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk spoke about headlines in the newspapers in 1993, and indeed I think he is correct. People have made comments about the advances that we have made over the past nine and a half years, which have indeed been very big.

There are not many in our country - and may that story be told one day - who know how delicate the situation was in the country around this transition, how many fires threatened to break out, and what was done to make sure that none of them broke out, or what had to be done after that to ensure that we did not have this explosion that many people expected, even after 1994.

There are many people who do not know these things. Maybe let me put this differently, and tell you a story. A couple of years ago I was talking to one of the leaders in the mining industry. We were debating the issue of mineral rights and that legislation which was still in draft form. You will remember the position that some of them took with regard to the issue of mineral rights.

I said to him that perhaps one of the things that people do not understand is that where, for example, you have this Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is saying that we should address the issue of mineral rights, that in reality she is standing between the mine owners and the masses of our people. If she stood aside and said to these masses of people, Do as you wish'', they would not talk about laws. They would react differently. They would ask why mineral rights in their country are individually owned by other people. They would say: It is our national heritage.’’ They would respond differently. I say she stands between the mine owners and the masses of the people who would act very differently if she stepped aside.

I am saying many people do not know that, and many people do not appreciate that. An enormous amount of work has had to be done in this country to make sure that we have this thing which some people call a miracle. We have moved a great deal in all respects.

But to come back to the matter of the headlines that the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk was raising, I am not a particularly great fan of newspapers, so I do not know quite what they write. But I will be very, very surprised if they say, in a way that is constant, that the biggest challenge that we face in this country is poverty. I will be very, very surprised if they say that. They will carry headlines about all manner of other things, and these will be built up as the big issues of the day.

The big, fundamental issue that faces millions of our people is poverty. It is a central, key quest. It is not poverty only in the sense of hunger, but it is poverty in the sense of absence of good medical care, of opportunities to get a job and of a road in a rural area. All of that is poverty.

We are working on the very first comprehensive report that the Government will issue about causes of death in our country since 1996. I regret that that report is not available yet. We are working on it now, basing it on the documents and the notices of death that are submitted to the Minister of Home Affairs when people die.

I am absolutely certain that what you will see there, certainly with regard to the black majority in this country, is the impact of poverty on the health of our people, death from diseases of poverty. It will be very clear. But I am saying that I am not quite sure whether this particular challenge is presented in our media for what it is.

I am raising that to say that I think that as we go into this second decade of our liberation, we really, all of us, need to make this resolution. During the first decade we had to meet particular challenges, including ensuring that we did indeed take our country through in the way that has happened. We set up these new Government institutions, we did all of the things that needed to be done. But proceeding from that base, we must, during the second decade, deal with this issue in the ways that the hon members have indicated and in the ways that we try to indicate.

In that regard, therefore, I think you are quite correct to have made the comments you made about the NCOP, correct in the sense that we have to answer the question in that context of this decisive struggle that we must wage and win against poverty.

Is this institution properly placed to play its own role in that regard? Are the provincial and local governments that are represented here properly placed to play their roles in that regard? I am saying that it was correct to raise those questions in that context. And perhaps we will need to come back to that question, in the same way that I think all of us will have to come back to the question of what it is that we do as a country together to defeat this threat of poverty.

With all of the implications that poverty has, it is a struggle that I am quite certain we will win, as we have won other difficult struggles before. But to win is going to require that we do indeed act together around a very clear programme as to where we think we should go. Certainly, from the point of view of Government, we are very committed to moving in this direction, and we would want to do everything possible to make sure that we get to where we need to get.

This is the month of Ramadaan. To those of our colleagues who are Muslims, we wish them well. We will say happy Eid when the time comes. And if I do not come back here before Parliament closes, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everybody. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, hon members! A colleague told me that she had to wait for some time with an international member of an executive of a particular country who was to meet one of our own executive members whose plane was unavoidably delayed. And she tells me she kept saying to the person it would only be another two minutes. Our hon executive member eventually arrived and they had an excellent meeting. The person’s comment to our colleague after the meeting was: ``You South Africans, I will never forget your two minutes!’’ [Laughter.] Mr President, I will not forget your three minutes. [Laughter.]

That concludes the debate. May I, on behalf of the NCOP, thank the President, both for his presence and for the excellent debate that we have had. This will be - and we have to be humble in saying this - the last of our annual reviews in this term of Parliament, and it has indeed been a great association with our President. We have deeply appreciated the relationship that the President has had with this House. We also wish the hon President a merry Christmas, a happy New Year and all success.

Hon members, may I request that you remain seated until we have left the Chamber - you know who ``we’’ are.

The Council adjourned at 19h00. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

                       MONDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2003

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology:

 Report and Financial Statements of the National Museum  for  2002-2003,
 including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements
 for 2002-2003.

1. The Minister of Trade and Industry:

 Report and Financial Statements of  the  Board  on  Tariffs  and  Trade
 (International Trade Administration) for 2002-2003.

1. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development:

 Rules of the Constitutional Court in terms of section 16(1)(b)  of  the
 Constitutional Court Complementary Act, 1995 (Act No 13 of 1995).

                     WEDNESDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2003

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Introduction of Bills:

 (1)    The Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs:


     (i)     Communal Land Rights Bill [B 67 - 2003] (National  Assembly
          - sec 75) [Bill and prior notice of its introduction published
          in Government Gazette No 25562 of 17 October 2003.]


     Introduction  and  referral   to   the   Portfolio   Committee   on
     Agriculture and Land Affairs of the National Assembly, as  well  as
     referral to the Joint Tagging Mechanism  (JTM)  for  classification
     in terms of Joint Rule 160, on 30 October 2003.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the  classification  of
     the Bill may be submitted to  the  Joint  Tagging  Mechanism  (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

National Council of Provinces:

1. Referrals to committees of papers tabled:

 The following papers have been tabled  and  are  now  referred  to  the
 relevant committees as mentioned below:


 (1)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Education and Recreation:


     (a)     Report and Financial Statements of Vote 15 - Department  of
          Education for 2002-2003, including the Report of the  Auditor-
          General on the Financial Statements  for  2002-2003  [RP  112-
          2003].


     (b)     Report and Financial Statements of the National Museum  for
          2002-2003, including the Report of the Auditor-General on  the
          Financial Statements for 2002-2003.


     (c)     Government Notice No 1407 published in  Government  Gazette
          No 25545 dated  6  October  2003:  National  policy  regarding
          further education and training  programmes:  Approval  of  the
          National  Curriculum  Statement  Grades  10-12   (Grades)   as
          national policy, in terms of  the  National  Education  Policy
          Act, 1996 (Act No 27 of 1996) and the  South  African  Schools
          Act, 1996 (Act No 84 of 1996).


     (d)     Government Notice No 1348 published in  Government  Gazette
          No  25501  dated  26  September   2003:   Regulations:   Level
          descriptors for levels 1 to 4 of the  National  Qualifications
          Framework,  in  terms  of  the  South  African  Qualifications
          Authority Act, 1995 (Act No 58 of 1995).


 (2)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Security and Constitutional  Affairs  and  to  the  Joint  Standing
     Committee on Defence:


     (a)     South African Export Statistics for Conventional  Arms  for
          2000-2002.
     (b)     Rules of the  Constitutional  Court  in  terms  of  section
          16(1)(b) of the Constitutional Court Complementary  Act,  1995
          (Act No 13 of 1995).


     (c)      Letter  from  the  President  of  the  Republic  informing
          Parliament of the employment of  the  South  African  National
          Defence Force in Liberia in fulfilment  of  the  International
          obligations of the Republic of South Africa towards the United
          Nations.


 (3)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Finance:


     (a)     Government Notice No R65 published  in  Government  Gazette
          No 25464 dated 15 September 2003: Appointment  of  members  of
          the Tax Courts, in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1962  (Act  No
          58 of 1962).


     (b)     Government Notice No R1368 published in Government  Gazette
          No 25511 dated 29 September 2003: Regulations issued in  terms
          of section 30 of the Exchange Control Amnesty and Amendment of
          Taxation Laws Act, 2003 (Act No 12 of 2003).


 (4)    The following paper is  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Social Services and to the Select Committee on  Labour  and  Public
     Enterprises:


     The  Employment  Equity  Report  of   the   Independent   Electoral
     Commission  for  2002,  tabled  in  terms  of  section  22  of  the
     Employment Equity Act, 1998 (Act No 55 of 1998).


 (5)    The following paper is referred to the Select Committee on  Land
     and Environmental Affairs for consideration and report:


     (a)     Montreal and Beijing Amendments to  the  Montreal  Protocol
          on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, tabled in terms of
          section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


     (b)      Explanatory  Memorandum  to  the  Montreal   and   Beijing
          Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete
          the Ozone Layer.


 (6)    The following paper is  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Economic and Foreign Affairs:


     Report and Financial Statements of the Board on Tariffs  and  Trade
     (International Trade Administration) for 2002-2003.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Finance:

 Annual Financial  Statements  of  the  Reconstruction  and  Development
 Programme Fund for 2002-2003, including  the  Report  of  the  Auditor-
 General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003.

1. The Minister of Trade and Industry:

 Report and Financial Statements of Khula Enterprise Finance Limited for
 2002-2003, including the Report of  the  Independent  Auditors  on  the
 Financial Statements for 2002-2003.

1. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development:

 (a)    Government Notice No R1318 published in  Government  Gazette  No
     25456 dated 19 September 2003: Determinations of Amounts  in  terms
     of the Administrations of Estates Act, 1965 (Act No 66 of 1965).


 (b)    Government Notice No R1244 published in  Government  Gazette  No
     25411 dated 22 September 2003: Regulations regarding the  promotion
     of access to information - Amended Regulations,  in  terms  of  the
     Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No 2 of 2000).


 (c)    Government Notice No R1339 published in  Government  Gazette  No
     25485 dated 26 September 2003: Regulations made  in  terms  of  the
     Magistrates Act, 1993 (Act No 90 of 1993).

                      THURSDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2003

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Assent by President in respect of Bills:

 (1)    Judicial Officers (Amendment of Conditions of Service)  Bill  [B
     33B - 2003] - Act  No  28  of  2003  (assented  to  and  signed  by
     President on 28 October 2003).

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The President of the Republic:

 Report and  Financial  Statements  of  The  Presidency  for  2002-2003,
 including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements
 for 2002-2003 [RP 130-2003].

1. The Minister of Transport:

 Report and Financial Statements of the Urban Transport Fund  for  2000-
 2001 and 2001-2002, including the Report of the Auditor-General on  the
 Financial Statements for 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 [RP 196-2003].

1. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development:

 (a)    Protocol on Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal, tabled
     in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


 (b)    Agreement amending the Protocol on Southern African  Development
     (SADC)  Tribunal,  tabled  in  terms  of  section  231(2)  of   the
     Constitution, 1996.


 (c)    Explanatory Memorandum  to  the  Protocol  on  Southern  African
     Development (SADC) Tribunal and Agreement amending the Protocol  on
     Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal.

                       FRIDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2003

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 Report and Financial Statements  of  the  South  African  Human  Rights
 Commission for 2002-2003, including the Report of  the  Auditor-General
 on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 142-2003].

1. The Minister of Trade and Industry:

 (a)    Southern African Customs Union Agreement between the Governments
     of the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho,  the  Republic
     of Namibia, the  Republic  of  South  Africa  and  the  Kingdom  of
     Swaziland, tabled in terms of section 231(2) of  the  Constitution,
     1996.


 (b)    Explanatory Memorandum to the  Southern  African  Customs  Union
     Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Botswana,  the
     Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of  South
     Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland.

1. The Minister for the Public Service and Administration:

 Report  and  Financial  Statements  of  the  South  African  Management
 Development Institute (SAMDI) for 2001-2002, including  the  Report  of
 the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2001-2002  [RP  10-
 2003].

1. The Minister of Housing:

 Report  and  Financial  Statements  of  the  National   Home   Builders
 Registration Council for 2002-2003, including the Report of the Auditor-
 General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 164-2003].

                       MONDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2003

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Translations of Bills submitted:

 (1)    The Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs:


     (i)     Wysigingswetsontwerp  op  Landbouprodukte-agente  [W  53  -
          2003] (National Assembly - sec 75)


     This  is  the  official   translation   into   Afrikaans   of   the
     Agricultural Produce Agents Amendment Bill [B 53 - 2003]  (National
     Assembly - sec 75).

National Council of Provinces:

1. Membership of Committees:


   Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests:

Appointed: Lever, L G

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 Report and Financial Statements of the Independent Electoral Commission
 - Represented Political Parties'  Fund  for  2002-2003,  including  the
 Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003
 [RP 68-2003]. 2.    The Minister of Trade and Industry:


 Report and Financial  Statements  of  the  Companies  and  Intellectual
 Property Registration  Office  (CIPRO)  for  2002-2003,  including  the
 Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003
 [RP 131-2003].

                     WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2003

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Translations of Bills submitted:

 (1)    The Minister of Defence:


     (i)     Molaotlhomo wa Kiletso ya Dibomo tse di Ripitlang Batho  [M
          44 - 2002] (National Assembly - sec 75)


     This is  the  official  translation  into  Setswana  of  the  Anti-
     Personnel Mines Prohibition Bill [B 44 - 2002]  (National  Assembly
     - sec 75).

National Council of Provinces:

1. Referrals to committees of papers tabled:

 The following papers have been tabled  and  are  now  referred  to  the
 relevant committees as mentioned below:


 (1)    The following paper is  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Finance:


     Annual Financial Statements of the Reconstruction  and  Development
     Programme Fund for 2002-2003, including the Report of the  Auditor-
     General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003.


 (2)    The following paper is  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Economic and Foreign Affairs:


     Report  and  Financial  Statements  of  Khula  Enterprise   Finance
     Limited for 2002-2003, including  the  Report  of  the  Independent
     Auditors on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003.


 (3)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Economic and Foreign Affairs for consideration and report:


     (a)      Southern  African  Customs  Union  Agreement  between  the
          Governments of  the  Republic  of  Botswana,  the  Kingdom  of
          Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of South Africa
          and the Kingdom of  Swaziland,  tabled  in  terms  of  section
          231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


     (b)     Explanatory Memorandum  to  the  Southern  African  Customs
          Union Agreement between the Governments  of  the  Republic  of
          Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the
          Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland.


 (4)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Security and Constitutional Affairs:


     (a)     Government Notice No R1318 published in Government  Gazette
          No 25456 dated 19 September 2003: Determinations of Amounts in
          terms of the Administrations of Estates Act, 1965 (Act  No  66
          of 1965).


     (b)     Government Notice No R1244 published in Government  Gazette
          No 25411 dated 22 September 2003:  Regulations  regarding  the
          promotion of access to information - Amended  Regulations,  in
          terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act
          No 2 of 2000).


     (c)     Government Notice No R1339 published in Government  Gazette
          No 25485 dated 26 September 2003: Regulations made in terms of
          the Magistrates Act, 1993 (Act No 90 of 1993).


 (5)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Security and Constitutional Affairs for consideration and report:


     (a)     Protocol on Southern African Development  (SADC)  Tribunal,
          tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


     (b)      Agreement  amending  the  Protocol  on  Southern   African
          Development (SADC) Tribunal, tabled in terms of section 231(2)
          of the Constitution, 1996.


     (c)     Explanatory Memorandum to the Protocol on Southern  African
          Development  (SADC)  Tribunal  and  Agreement   amending   the
          Protocol on Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal.


 (6)    The following papers are referred to  the  Select  Committee  on
     Public Services:


     (a)     Report and Financial  Statements  of  the  Urban  Transport
          Fund for 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, including the Report of  the
          Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2000-2001  and
          2001-2002 [RP 196-2003].


     (b)     Report  and  Financial  Statements  of  the  National  Home
          Builders Registration Council  for  2002-2003,  including  the
          Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements  for
          2002-2003 [RP 164-2003].

                       FRIDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2003 ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Assent by President in respect of Bills:

 (1)    Electoral Laws Amendment Bill [B 54D - 2003] - Act No 34 of 2003
     (assented to and signed by President on 2 November 2003).

1. Introduction of Bills:

 (1)    The Minister of Social Development:


     (i)     Older Persons Bill [B 68 - 2003] (National Assembly  -  sec
          76) [Explanatory summary of  Bill  and  prior  notice  of  its
          introduction published in Government Gazette No  25347  of  13
          August 2003.]


     Introduction and referral to  the  Portfolio  Committee  on  Social
     Development of the National Assembly, as well as  referral  to  the
     Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of  Joint
     Rule 160, on 7 November 2003.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the  classification  of
     the Bill may be submitted to  the  Joint  Tagging  Mechanism  (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

                      MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2003

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism:

 (1)    The Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) on 10 November 2003  in  terms
     of Joint Rule 160(3), classified the following Bill  as  a  section
     75 Bill:


     (i)     Communal Land Rights Bill [B 67 - 2003] (National  Assembly
          - sec 75).

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Finance:

 (a)    Convention between the  Government  of  the  Republic  of  South
     Africa and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil  for
     the Avoidance of Double  Taxation  and  the  Prevention  of  Fiscal
     Evasion in respect of Taxes on Income, tabled in terms  of  section
     231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


 (b)    Explanatory Memorandum on the Double Taxation Convention between
     the Republic of South Africa and the Government of  the  Federative
     Republic of Brazil for the Avoidance of  Double  Taxation  and  the
     Prevention of Fiscal Evasion in respect of Taxes on Income.

1. The Minister of Social Development:

 (a)    Report and Financial Statements of the Social  Relief  Fund  for
     2002-2003, including the  Report  of  the  Auditor-General  on  the
     Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 169-2003].


 (b)    Annual Financial Statements of the High School Vorentoe Disaster
     Fund for 2002-2003, including the Report of the Auditor-General  on
     the Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 176-2003].

1. The Minister for the Public Service and Administration: (a) Report and Financial Statements of State Information Technology Agency (SITA) (Pty) Ltd for 2002-2003, including the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 69- 2003].

                   TUESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2003
   

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism:

 (1)    The Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) on 10 November 2003  in  terms
     of Joint Rule 160(4), classified the following Bill  as  a  section
     76 Bill:


     (i)      Traditional  Health  Practitioners  Bill  [B  66  -  2003]
          (National Assembly - sec 76) 2.    Introduction of Bills:


 (1)    The Minister of Social Development:


     (i)     Children's Bill [B 70 - 2003] (National Assembly - sec  75)
          [Explanatory  summary  of  Bill  and  prior  notice   of   its
          introduction published in Government Gazette No  25346  of  13
          August 2003.]


     Introduction and referral to  the  Portfolio  Committee  on  Social
     Development of the National Assembly, as well as  referral  to  the
     Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of  Joint
     Rule 160, on 12 November 2003.


          NOTE:
          The  Portfolio  Committee  on  Social  Development  has   been
          instructed by the Speaker in terms of National  Assembly  Rule
          249(3)(c) to consult the Portfolio Committee  on  Justice  and
          Constitutional Development, the Joint Monitoring Committee  on
          Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of  Children,  Youth
          and Disabled Persons and any other committee that has a direct
          interest in the substance of the Bill.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the  classification  of
     the Bill may be submitted to  the  Joint  Tagging  Mechanism  (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

National Council of Provinces:

1. Messages from National Assembly to National Council of Provinces in respect of Bills passed by Assembly and transmitted to Council:

 (1)    Bills passed by  National  Assembly  on  11  November  2003  and
     transmitted for concurrence:


     (i)     Traditional Leadership and  Governance  Framework  Bill  [B
             58B - 2003] (National Assembly - sec 76)


     The Bill has  been  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on  Local
     Government  and  Administration  of   the   National   Council   of
     Provinces.


    (ii)     South African Social Security Agency Bill [B 51B  -  2003]
             (National Assembly - sec 76)


     The Bill has been  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on  Social
     Services of the National Council of Provinces.


     (iii)   National Gambling Bill [B 48B - 2003  (Reprint)]  (National
             Assembly - sec 76)


     The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee on Economic  and
     Foreign Affairs of the National Council of Provinces.
     (iv)     Pensions  Second  (Supplementary)  Bill  [B  59  -   2003]
             (National Assembly - sec 77)


     The Bill has been referred to the Select Committee  on  Finance  of
     the National Council of Provinces.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Education:

 Report and Financial Statements of  the  Council  on  Higher  Education
 (CHE) for 2002-2003, including the Report of the Auditor-General on the
 Financial Statements for 2002-2003 [RP 120-2003].

National Council of Provinces:

1. The Chairperson:

 Final Report of South African Human Rights Commission  on  the  Inquiry
 into Human Rights Violations in Farming Communities - August 2003.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

National Council of Provinces:

1. Report of the Select Committee on Public Services on the National Ports Authority Bill [B 5B - 2003] (National Assembly - sec 75), dated 11 November 2003:

   The Select Committee on Public Services, having considered the subject of the National Ports Authority Bill [B 5B - 2003] (National Assembly - sec 75), referred to it, reports that it has agreed to the Bill.