TUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2004 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
                                ____

The House met at 10:00.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                             NEW MEMBER

                           (Announcement)

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! A vacancy that arose as a result of the resignation of Dr B S Ngubane has been filled in accordance with item 6(3) of Schedule 6 of the Constitution, 1996, by the nomination of Mr L K Joubert with effect from 10 February 2004.

I recognise you, hon Van der Merwe.

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, the hon Mr Joubert is waiting outside to be sworn in in the same manner as many IFP members will, after the election, stand there and wait to be sworn in.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Will two members please accompany the new member to the Table. [Interjections.]

                                OATH

Mr Joubert, accompanied by Mr J H van der Merwe and Ms L R Mbuyazi, made and subscribed the oath and took his seat.

RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

                      (Subject for Discussion) Mr M J G  MZONDEKI:  Madam  Speaker,  the  hon  President,  the  hon  Deputy President and the hon members  of  the  House,  in  April  1994  many  South Africans stood very patiently in very long queues.  They  were  patient  and very excited because many for the first  time  were  going  to  vote  for  a government of their choice. Among those were young people  and  grannies  in their eighties and nineties, some registering  their  very  first  and  last vote.

There were also those who had been transported in wheelbarrows and some in their collapsing wheelchairs and with their old armed services crutches. They also for the first time became part of a society yearning for freedom. An overwhelming majority of South Africans had been united by the ANC in the struggle to work together to construct a caring society.

Today, Mr President, as we near the 10 year celebration of our democracy we can look back with pride and say indeed we are winning in creating that caring society. We will also not hesitate to accept that we still have a long way to go to our ideal destination where there will be a better life for all. We can look back with pride because today we have a constitution that makes all equal before the law, that gives us all a right to utilise opportunities that have come with this freedom.

Mr President, in your state-of-the-nation address you alluded to the fact that there are still challenges in addressing the persisting racial and gender inequalities as well as the disempowerment of our youth and people with disabilities, and proper care for children and the elderly. I agree with you, Mr President, that we also want to demonstrate that the ANC has worked hard and still continues to work hard to ensure an enabling environment for all.

Today in this debate I would like to focus my speech on the work that has been done by the ANC to address some of the disempowerment you referred to. I will focus on the work that has been done to address the disempowerment of people with disabilities in this country. It is perhaps important to reflect back and illustrate how this disempowerment came about. Firstly, the policies that were there were disability exclusive. Secondly, the approach was a welfare approach. Disabled people had no access to education. A few lucky ones went to special schools which channelled them to jobs such as typists and switchboard operators. There was no national rehabilitation policy. There were no employment opportunities other than sheltered workshops. Professionals were regarded as specialists on disability.

The 1994 elections bringing a triumph for the ANC led to radical changes. Today a legislative framework is in place to ensure that people with disabilities benefit from the freedom that came with the 1994 elections. I will highlight some of the work that has been done in this area. In the area of health there is a White Paper on the Transformation of Health Services as well as a national rehabilitation policy. There is a shift in the provision of health services towards civilians.

Programmes which have a specific bearing on disabled people include amongst others the provision of assisting devices, access to health facilities, the reorientation of rehabilitation professionals to primary health care, sign language development for civil servants, immunisation campaigns and the involvement of the sector in HIV/Aids programmes.

The challenge, however, is to ensure that there is a change of attitude among civil servants, that they serve with dignity, respect and commitment. We need to ensure that at provincial level there is a similar interpretation of the policy and that more resources are allocated. We need to ensure that we strengthen the partnership between Government and communities and empower those NGOs that continue to play a vital role in our communities. An example of such a partnership is the community-based rehabilitation project in Mpumalanga which is a partnership between Disabled People South Africa and the Mpumalanga provincial government.

The project started as a pilot project and has since graduated to a fully fledged project. We believe that some lessons can be learned from this project and hope that it will be introduced in other provinces.

Through this project disabled people are involved in assisting device distribution and the identification of backlogs. They are also trained in peer counselling. The project is also used as an empowerment tool in informing disabled people about Government services and assisting them in accessing such services.

In the area of education a national policy on inclusive education has been gazetted. A national co-ordinating committee for inclusive education was established as well as district institutional-level support teams for disability issues. An audit of special schools to be used as resource centres has been done. The challenges to speed up the implementation process, evaluation of the pilot project and the resource centres must be overcome as soon as possible. We need to do this to ensure that no disabled child is left out of the system because the schools are not ready to accommodate them. In the area of employment there are the Labour Relations Act, the Employment Equity Act as well as the Skills Development Act. All these pieces of legislation ensure that there is no discrimination on the basis of disability and that disabled people have access to skills development through the Setas.

A code of good practice on the employment of disabled persons is in place to assist employees to understand the disability issues that affect employment. We also see a few disabled people make use of the Preferential Procurement Act and start their own companies. We need to remove obstacles such as access to finance so we can see more disabled entrepreneurs.

In the area of social development an assessment tool has been put in place to ensure that more disabled people that qualify for grants receive their grants speedily. Disabled people have access to housing through the Housing Subsidy Implementation Manual and the Housing Code which includes disability variation on subsidy. There is, however, a need to improve the implementation of these policies. I perhaps need to pause a bit here and give an example of the need to change the mindset, for instance, in one region in the Free State in the allocation of housing for disabled people. In that area they were allocated a disability exclusive area, which seems to contrast with our principle of integration but is in line with our people’s contract which says that the people need to stand up and take on issues on their own. The disability sector in that region has had a meeting with the councillors to bring that to the attention of the MEC and the matter has since been attended to. We do not believe that there will be a repetition of this.

Mr President, there are still a number of challenges facing the sector, such as access to courts because of the shortage of sign language interpreters, access to public transport and public buildings. We hope that the expanded Public Works programme will go a long way in addressing some of these accessibility problems. We also believe that we need to empower disabled people’s organisations so that they can continue to play their role in the communities.

The adoption of the Integrated National Disability Strategy by the ANC-led Government was a great step to success. This strategy advocates a social model on disability which is a human rights approach placing emphasis on the shortcomings of society and its inability to accommodate diversity.

The ANC has also demonstrated its commitment by ensuring that disabled people are represented in a number of Government institutions such as the SA Human Rights Commission, the Gender Commission, the Youth Commission, the SA Broadcasting Corporation Board and others. The ANC has also ensured that disabled people are directly represented in the legislatures as well as in local councils. I am sure that many members here can attest that the ANC is the party that has the largest number of disabled persons here and in the local councils.

We finally want to recognise the role that you, Mr President, continue to play not only in your capacity as a patron of the disability movement in South Africa, but also in your capacity as a leader in Africa. This is demonstrated by the confidence that the countries of Africa have in South Africa when they asked it to house the Africa Decade on Disability Secretariat. We hope that this will extend to Nepad and ensure that disabled people in South Africa benefit from the poverty-alleviation programmes of Nepad. This is very critical because of the relationship between poverty and disability. We also hope that through your leadership, disabled people will be able to participate in the AU and other relevant institutions in Africa that support democracy.

In conclusion, Mr President, I want to steal from where you quoted President Mandela when he said:

The Government I have the honour to lead and, I dare say, the masses who elected us to serve in this role are inspired by the single vision of creating a people-centred society. Accordingly, the purpose that will drive this Government shall be the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment and the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom.

The acid test of the legitimacy of the programmes we elaborate, the Government institutions we create, the legislation we adopt, must be whether we serve these objectives.

I would like to urge all disabled people to go out in their numbers and defend democracy by voting very consciously. I thank you. [Applause.]

Rev K R J MESHOE: Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members of Parliament, yesterday the DA leader said that South will have a two-way party system, with the DA as the official opposition after the coming elections. [Interjections.] The ACDP wants to dispute that and believes that if, indeed, we have a two-way party system in this country, then the ACDP and not the DA will be the alternative to the ANC. [Interjections.]

Most South Africans who know that miracles don’t just happen, but do believe that there is a miracle worker, are grateful to God for the peaceful transition to democracy that they experienced in 1994. It seemed inevitable that war would break out and rivers of blood would flow in our streets before many of us in this august House had had the opportunity to cast our first democratic vote.

Fear, anxiety and uncertainty forced millions of South Africans to turn to God in prayer. Indeed, churches were filled with people petitioning God to intervene. Indeed, the resultant peace and calm that came upon our nation was an answer to those prayers.

On 27 April 1994 many of our people rose up early to be amongst the first to cast their votes. In some areas long queues meandered in former no-go areas, with anxious people patiently waiting for their turn to vote. As people left the voting stations to go back to their homes, many wondered what they had been afraid of and where the rumours of war had emanated from. The truth is that the Lord in heaven had intervened. Peace prevailed and we were all relieved and grateful.

Ten years of democracy have brought with them both good and bad. South Africans have received a mixed bag of services, dignity, respect, arrogance, rebellion and selfishness. Our people may be free to exercise their right to vote, but many do not know how to balance their right with responsibility. Our Government has make laws that have helped to promote equality for all, as well as laws that have undermined the laws of God.

The Government has succeeded in many of their endeavours while failing dismally in others. On Friday 6 February, our President Mbeki highlighted some of the successes of Government, for which we commend him. The ACDP believes in giving credit where credit is due and constructive criticism where it is necessary.

What I was most concerned about was the fact that the President mentioned many of the problems that South Africans still face, but did not give any solutions to overcome the problems. I now want to focus on four challenges the President alluded to and suggest solutions that are proposed by the ACDP.

Firstly, the President referred to the problem of crime. The ACDP maintains that the main role of Government is to protect its citizens and wield the sword of justice. Yet there is hardly a person in South Africa who has not had their life affected by crime. Clearly the Government is failing in its primary function. The only deterrent to crime is the sure knowledge that criminals will be swiftly apprehended, tried, convicted and punished severely.

In the case of certain offences such as murder and the rape of babies, the ACDP believes that capital punishment is the most appropriate sentence. Criminals must be held accountable for their actions by the payment of restitution to their victims or community service. This victim-centred approach provides for restitution not only to the state, but also to the victims of crime. We believe that crime can be eradicated and South Africa can be the safest country, not only on the African continent, but also in the world. But to bring this about would need a government that has the political will to teach criminals that crime does not pay.

Secondly, the ACDP is extremely concerned about poverty and the high level of unemployment in our country, which is estimated at about 6 million South Africans. Despite hearing about consistent economic growth since 1994, for which we are grateful, the fact still remains that this growth has not been translated into more jobs for our millions of unemployed citizens. The ACDP wants to see the introduction of incentives for companies to invest locally. Why not apply principles of reciprocity to ensure that our local manufacturers are able to compete fairly against importers, who are heavily subsidised?

What I found most disturbing in the speech was that the President did not find it necessary to elaborate on the Aids pandemic that is sweeping across our nation, or to let us know what Government is doing to reverse its relentless course. The President mentioned the word ``Aids’’ only once, and yet made reference to Mr Mandela about 16 times. With as many as 1 600 Aids- related deaths occurring in South Africa every day, all our people will be affected physically, emotionally or financially as the cost of living soars. The ADCP wants to see the introduction of sensible, valuable life- skills programmes that will promote the message of abstinence from pre- marital sex, while encouraging fidelity in marriage. A similar campaign has helped to drastically reduce the rate of HIV infections in countries such as Uganda.

In addition to prevention, the ACDP believes that medical treatment, including the provision of antiretroviral treatment and sound nutritional guidelines, is desperately needed in order to help prolong and improve the quality of life of those living with HIV/Aids. Because HIV/Aids is a health issue before it is a human rights issue, the ACDP wants Government to make it a notifiable disease.

Fourthly, the President briefly touched on the issue of moral regeneration. Our nation is desperately in need of a moral revolution and the Government must seriously look at their contribution to the decline in the moral fibre of our society. It is going to take more than just lip service if real change is going to come to South Africa. King Solomon once said and I quote:

Righteousness exults a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Before there can be righteousness in the nation, there must be righteousness in the individuals, and this should include even the leaders of the nation. Both the throne of the king and the government must be established not only on justice, but also on righteousness.

Article 18 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights adopted in 1981, states, and I quote:

The family shall be the natural unit and basis of society. It shall be protected by the state which shall take care of its physical health and morals. The state shall have the duty to assist the family, which is the custodian of morals and traditional values recognised by the community.

The state shall ensure the elimination of every discrimination against women, and also ensure the protection of the rights of the woman and the child as stipulated in the international declarations and conventions. The aged and the disabled shall also have the right to special measures of protection in keeping with their physical and moral needs.

The Constitutive Act of the African Union undertakes in its objectives clause, to uphold the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. It is unfortunate that South Africa, which played a key role in the founding of the African Union, has enacted laws and policies that directly undermine traditional family values and fly in the face of the Government’s moral regeneration movement. The unprecedented moral degeneration in this country over the past 10 years of democracy has resulted in dysfunctional families, wanton crime and corruption, and the spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic. Sexual permissiveness and disregard for the traditional family spell disaster for our nation. The strength of a nation lies in its families and certain Government programmes are undoubtedly becoming enemies of traditional family values.

The ACDP believes that the moral degeneration is a direct result of certain Government laws and policies, such as the legislation allowing abortion on demand, which has resulted in the legal murder of more that 300 000 unborn babies since 1997; sexual orientation and domestic partnership proposals that legally acknowledge same-sex relationships, paving the way for the redefinition of marriage; the legalisation of pornography and gambling; and access to contraceptives and abortion for children without parental consent.

The ACDP commits itself to promote and protect family values. Our policies will strengthen the role of and respect for marriage and parenthood, to build stable families as the cornerstone of society. South Africa cannot survive without strong families.

We will do everything possible to ensure that children enjoy the benefit of growing up in a safe and secure environment. The ACDP will ensure that there are family-friendly legislation and policies that promote moral regeneration by repealing laws and policies that violate traditional Judeo- Christian moral ethics and undermine family values.

We strongly believe that one cannot build a strong nation without strong families. Nation builders take the family seriously. That is why the ACDP believes not only in the rights of individuals, but also in the rights of families. [Time expired.]

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: I want to point out that the fact that Mr Len Joubert walked to the other side does not mean that he was trying to cross the floor! [Laughter.]

Dr P W A MULDER: Deputy Speaker, Mr President, on your way to Parliament from Rondebosch, you pass the memorial erected for Cecil John Rhodes. It was Rhodes who said: “To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in God’s lottery.” He also said: “Only one race approached God’s ideal type, his own Anglo-Saxon race!”

Sir, blacks and Afrikaners were seen by Rhodes as inferior and did not qualify for his Anglo-Saxon definition. Why is this important? Because the hon Minister Lekota, yesterday in his speech, simplified our history from 1910 to 1994 into a simple black/white struggle. That was a mistake.

The ANC will never understand the Afrikaner and his aspirations if they try to explain everything we did in the past as simple white/black racism. Those theories might be correct in Britain or the USA, where a white majority bullies a black minority. It is not correct in South Africa. When Minister Lekota gets angry because black people do not get jobs at the Mount Nelson hotel, he explains it as white/black racism. He must just check if any Afrikaner got a job at that hotel! With its colonial history, the chances are one hundred per cent that our English accents are not good enough for us to be appointed.

The hon Minister Lekota yesterday explained how it was a mistake that in 1910 blacks were excluded from the settlement that led to the Union of South Africa. I understand his frustrations. But, Sir, is he aware of the fact that two delegations from South Africa went to the European peace talks in Versailles in 1919? It was an ANC delegation and an Afrikaner delegation. Both delegations were not satisfied with the 1910 settlement and went to ask for freedom as they saw it. Both failed, as the colonial powers ignored their requests.

Lord Milner, Cecil Rhodes’ right-hand man, wished to ensure the dominance of the British element in South Africa after the Anglo-Boer War. Therefore instruction through the Dutch language was not to be allowed in the government schools. Milner said: “Dutch should only be used to teach English and English to teach everything else.”

Sir, as Afrikaners we fought and won that fight and will do it again. In South Africa in 1994 approximately 2 000 schools were classified as Afrikaans single-medium schools. After 10 years of ANC government, only 310 can still be identified as such. None of these schools are whites only, so it is not a racial issue. It must be clear why Afrikaners see new Lord Milners in South Africa and a repetition of their history, struggling against a colonial power.

Another example: Mr President, do you agree with the changing of Pretoria’s name? How can I explain to an Afrikaner audience why ANC local governments target only Afrikaans town names? Pietersburg and Pretoria were named after Afrikaner heroes. These names must now be changed, causing anger in Afrikaner circles. Towns named after British colonial figures like Durban, Kimberley, Queenstown and King Williams Town are not targeted. These British figures came to South Africa and left. Are we again struggling against a new colonial power?

The FF Plus welcomes the forthcoming election. It gives us an opportunity to show the growth that we experienced during the last year fighting these issues. This morning, Mr Sakkie Louw, ex-New NP and DA member of Parliament, joined the FF Plus. [Interjections.] We will be back in Parliament after the election. We will be back in greater numbers.

Die Nasionale Party het dit nodig gevind om ons gister hier aan te val. Hulle beskuldig ons dat ons die kiesers mislei. Waarom is die kiesers vir die NNP kwaad en gaan hulle hierdie verkiesing nie vir hulle stem nie? Omdat die kiesers deur die NNP mislei is.

Elke party het ‘n strategie en ‘n geloofwaardigheid. Die NNP se strategie is vir kiesers tans totaal verwarrend en sy geloofwaardigheid het tot nul gedaal. Kiesers het nie probleme gehad toe die NNP net na 1994 met die ANC saamgewerk het nie. Daarna in 2000 is hulle deur die huidige leierskap vertel dat die nuwe NNP-strategie nou is om die ANC uit die Wes-Kaap te hou terwyl hulle saam met die DP gaan regeer.

Nou in 2004 moet kiesers vir die NNP stem, omdat hulle strategie weer verander het. Jy moet nou vir die NNP stem om seker te maak dat die Wes- Kaap en KwaZulu-Natal aan die ANC oorhandig gaan word!

NNP-kiesers vermoed dat NNP-strategie baie min te doen het met wat in belang van Suid-Afrika is, maar dat dit alles te doen het met wat in belang is van NNP-leiers se posisies. Om hierdie vermoede te bevestig, kondig mnr Van Schalkwyk aan dat die hoofdoel met sy veldtog gaan wees om die premierskap in die Wes-Kaap te behou! In my wildste drome het ek nie gedink dat ek in my leeftyd die einde van die NNP sal sien nie. Selfs mnr De Klerk slaag nie daarin om lewe in hierdie lyk te blaas nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The National Party saw fit to attack us here yesterday. They accuse us of misleading the voters. Why are the voters angry with the New NP and are they not going to vote for them during this election? Because the voters have been misled by the New NP.

Every party has a strategy and a credibility. The New NP’s present strategy is totally confusing to the voters and its credibility has decreased to nil. Voters did not have problems when the New NP co-operated with the ANC after 1994. Then, in 2000 they were told by the present leadership that the new New NP strategy now is to keep the ANC out of the Western Cape whilst they are going to govern with the DP.

Now in 2004 voters have to vote for the New NP because their strategy has changed again. One now has to vote for the New NP to ensure that the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are going to be handed over to the ANC!

New NP voters surmise that New NP strategy has very little to do with what is in the interests of South Africa, but that it has everything to do with what is in the interest of New NP leaders’ positions. To confirm this supposition, Mr Van Schalkwyk has announced that the main objective of his campaign will be to retain the premiership in the Western Cape! In my wildest dreams I never thought that I would see the end of the New NP in my lifetime. Even Mr De Klerk cannot succeed in reviving that corpse.]

Corruption is becoming a problem in South Africa. I get more and more reports of traffic police harassing people just to take a bribe. Sir, you are on record as declaring war on corruption. But this attitude is not shared by everyone in the ANC. Last week a prominent ANC member in Potchefstroom, Mr Serfontein, distributed the following letter to businesspeople. The heading reads: “ANC election funds.”

I quote:

With reference to the above, we are appealing to the various organisations who have benefited from opportunities created by your local municipality in the past, to make a contribution towards the above- mentioned fund.

He suggests R5 000.

Future business opportunities for your organisation may well be part of the retention of your existing local government.

Shocking blackmail that cannot be tolerated.

Minister Lekota referred to Eugene Terre’blanche and that many people were misled by war rhetoric before 1994. At this moment, in our prisons, there are several prisoners from the Afrikaner side and from the PAC from this period.

I do not agree with what they did, but their only motive was political, 18 year old boys who were misled by political rhetoric. After ten years, it is time to solve this problem. After the elections and as part of the 10 year celebrations, I believe is the best time to solve it. Let us address it now. Recently I spoke on these issues and on my dreams for Afrikaners and Africa. A young Afrikaner girl from Pretoria, Barbara Botha, sent me this poem. She wrote:

Am I African? How do I know that I am African? Is it the colour of my skin? Is it the language that I speak? Is it the beliefs of my ancestors?

I know this … The first breath I took, was of African air, the first word I spoke, Africa heard, the first step I took, was on African soil. Every time my heart beats, it beats for Africa. I am African!

I agree with her sentiments and I understand her feelings. We have no alternative - all of us. We owe it to our children to make a success of South Africa. We owe it to our children to create new dreams for them all. That is exactly what the FF Plus, Mr Manuel, intends to do in this election! Thank you very much.

Mong L J MODISENYANE: Ke qale pele ka ho ananela se entsweng ke mohlophisi ya ka sehloohong wa Lesedi stereo ha a ile a tlisa Lesedi stereo kwano eleng mohlomphehi Hlaodi Motshweneng. Ha a ile a tlisa Lesedi kwano palamenteng ya naha mme ya hasa ka ho otloloha puo ya mopresidente mme, ya utluwa ke batho, bamamedi ba fetang dimilione tse pedi mme ba thabetse puo eo haholo hoo ba bileng ba nna ba letsetsa mehala ho Lesedi stereo. Empa se mmakaditseng ke mohlomphehi Seremane ha a ile a le nyaya la koloba le ha a fuwe monyetla wa hore a hlahelle setjhabeng sena seo a se tshabang, a tshaba le ho tshwara dikopano le sona. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)

[Mr L J MODISENYANE: Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the manager of Lesedi Stereo, Mr Hlaodi Motshweneng, for bringing Lesedi Stereo here into Parliament. He brought Lesedi broadcasting here into the national Parliament to broadcast, live, the President’s speech to be heard by the people. More than two million listeners were very happy to hear the speech and many of them called the station to comment. I was surprised by Mr Seremane when he became silent even when he was given a chance to appear before the nation; he was afraid to hold meetings with the people.]

Recognising the fact that South Africa comes from a painful past in which moral decay was a reality, the ANC convened moral summits at which moral regeneration was emphasised. Since its establishment, the ANC has always been motivated by strong ethical convictions, because its struggle for freedom was aimed exactly at achieving justice for all.

The contents of the Freedom Charter reflect also on the envisaged just society. Its preamble was adopted by the new dispensation, and all South Africans speak the same language today in the new Constitution in that South Africa belongs to all its people, both black and white.

Our leadership, both past and present, have a common mission, which is to see a moral society transform from an unjust and immoral one that was brought about by the apartheid system. Our leaders, together with their followers, have to be commended for fighting for freedom in our lifetime. Their resounding slogan: “We shall win” became a reality in 1994 when we won the first democratic election. It is important to remember one of our founding fathers, namely Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme who made a famous oration at Columbia University in 1905 when he chose the topic: The Regeneration of Africa.

His oration made such an impact that it was quoted in its entirety by Dr Kwame Nkrumah at the first International Congress of Africanists in 1962. That famous oration is still relevant today. Every race, in fact, has its uniqueness and genius, and that does not prevent us from being one nation. That is the significance of the unbroken resemblance between the ANC’s past and present leadership. So, the hon Seremane needs to learn that President Nelson Mandela is a disciplined member of the ANC and that he has not deviated from the course of ANC leadership.

In his oration, Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme said: “I am an African.” President Mbeki also said: “Let us start from the beginning, I am an African”, and there was a chorus from all political parties in this House, saying: “I am an African”. Without a shadow of a doubt, we can proudly say that the ANC lives, the ANC leads. [Applause.] Forward with partnership between religious communities and the Government. Together we must build a people’s contract to create jobs and fight poverty.

Die apartheidsjare herinner ons aan die gedig, “O, die pyngedagte”. Dit is pynlik om daaroor te dink en te praat. Dit is belangrik om onsself daaraan te herinner, sodat ons nie weer na sulke tye terugkeer nie. Apartheid was onmenslik, korrup, vol bedrog en rassisties. Ons moet nie terugslaan nie. Daar is nie tyd vir Boggom en Voertsek-alliansies nie. Apartheid is verklaar as ‘n sonde teen die menswaardigheid van die mensdom. Die president het dit duidelik gestel dat daar geen basis bestaan om agterdog te koester oor die toekoms van die land nie.

Wyle dr Malan, ‘n vorige Eerste Minister van hierdie land, het Afrikaners eendag gevra: Waar gaan julle heen? Die antwoord is nou van mnr Rian Malan gekry. Afrikaners gaan na hulle nuwe tuiste, naamlik die ANC-regering. Dit is ons voorland vir nasiebou en versoening. [Tussenwerpsels.]

Die apartheidstaat was ‘n moordenaar. Die ANC-regering moes die doodstraf afskaf om die staat van moord af te weer. Daar is ‘n groot geraas dat die galg moet teruggebring word. Ons kan ons nie aan dié geraas steur nie, want dit is teen die beginsel van die reg om te mag lewe. Korrektiewe dienste word gelewer om misdadigers menswaardig te maak, sodat hulle weer in die gemeenskap opgeneem kan word. Dit is moreel. Dit is net die ANC wat dit kan handhaaf. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The apartheid years remind us of the poem, “O, die pyngedagte”. It is painful to think and to talk about them. It is important to remind ourselves of them, so that we will not return to such times again. Apartheid was inhuman, corrupt, full of fraud and racist. We must not hit back. There isn’t time for Boggom and Voertsek-alliances. Apartheid has been declared a sin against the human dignity of mankind. The President clearly stated that no basis exists for harbouring mistrust about the future of the country.

The late Dr Malan, a former Prime Minister of this country, once asked Afrikaners: Where are you going? The answer has now been received from Mr Rian Malan. Afrikaners are going to their new home, namely the ANC Government. That is our destiny for nation-building and reconciliation. [Interjections.]

The apartheid state was a murderer. The ANC Government had to abolish the death penalty to put an end to the state of murder. There is much clamouring that we should reinstate the death penalty. We cannot take note of that clamour, because it is contrary to the principle of the right to life. Correctional services are rendered to give criminals human dignity, so that they can again be taken up in the community. This is moral. It is only the ANC that can maintain this.]

This Government is committed to fighting corruption. Corruption has never been tolerated in ANC ranks. I expected the people on my left to howl because I know that the perception about corruption, according to them, is corruption itself. Call them to come forward with evidence; they have nothing to prove. We can therefore classify them as loud-sounding nothings. Their reaction is to bark and bark, forgetting that barking dogs seldom bite.

This Government has brought about the Public Service Commission to fight corruption in the Public Service. It is a known fact that public life is corrupted by private interest. It is really commendable to note that about 80% of reported corruption cases were discovered by the Government itself. We call upon the public to play their role of assisting their Government to combat corruption. What was the DA before? Was it not the Progressive Party, or the Progressive Federal Party? The Democratic Party? Their achievement is only to change names rather than delivering to the people, as they are now promising. [Interjections.] [Applause.] What will their next name be? Wait for the outcome of the election, which I am quite sure will see their numbers extremely reduced because they banked on the support of the New NP which discovered their lies before it was too late.

Now the poor IFP has also fallen into that trap just for its survival, as was said by the Minister yesterday. [Interjections.] [Applause.] Alas! How can you survive with the assistance of a party that is on its way out of the political scene?

Ha ke dihela dikgakgala bahlomphehi baka, ke rata ho toboketsa ntlha ya hore boitshwaro ke ntho e hlokolosi haholo. Ke ka hoo ANC e re kgothaletsang ho menahana le mehlala, re hlabolle boitshwaro ba rona haholo- holo letlobo le letjha. Burning Spear ya mamelwang haholo ke batjha, sebini se seholo sa mmino wa reggae o re: “Humble yourself my children, humble yourself my little ones.”

Hlompho ho batho ba baholo ke bona bo-Afrika. Ditaelo tsa baholo ba rona re di tlamella molaleng jwalo ka kgweetsa. Le se ke la dumela ho tshwariswa phupe ka lefe. Baholo ba lona ba le lwanetse le eso tswalwe hore le kgole ditholwana tsa tokoloho. Ithuteng nalane ya naha ya lona, le tle le tsebe hore bongata ba ile ba ya masihlwane e ele ha ba ne ba le tsekella hore le be le tokelo ya ho ikgethela baetapele ba lona.

Ebang le sa e ele keletso ya ka hloko le aha serobe Phiri e se e jele. Tlohelang masawana le ye dikgethong, bokamoso ba lona bo matsohong a lona. Boetapele bo tla tswa ho lona batjha.Boetapele ba mmakgonthe, eseng ba bo sehata marikgwana, bo ha re eya re ya ya. Ha re sa tsebe moo re tswang, re ke ke ra tseba moo re eyang. Ka bongata ba rona ha re ikitlaetseng, ho etsa setlamo le mmuso wa rona ho hlahisa mesebetsi le ho lwantsha bofutsana, etswe pela e ne e hloke mohatla ke ho romeletsa. Kgomo ha e nye bolokwe kaofela! [Ditlatse.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)

[In conclusion, I would like to emphasise that good behaviour is a very important thing. That is why the ANC encourages the youth to go back and change their behaviour. The famous Reggae singer called Burning Spear says: “Humble yourselves my children, humble yourselves my little ones.”

Respect for adults is African. We should always remember our elders’ teachings and advice. Don’t allow yourself to be tricked. Your forefathers fought for your rights even before you were born, so that you could reap the fruits of freedom. Learn everything about the history of your country, so that you may know that many people died so that you could have the right to choose your own leaders.

If you don’t take my advice seriously, you will cry over spilt milk. Stop playing and go to the elections; your future is in your hands. The future leaders will come from you, young people, the real leadership, not the leadership of people who are not well informed. If we do not know where we come from, we won’t know where we are going. So, let us all commit ourselves to work together with our Government to create jobs and fight poverty, for time waits for no man. Thank you. [Applause.]]

Mrs P DE LILLE: Madam Deputy Speaker, Comrade President, I want to start by doing something very uncharacteristic in this House today. I want to thank President Thabo Mbeki for reminding us about the vision that they set for this country in 1994. I also want to acknowledge the role played by all the liberation movements in delivering democracy to this House and country. But this welcome reminder, Mr President, has only reinforced how we have strayed from the vision that we set for ourselves in 1994.

As we approach the third national elections as a free country, we need to stop and ask ourselves whether we are happy with the way we have moved forward as a nation. No doubt, the ANC will tend to highlight the successes

• and to be fair, there have been many - while the opposition parties will be quick to point out the failures. The ID believes, however, that the past 10 years of our democracy should not only be judged on the successes or failures of Government, but on how we as a nation have collectively taken forward the vision that we all had for our country back in 1994.

The country we live in today is undoubtedly better than the one we emerged from in the dark and tragic days of apartheid. It would be an insult to all those who fought against such a regime though, to now use it as a benchmark for our success. We thankfully set higher standards for ourselves, which are represented in the most democratic document, our Constitution. The mistake we all fell into, however, was to think that producing such a document was the end point of the struggle. The ID believes that the document must serve as our solid launch pad for our future.

We have witnessed too many cases over the past 10 years where Government has sometimes not remained true to the letter and spirit of the Constitution. In the much quoted cases of Grootboom, the Treatment Action Campaign, the Richersveld case, we have seen the good rulings by the Constitutional Court. While I am extremely grateful for the power of the Constitution and the Constitutional Court to hold Government to account, I am also dismayed at Government’s constant disregard for the founding document of our new nation. It is a bitter irony that the very people who helped draft the Constitution are now violating it.

Comrade President, also in your response to the Hefer Commission report you stated that I should be called before Parliament and disciplined. Well, I challenge you today in this House to do exactly that, because I really question the understanding of the parliamentary processes. I also hope that your legal advisers will advise you better.

Let us also consider the sorry state of our politics in South Africa. I believe that, far from building bridges in our nation, our political parties have continues to be divided. Opposition parties, in the quest for votes, will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. People are dying in KwaZulu-Natal as a result of political parties jostling for their own selfish needs. I call upon President Thabo Mbeki and Minister Buthelezi to lower the political temperature in KwaZulu-Natal, so that the bloodletting can be prevented.

Our people deserve more maturity from their political parties. The challenge for opposition parties is to tangibly show Government how it can improve its performance, as opposed to simply just rejoicing when Government is messing up. It is also unfair of some opposition parties to now attack Government on nondelivery, when they have also had a chance to show the electorate what they could do. In this province, the Western Cape, there is debt, sex scandals and division. I hope the courts send all of them to jail.

We have, in the Western Cape, a Premier who continues to lie to the province that he is putting education first. The ID is aware of the 107 mobile classrooms that were ordered by the provincial department of education in 2003, at an astronomical cost of R135 000 per classroom. So far, only 12 have been delivered. If we bought the classrooms directly, it would have cost us only R85 000. The classrooms have not been delivered. We also have a contractor from Gauteng and, even though he has not delivered on the 107 classrooms, he was, again, issued another contract to provide more classrooms.

The problem with this, Comrade President, is that it’s our children that are affected by this. We have schools where there are more than 65 children in one classroom. The schools affected by this are Masipumele, Nomzana in Strand, Sedgefield in George and Heins Park in Mitchells Plain. This is the product of the unholy alliance between the New NP and the ANC in this province. We demand the resignation of both Ministers Tasneem Essop and Andre Gaum for not only lying to us, but for failing to deliver classrooms in time to our children. [Interjections.]

The ID is happy that the Government will be spending R100 million more on infrastructure development. The economic policy of the ID is that this R100 million should be spent on eradicating the backlog of repairs and maintenance of our deteriorating hospitals, schools and roads, by investing this money into SMMEs, so that they can also grow.

HIV/Aids is continuing to divide us, through our destructive stigmatisation of HIV-positive people in South Africa. We do not have strong political leadership to personify the struggle against HIV/Aids. Our political leaders need to follow the footsteps of our new breed of heroes like Nkosi Johnson and Khabzela, who were not afraid to speak out and act on HIV/Aids.

In contrast we have a Government that is relegating HIV/Aids to a vegetable patch, from garlic to a touch of olive oil and beetroot. The African potato is now being swallowed and ditched. When are we going to get out of this madness and face the issues? We urgently need to train people and provide the medicines. When will the Minister take the epidemic seriously? Stop scratching around in the vegetable patch and go visit the people in hospitals and the bereaved. [Interjections.]

Crime in South Africa is also dividing our people, and communities live through the fear it generates. We need to speed up the transformation of our justice system. We need far more courts to be built and prosecutors need to be paid a decent wage. The same applies to the police.

When we launched our access to education initiative a few weeks ago, we received a number of calls from concerned applicants who want to help. But I want to quickly turn to opposition parties.

Opposition parties have an important role to play in our democracy and they must stop fragmenting our society. The ID is growing the opposition and not fragmenting it. [Interjections.] I want to say to Kortbroek - he must listen, even though he is not here - that it does not mean allowing ourselves to be co-opted by the ruling party for the sake of short-term political gain.

Die NNP is nou die snol van die ANC, die hoer, die houvrou van die ANC, en dit is nie opposisie nie! [Tussenwerpsels.] [The New NP is now the ANC’s harlot, the whore, the concubine of the ANC, and this is not opposition!]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Hon member, your time has expired.

Mrs P DE LILLE: Agb Boy Geldenhuys, jy kan solank begin sing, “Gaan my nie verby, O Heiland”, want jy gaan nie weer terugkom in die volgende Parlement nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] [Hon Boy Geldenhuys, you can start singing “Pass me not, Oh Gentle Saviour”, because you will not be returning to Parliament. [Interjections.]]

The ID offers …

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Hon member, your time has expired!

Mrs P DE LILLE: It’s not yet…

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, it’s already 55 seconds more than you were allocated! [Interjections.]

Mrs P DE LILLE: Oh, thank you.

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE: Comrade President and Madam Speaker, it is that time of the year when leaders and members of political parties are required to respond to and interact with the speech of the hon President of the Republic of South Africa.

Allow me to start with something that relates to some of us and others who are out there amongst our people in the streets and in the villages. In the past, because of a society that was built on the supremacy of white people, because of a society that was governed by racial segregation, because of a society that enriched only white people at the expense of the majority of the people, because of a society that made us grow up having no trousers and no shirts to wear, and having no homes, many of us had to grow up in a struggle. We walked barefoot and did not even have jackets to wear.

In years gone by we wore a loincloth and when winter came, we made fire from wood we collected from the bush to keep all family members warm. From such an early age we cannot remember, we only ate once a day and, even then, food was not enough and often we would not know in advance whether there would be food tomorrow.

We grew up thinking that poverty was normal in our villages. This is because the existential situation was such that we could not move from our villages to the towns. All the boys and girls in the villages wore similar clothes, played together and sang songs of sorrow together. This is the society we come from.

At that time our knowledge of society was limited to village activities, their ethos and their hopelessness, but today, after so many years of struggle, we know that the villages we grew up in were not very different from many informal settlements in our country. We now know, also, that many black people who do not live in villages live in informal settlements. We have also come to know that there are many street children in our country. This state of affairs must change after the elections.

Those who grew up the way I have described, those of you who had to struggle against the apartheid regime in order to speak freely here in Parliament, Azapo says to you: We should actually redouble our efforts together to free our people even more. [Applause.] For those of you who did not have to struggle in order to gain a vote, you should not dare to think that we have forgotten the past. You should not dare to think that we do not know what poverty is.

Azapo would like you to understand that, had it not been for the fact that the society we fought against favoured you, you would have gone through the same pain that black people went through. Azapo believes that it is paternalism, particularly for the DA which benefited from apartheid, to love black people only during election time, in order to get their votes, to keep their privileges. [Applause.] The challenge is: If you love black people, why do you oppose restitution and land redistribution? [Interjections.] [Applause.]

What Azapo places in front of you is that to show your love for black people, you should be prepared to share the wealth you acquired through apartheid with black people. You should be prepared to support black people in their struggle to get their land back. [Interjections.]

As we debate the President’s speech, Azapo also knows that hawkers are constantly being harassed in the streets of Johannesburg. Azapo also knows that these are the people we want to incorporate into our economy system. Azapo’s assessment is that hawkers, spaza shops, shebeens and taverns are major employment facilities for ordinary people and, as a result, we would like to see a programme designed specifically for these groups, in order to enhance their economic status in society.

Saki Macozoma, writing about black economic empowerment, in an abridged version of his speech which appeared in the City Press on 8 February 2004, had this to say:

What is clear is that the political transformation that South Africa has undergone since the early 1990s has not been matched in the economic sector. Research shows that, despite the progress towards equity and equality that has been made in the past 10 years, whites still benefit economically, disproportionate to their numbers, their efforts and their natural abilities.

This continuing disparity has produced a new political problem that could develop into a political risk factor in the future. Black people have political power and whites have economic power.

To this end, Azapo supports the President when he asserts that there are many black people who are still suffering out there. Indeed, the dignity of poor people is at stake. The 10 years of democracy has to be judged against the quality of life of poor people. [Applause.]

Ms N B GXOWA: Deputy Speaker, President, Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members, it is unfortunate that the opposition parties do not want to hear about our people’s past. Unfortunately, this is exactly what I’m going to do here. You will have to bear with me because we have to say where we come from, in order to be able to reach our destination.

It is an honour and a privilege, Mr President, to congratulate you on your comprehensive account and reflection of the 10 years of democracy and freedom in our country. In support of the President’s state of the nation address on 6 February, I would like to share my experience as an African woman and the successes that the ANC-led Government has achieved in systematically ensuring the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment and the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom to many South Africans, especially women.

As we celebrate the tenth year of our freedom and democracy in our beautiful country, there are things that we must honestly remember. One of those things is where we come from. We need to remember that the African woman in South Africa experienced triple oppression, namely gender, class and racial discrimination. As a result, African women are the most poverty- stricken, downtrodden section of our South African population.

I was born and grew up in KwaDukathole in Germiston, now called Katlehong. This was a location, like many others during the apartheid days, which an African needed a permit to enter. A brutal incident happened in this location during my time there. This incident will linger in my memories for a long time to come. This is how, through this horrendous incident, I have to remember KwaDukathole. A pregnant woman was walking in the street of KwaDukathole when a patrolling police van stopped next to her and demanded a permit, which she didn’t have. Although she offered to show the police where she stayed, the police put her in the van and continued patrolling and arresting more victims whilst the woman was in labour in the back of the van. Sadly and humiliatingly, the poor woman gave birth in the back of the van in front of all the other victims. That is where we come from, hon Patricia de Lille.

African women constitute the poorest of the poor and are the most downtrodden and humiliated in our society. Between 80% and 90% of these women worked as domestic workers. During the apartheid days, those who were not fortunate to find work depended on making African brew and selling it. Unfortunately, this was not allowed. Those found practising this trade to earn a living were arrested and sentenced to a period of not less than 30 days.

The second experience I want to share with this House involves the origins of some of the names that were given to us by the oppressors. I wonder how many of us know where the names like “Annie” and “Nanny” come from. [Interjections.]

An HON MEMBER: Tell us! Ms N B GXOWA: Yes, I’m going to tell you just now, Khosi. During the apartheid years, African people were not allowed to knock at the door of a white woman or white man’s house to ask for a job. One had to walk up and down the streets shouting: “Any job missies, any job missies?” She would then open the door and wouldn’t ask your name - who you are and where you come from. She would ask you whether you could iron a shirt for her husband and would tell you to iron a shirt. She wouldn’t ask your name, she would just call you Annie or Nanny. If you were lucky, at the end of the month you would be paid, and if you were unlucky, at the end of the month she would say she was not paying you because you were a thief, you stole her husband’s shirt. That’s where we come from.

Thirdly, it is a well-known fact that African women were humiliated in apartheid prisons. When arrested, African women were taken to the prison parade in the courtyards, where the poor women were made to undress. You would never be admitted to a cell before you were undressed, because they said you were carrying dagga and weapons. So you had to be undressed and searched before you went into the cell. They were instructed to perform a high jump, irrespective of size or age. They had to stand in that parade and jump, so that whatever they carried on them or in their breasts fell on the floor. Whilst the warders were doing that to the women - and in some cases they were men - they would then call upon a security man who would be standing on the balcony and say, “Phoyisa, kom sien die vrou.” [Policeman, come and see the woman.] That’s where we come from. This was the worst kind of humiliation that any human being could endure.

Women have always been the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. We, the women of South Africa, have every reason to look back to where we come from with pride and dignity. The ground that we have covered, travelled and won many victories on would not have been possible without the ANC-led Government. We need to thank ourselves and the ANC-led Government for our successes. The ANC-led Government was able to restore the dignity of South African women by bringing back the remains of Sarah Baartman to be finally laid to rest in a dignified and respectable manner in the land of her birth. [Applause.]

Allow me to add to the real story of the successes that the ANC Government has achieved in the decade since 1994. Although job reservation was abolished prior to 1994, its real meaning and application was given content and practice by the ANC-led Government. The Group Areas Act was abolished, ending a long history of segregated settlement. Women have been given their right to sign contracts on their own behalf - African women were not allowed to sign hire purchase contracts, buy cars and houses. As a result, Rev Meshoe - family values - some women got into marriages of convenience to get a man for security, to come and sign a contract if she wanted to get a house. That is the reality we all know and that’s where we come from.

Influx control was abolished and adult education introduced, of course, all thanks to the ANC because, as I said earlier, 80% to 90% of women were not educated and worked as domestic workers. Today we have introduced adult education and many of our women are educated as a result of that. Free health care for pregnant women and children is being provided now. Also, broad-based Black Economic Empowerment has been introduced and that will, amongst others, enable women to use their talents to advance their careers both in business and in government. One person said to us: “Really, you know the ANC did good by bringing women into these decision-making positions. How many of us here in South Africa would have known that Nkosazana Zuma can be such a capable Minister of Foreign Affairs?” [Applause.]

The creation of relevant …

The SPEAKER: Hon member, your time has expired.

Ms N B GXOWA: I want to say, let’s go and vote for the ANC and implement the people’s contract. [Applause.]

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, it was interesting to listen to the speech by the hon Minister of Defence yesterday. He enlightened us on the remains of racism and discrimination in the labour field, quoting an hotel manager who says he cannot appoint black workers because their English is too poor. That of course is balderdash and a very poor excuse for blatant racial discrimination against blacks, because we all know that there are thousands and thousands of black people seeking employment who speak excellent English.

Racism and discrimination in the labour field have thus not finally been eradicated, especially racism and discrimination against white workers, as I will shortly demonstrate. During the past 10 years it has been our prerogative to support the transformation process. We did so on the basis of bringing justice to all, especially those who have previously been disadvantaged. In the labour field, injustices and imbalances of the past were addressed by creating a system of affirmative action, which we in the IFP support.

Today, after 10 years, the previously disadvantaged not only govern South Africa, its nine provinces and practically all local governments, but also serve in most senior positions in the civil service and are also well placed in business. Black economic empowerment is being successfully applied and the previously disadvantaged are finally getting their share of South Africa’s prosperity. We have of course not arrived yet, but we are well on track.

There, however, unfortunately appears to be one hurdle which together we have to address, namely that the system of affirmative action is not always fairly implemented. The interpretation of labour legislation and regulations sometimes leads to what is generally known as ``unintended consequences’’ for which the Government cannot always be blamed. Misinterpretation of labour laws and regulations lead to the unfounded belief that Government and private companies are obliged to unfairly discriminate against whites. It appears that because of uncertainty and unintended consequences, employers tend to go too far in their application of affirmative action, with the result that they discriminate against whites.

I am concerned that these unintended consequences will lead to the resuscitation of old wrongs and are counterproductive to reconciliation. Please allow me to quote just a few practical examples of alleged unfair discrimination against whites. These are serious allegations and the truth thereof needs to be urgently verified.

Firstly, Telkom allegedly issued a directive that white males at senior level are not to be appointed or promoted. Although this directive was subsequently withdrawn, very little at Telkom has changed in practice. Secondly, the unemployment equity plan of the Blue Train prescribes that, as far as possible, no whites are to be appointed. Thirdly, white policemen were not promoted because they were white; the Labour Appeal Court ordered their promotion. Fourthly, Denel allegedly produced a document which stipulates that no whites may be appointed or promoted unless special application is made to Denel’s board.

Sanlam has refused to award a bursary to the Western Cape’s top student because he is white. An Eskom manager allegedly said that the sooner whites realise that there is no room for them at Eskom, the better everything would be for Eskom and its employees. Gold Fields and Telkom use race as a criterion when determining who are to be retrenched. A white matriculant with an average of 98,9% is denied a bursary because he is white. A very shocking further example is one Peter John Shapiro, a cum laude law graduate from Potchefstroom, who could not find work because of the unfair application of affirmative action. Mr Shapiro said: ``I would rather be a first-class citizen in somebody else’s country than a second-class citizen in my own country.’’

Mr President, I am sure that you, like all of us, would want to have these and many other similar damning allegations verified. If found to be true, they no doubt constitute racial discrimination against whites in direct contravention of the spirit of our Constitution. You, sir, are also the President of the white community. White citizens of this country look to you today, respectfully requesting your protection in accordance with the Constitution against unfair discrimination in the labour field. Whites find it progressively more difficult to find employment, not because there are no jobs available for them, not because they are not appropriately qualified, no, simply because they are white.

I appeal to you today to look seriously into this matter. Something has to be done to prevent the creation of new forms of injustices and imbalances and thereby repeat the evil and harmful cycle. We propose a solution. We propose that the code of good practice of the Employment Equity Act be revisited and amended or even that a complementary code be devised to serve as a set of just guidelines on exactly how employers are to apply affirmative action, but stripped naked of the unintended consequences and in the true spirit of the Constitution.

We propose that the Ministry of Labour, trade unions, research institutions and other interested parties plan and devise such an amended code of good practice, which is to include an equality accord amongst all stakeholders. White workers call for your protection based on the very principles of our Constitution, namely that there should be a place in our land for everyone; there should be equality for all, and there should be no racial or unfair labour discrimination against whites, which condemns young whites to permanent unemployment.

What we need in the labour field is real and fair empowerment for all, also for whites, real jobs for all our people and no racism or unfair discrimination against some. Our people therefore call on the President to prevent old wrongs and injustices being resuscitated in the labour field, to ensure equality for all through a proper code of good practice. I thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Madam Speaker, hon President, the late Albert Luthuli said: Man is my brother, not my blood. But because we cherish the same values and stand for the same standards, I believe personally that notwithstanding the fact that our cultures are diverse, we come to live together. To my mind that is the real meaning of unity in diversity.

Die enigste pad vorentoe vir Suid-Afrika is dat al sy mense saamwerk om ‘n beter land vir almal te bou. Die NNP is reeds trots om te sê dat die samewerkingopsie die beste is om die behoeftes van minderhede - Bruin, Wit, Indiër en Swart - wat nie vir die ANC stem nie, op die regeringstafel te kry. Die anti-alles DA en De Lille-opsie is natuuurlik aantrekliker vir die elite en die rykes wat meen hulle het niks van die regering nodig het en ‘n tweede apartheidsrede soek sodat hulle nie ‘n bydrae hoef te lewer om die lot van arm mense te verbeter nie. Deur samewerking is daar reeds heelwat welslae behaal, soos onderhandelinge met die Minister van Verdediging vir die herontplooiing van die SANW op die grens tussen die Vrystaat en Lesotho, om veediefstal hok te slaan.

Die uitbreiding van die antiretroviraleprogram teen MIV-Vigs wat op hande is, en ‘n toename van 50% in Suid-Afrikaanse polisiegetalle in die Wes-Kaap teen die einde van volgende jaar; beleidsgesprekke oor verskille soos godsdiensbeoefening in skole en die regering se erkenning aan die NNP vir sy positiewe rol wat hy gespeel het met die grondhervormingswetgewing wat gelei het tot konsensus en ‘n beter uitkomste - is maar enkele voorbeelde van hierdie samewerking tussen die NNP en die ANC.

Die agb Kraai van Niekerk het baie te sê gehad hier, maar hy het destyds soos ‘n klein kindjie vasgesteek en geskop en sy speelgoed uit sy kot gegooi toe ons uit die Regering van Nasionale Eenheid gestap het. Nou is hy weer dikbek omdat ons terug is in ‘n veelpartyregering. Aan watter kant van watter draad sit die Kraai nou? Hy is ‘n tipiese politieke trekvoël.

Op die gebied van versoening en nasiebou is baie bereik. Alle gemeenskappe regdeur Suid-Afrika toon dat hulle mekaar meer verdra en tans behaal ons die beste sukses in vennootskap. Hierdeur het die NNP geslaag om die minderheidsregte in Suid-Afrika te help vestig deur inspraak waar besluite geneem word. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The only way forward for South Africa is for all its people to co-operate in building a better country for all. The New NP is already proud to say that the co-operation option is the best to get the needs of minorities - coloureds, whites, Indians and blacks - who do not vote for the ANC, on the government’s table. The anti-everything DA and the De Lille option are, of course, more attractive to the rich and the elite who think that they do not need anything from the government and who are looking for a second apartheid reason not to contribute to improve the plight of the poor. Through co-operation a lot of success has already been achieved, like negotiations with the Minister of Defence for the redeployment of the SANDF on the border between the Free State and Lesotho to combat stock-theft.

The expansion of the antiretroviral programme against HIV-Aids which is about to be launched, and an increase of 50% in the numbers of South African police officers in the Western Cape by the end of next year; policy discussions about differences such as the practising of religion in schools and the government’s acknowledgement of the positive role the New NP played with regard to the land transformation legislation which led to consensus and better outcomes - are but a few examples of this co-operation between the New NP and the ANC.

The hon Kraai van Niekerk had a lot to say here, but back then he behaved just like a little child when he stopped dead in his tracks and threw his toys out of the cot when we walked out of the Government of National Unity. Now he is sulking again because we are back in a multiparty government. On which side of the fence is the Kraai [Crow] sitting now? He is a typical political migratory bird.

A great deal has been achieved in respect of reconciliation and nation building. All communities throughout South Africa are showing that they are more tolerant of one another and currently we are experiencing the best success in partnership. Through this, the New NP has succeeded in helping to establish minority rights in South Africa by having a say where decisions are made.]

My party and I positioned ourselves to be part of the contributors, Madam Speaker and hon President, for the next 10 years of democracy. The New NP wants to contribute to the success lying ahead, to contribute to the next decade of struggle to make South Africa work, to push back poverty and unemployment, to create one South Africa for all and to put South Africa first.

In reality, however, the official opposition seems to be born breakers and not builders, critics rather than participants; spectators who stir the emotions of the people on the stand but completely isolate them from what really counts, moaners and blamers who stir the emotions of the people who are disadvantaged, but leave them on the road of destruction through excuses. For in reality they can do nothing for the disadvantaged coloureds, Indians and blacks after wasting their votes in the next election, repeating their own history of contributing nothing to the building of our country. My party and I choose to be contributors.

The DA is marginalising its voters, preventing them from trying to have a positive outlook on South Africa. They use fear tactics to canvass white and coloured voters. They are shouting “swart gevaar” again. They absolutely love it when something goes wrong in South Africa, because they have then no other issue that they can mislead these vulnerable voters on. It is not in the DA’s best interest that South Africa works. We all agree that South Africa deserves better than the DA. What is easier than to criticise, to be negative and to spread the message of fear? They don’t have to do anything constructive nor do they have to take any responsibility.

The fact of the matter is that the DA is a totally negative force in politics today, trying to tell the world: Only white men understand democracy. Blacks, Indians and coloureds cannot govern. [Applause.] That is the message you want to tell us, trying to convince people to withdraw into laagers on the fringes of South African society. [Interjections.] They convince people that that is the safest place. We all see those unfortunate posters that start with fight this'' andfight that’’ and all it really means is ``fight blacks’’, the back-to-apartheid brigade of the DA.

A famous motivator said: The purpose of life is to help others but if you can’t help them - and we know that these breakers cannot help anybody - please do not hurt them. Listen and learn. The New NP believes that more must be done to combat crime. Zero tolerance to criminals.

Geen genade vir misdadigers, swaarder strawwe vir geweldsmisdaad, meer howe om kriminele te straf, ‘n konstabelmag om plaasaanvalle en misdaad teen die landelike bevolking te stop, noem en verdoem korrupte amptenare, versterk die polisie en korrektiewe beamptes met groter getalle en beter toegeruste manne en vroue. Die tyd het gekom om drastiese stappe te neem om die misdaadsituasie in die land aan te spreek. Mense mag nie eie reg uit frustrasie gebruik nie, veral omdat hulle voel die situasie kan nie verbeter nie. Wanneer ‘n baba of weerlose verkrag of wreed vermoor word, is dit tyd om die doodstraf weer in te stel. Die NNP glo die herinstelling van die doodstraf as afskrikmiddel en ‘n vonnis vir gewelddadige misdaad is ‘n oplossing. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[No mercy for criminals, heavier sentences for violent crimes, more courts to punish criminals, a police force to combat farm attacks and crime against the rural population, name and shame corrupt officials, strengthen the police and correctional officers by adding greatly to their numbers and giving them better equipped men and women. The time has come to take drastic measures to address the crime situation in the country. People should not take the law into their own hands out of frustration, because they feel that the situation cannot be improved upon. When a baby or defenceless person is raped or viciously murdered, then it is time to reinstate the death penalty. The New NP believes in the reinstatement of the death penalty as a deterrent as well as a solution to and a sentence for violent crime.] Overcrowded correctional facilities are a testimony that we are turning the tide on crime, presenting us with a new challenge to prevent crime, shifting from communities to correctional facilities. It is a privilege to be part of the Government. Therefore, the New NP will use the opportunity as part of correctional services and the criminal justice cluster to contribute to the solutions to address crime, relieve overcrowding responsibly and correct the criminal behaviour in our facilities.

Ek werk elke dag met misdaad en misdadigers, maar die grootste misdaad teen Suid-Afrika en sy mense is om ons te polariseer, agterdog en haat aan te wakker, soos die DA dit doen. [Tyd verstreke.] [I work with crime and criminals on a daily basis, but the biggest crime against South Africa and its people is to polarise us, incite suspicion and hatred, as the DA is doing. [Time expired.]]

Mr B A RADEBE: Madam Speaker, his Excellency the President of the Republic of South Africa, hon members, comrades and compatriots, today I would like to start, first, by saluting the farmworkers of South Africa, who contributed so much to the economy of this country and, yet, got so little in return.

In particular, I would like to salute Mr Nelson Shisane from the Limpopo Province, who was recently thrown into the lion’s den by the farmer he worked for because he was a troublesome worker. I would also like to salute Mr Lenepa Petrus Mxira, who resided somewhere near Vrede in the Free State, and who had worked on the same farm for 45 years, but because this year, on 15 March, he was going to turn 60 years old, and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act was going to improve his tenure on the farm, the farmer tried to push him off the farm, first of all by forcing him to reduce the number of cattle he owned from 29 to 10, in the space of one week. When he saw that this racist farmer was at his back, he knew that the only place of safety in such a situation was the ANC. He ran to the constituency office at Vrede, where, after reporting the matter, he passed away immediately.

The farmer was not even satisfied with that. What he did was to try and stop this worker, who had worked on that farm for 45 years, from being buried on that farm. However, because the ANC is there, we went to the police services and the Department of Land Affairs, and ensured that Mr Petrus Lenepa Mxira was buried with dignity last year, on 17 November. [Applause.]

This debate occurs on the eve of the return to District Six of one of the families which were forcibly removed from the District Six area in the sixties. This event reminds me of the brutish governments which have led this country for many years. In 1913, the Union of South Africa passed a retrogressive Act known as the Natives Land Act of 1913. The thrust of the Act was to ban land sale transactions between blacks and whites of this country. The violation of this Act by any individual led to a fine of up to £100, which is about R500 000 in terms of today’s monetary values. Any deviation from this Act was supposed to be approved by the then governor- general. This Act confined the blacks in the native scheduled areas. This laid the basis for separate development and the disintegration of communities and families, because 85% of blacks were condemned to 13% of the land and whites occupied 87%.

The apartheid government passed the Group Areas Acts of 1950 and 1966, which exacerbated the land hunger of the indigenous people. This Act identified the black spots which were converted into white residential and business areas. This Act led to the massive forced removal of cohesive communities. The forced removals led to the undermining of the human dignity and economic rights of these communities. District Six was one of the areas which suffered under the Group Areas Act.

In 1968, there was an uprooting of thousands of people in the District Six area. This led to the undermining of their dignity, because they were not consulted during the execution of this move, and they suddenly found themselves with insecure land tenure. This meant that they could not build new houses and businesses in the place of their birth. With the creation of the democratic state in 1994, the ANC-led Government passed the Land Restitution Act of 1994, which enabled the victims of forced removals to have their land rights restored. The District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust was formed to oversee the redevelopment of District Six. This body was appointed by the ex-residents of District Six to co-ordinate the claims, resettlements and redevelopment of District Six. The mission of the trust is to drive, co-ordinate and monitor the process of land restitution in District Six.

Working jointly with local, provincial and national authorities, the trust functions with the explicit purpose of facilitating the return of previously disadvantaged individuals to their ancestral land. The trust is committed to the principles of faith and fairness, and seeks to restore not only the land of District Six, but also to reclaim a heritage, co- operation, respect and dignity.

This mission was realised by the President of South Africa, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, the Minister of Land Affairs, the Mayor of Cape Town, the Chief Land Claims Commissioner and the trust, when the handing over of certificates was done in 2002. This event was a confirmation of the creation of a people- centred society by this ANC-led Government.

The success story of District Six is one of the 36 489 land restitution claims which were settled since 1994, benefiting more than 5 000 households, involving 457 000 beneficiaries. The outstanding 43 205 claims will be settled by 2005, since an efficient administrative settlement process was adopted by this Government.

Since this ANC-led Government is committed to the millennium goals of halving poverty by 2012, this Government will ensure that 30% of agricultural land will have been distributed by the year 2014, which means that 24,6 million hectares will have been transferred to historically disadvantaged people. This will ensure that the rural masses will be able to have their own land for food security and will be able to farm commercially.

This target can be met because 466 000 hectares of state farm land have already been disposed of to emerging farmers. This represents 69,78% of the land disposed of. These emerging farmers have already been helped through 1 988 projects, which involved sub-programmes like the settlement and land acquisition grant, the equity schemes, labour tenants and the commonages.

These projects involved the transfer of more than 1 700 000 hectares, through both land redistribution and tenure reform. This amounted to the delivery of 2,2% of total farm land of South Africa, which translates to 8,6% of the national targets of redistribution, which is 30% of the agricultural land, in 15 years.

The Elra sub-programme will ensure that emerging farmers will graduate into commercial farmers with enabling grants from the Government. These grants will enable farmers to buy agricultural inputs, cover land acquisition, land improvements, infrastructure investment and capital assets. Through the Land Bank, the projects are approved and financed after the project proposals are submitted.

The aspiring farmers are trained and allocated to the mentorship programmes to ensure the success of these projects. These projects also ensure that the historically marginalised groups like women and young people are taken on board. The racist and brutish acts of the apartheid regime must have inspired former President Mandela to make a call that the ANC Government should create a people-centred society, where the dignity of all the people would be guaranteed.

Over the past ten years, his vision has been realised as this ANC-led Government has put programmes, systems and institutions in place, which restored the social and economic rights of all the people. The restoration of economic rights posed many challenges. For example, we have the existence of two economies in one country. The first economy is integrated, technologically advanced and its participants score high on the living standard measure of the SA Advertising Research Foundation.

The participants of the first economy scored an LSM of ten, which means that they are educated, affluent, high-tech consumers in the suburbs of South Africa’s metropolitan centres. This economy came about because the former regime ensured that the participants of this economy got first-class education, which was relevant to the skilled needs of the economy. Their businesses were heavily subsidised, their businesses paid starvation wages to the workers and their businesses were over-regulated and protected from external competition.

The second economy is characterised by low levels of technical skills, marginalisation, underdevelopment and high levels of poverty. This came about because of the many years of bantu education, which was unleashed on the participants of this second economy. The participants of this second economy usually score low on the living standard measure of the SA Advertising Research Foundation. The consequences of participating in this economy are that a large number of people are structurally unemployed, compared to the other economy in which people are in cyclical unemployment or are experiencing frictional unemployment. This means that Government must make deliberate interventions, like the re-skilling of the people and come up with social programmes which will stem the marginalisation of these people.

This ANC-led Government initiated one of the most successful programmes, which is the Community-Based Public Works Programme. This programme received the International Labour Organisation award for promoting social cohesion and alleviating poverty, because it was labour-intensive and it involved the participation of communities.

Over the past nine years, the programme was able to create more than 150 000 short-term jobs and created productive assets like clinics, classrooms, créches, access roads, water canals and multipurpose community centres. In the process, the participants in the programme acquired useful skills like project management and social skills such as community consultation and participation.

Based on this successful experience, the people’s movement, the ANC, is going to forge forward with the people’s contract and create work and fight poverty through the use of the Extended Public Works Programme. The Extended Public Works Programme will be more massive than the Community- Based Public Works Programme because more than R100 billion will be invested in creating infrastructure which will integrate both the first and the second economies.

The infrastructure envisaged is the improvement of roads, rail and air transport, as well as improvements in the telecommunications and energy sectors. This will encourage more investment in key economic sectors, such as manufacturing, information and communication technology, mining and business services, which will further enhance our economy’s competitiveness. This will enable our economy to create more than a million jobs in the next five years, because labour-intensive methods will be used, which will benefit the participants of the second economy, through the acquiring of skills and job opportunities.

Since the private sector investments tend to follow the public sector investments, more jobs will be created in the procurement of services and tools needed to sustain the Extended Public Works Programme. The consistent GDP growth of more than 10% per annum in the developing countries like China, in the past ten years, came about because of programmes like the Extended Public Works Programme.

To ensure the success of the infrastructural development, this ANC-led Government has already established a structure like the Construction Industry Development Court, which will ensure that the construction industry delivers quality infrastructure, promotes economic growth and provides sustainable opportunity for all participants.

The CIDP Act empowers the board to establish a national register of constructors, which will categorise contractors in a manner that facilitates public sector procurement and promotes contractor development. The national register of projects will provide information on the nature, value and distribution of the projects, and will provide the basis for best practice projects assessment skills.

These registers will be transparent to ensure black economic empowerment. That’s why, in response to your question, President, that this Government must be judged whether it has created a people-centred society, we say that 14 April is the day when that question will be answered, because we know that the overwhelming majority of the people of South Africa will vote ANC and look forward to the second decade of freedom. [Interjections.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Madam Speaker, the Secretaries, the President and hon members, the state of the nation address offers the Government an opportunity to live up to its legitimate objective, which is to inform the nation about what they have done, need to do and have not done. Last week’s address did just that.

For us in the UCDP one area that has to be examined closely, is the one around local municipalities. A good number of these structures has been called into question. We have lost count of the number of councillors, mainly from the ANC, who have been shown the red card on grounds of ineptitude, which includes theft, fraud and corruption, yet the rot persists.

As it is, tomorrow, 11 February, the NCOP will be receiving and considering reports on the Qaukeni and Lekwa Teemane Municipalities resulting from the interventions of the provincial governments of the Eastern Cape and the North West that resulted in the dismissal of ANC councillors. Some town managers are on suspension because of their indiscretion in allocating themselves obscenely high remuneration packages.

The Government has to concede that the wall-to-wall government system that was introduced with fanfare does not work. In metros such as Johannesburg and Tshwane there are problems with billing systems, and the unconstitutional disconnecting of water and electricity, while in other areas towns have become centres of unhygienic living because of the filth and stench from uncollected refuse.

The UCDP believes in taking action, even with the millions of rands that were earmarked for urban renewal at Bekkersdal, Gauteng and cannot be accounted for. This is even more necessary as the amount was announced on the occasion of the President’s imbizo in the area. There should be no room for stalk borers who siphon funds away and leave the needy desperate for help.

The provision for education in junior phases seems to be difficult to access. According to the 2001 census there has been a drop in the number of citizens who have completed primary and secondary school, compared with the 1996 census. This is cause for concern. There should be no drops in enrolment in these phases of schooling. There is of course an upsurge in the higher education phase, mainly because of the National Students Financial Aid Scheme.

We would argue that primary education should be resourced better. The drop in enrolments at lower levels can be attributed to parents’ inability to pay for their children’s education because of poverty and mainly because of unemployment.

We have noted, Mr President, the quick response of the cellular company that erected a mast about seven days after it was requested. We plead therefore that the staff in the Presidency do likewise or better.

On 15 January 2004 we enquired by letters sent to both the Union Buildings and Tuynhuys about the fate of the people in the crossboundary municipalities in relation to which provinces their votes would go to but to date we have had no response. One wonders whether it is a matter of the dark spot being underneath the candle. We call for the roll-out of Public Works projects so that people may earn a living while learning skills they can use once the projects are complete. This will bring an end to doling out social grants, as they tend to make people dependent on hand-outs and thus lose their dignity and self-esteem. The biblical injunction is that we should all live by the sweat of our brows. More work opportunities will be created with this, and I thank you.

Dr J T DELPORT: Madam Speaker, in his excursion down memory lane, the hon President referred to President Mandela on a number of occasions - correctly so. President Mandela was the very epitome of confidence in the future of our country simply because all South Africans trusted him.

What is the situation today? I need only point to two indicators. Firstly, thousands of talented young South Africans are leaving to seek a better future elsewhere. Secondly, capital investment, both foreign and local, is not such that new employment opportunities are keeping up with the need. In fact, jobs are on the decline. The hon President must take a very hard look at the reasons for this and the extent to which his presidency has failed to inspire confidence. You cannot simply send out mixed messages all the time and expect to inspire a belief that the future will be stable. On the contrary, mixed messages breed uncertainty and a lack of confidence. I wish to point to some of these negative signals.

I am glad to say that the President has now said that he wants our national teams to win. In the past he said transformation was more important than winning. That brings me to transformation, the very subject that the hon Koos van der Merwe has dealt with exhaustively - I can only confirm and endorse everything he said. The point is that, for our people, some are in a shorter queue than others when it comes to the ever-diminishing employment and other opportunities. South Africa deserves a better way of eradicating past injustices.

But there is also the signal about safety. How long still will white farmers be systematically robbed and murdered? It reminds us of Nero, hon President, except that Nero did not have a jet to play with. Regarding the Mugabe victims, what are we doing to assist those people, South Africans, that are being robbed by Robert Mugabe? Zimbabwe is a signatory to the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes. Why does the President not let South Africa sign and use that avenue to refer the confiscations for arbitration by international tribunals?

The hon President, I am sorry to say, has failed to protect the interests of his people. They put their trust in their President. He had to choose between Mugabe and his own citizens. He chose Mugabe. They deserve better.

Then, we live with the constant tampering with the Constitution.

Ons het reeds die sluimerende, maar dreigende onteiening van mineraleregte en waterregte. Nou het die President ‘n wet gemaak en geteken dat onteiening gebruik kan word vir restitusie onder die vaandel van grondhervorming. Is dit die pad wat grondhervorming gaan loop? Hoe skakel dit in by die feit dat daar nou ‘n voorstel is dat die ras van elke grondeienaar aangeteken moet word in ‘n register? Waarheen is ons op pad?

Dan het ons verder ten opsigte van die Grondwet die Asmal-aanslag op taal- en kultuurregte via ons skole. Die ergste is nog die belaglike “certificate of need’’ wat die agb Minister van Gesondheid nou wil vereis. Ek bring ‘n saluut aan die 2 000 mense wat ‘n petisie gebring het. Ek sien in die koerant hulle praat nou van haar as Dokter Knoffel. Sy moet oppas dat sy nie eerder die naam van Dokter Patat verdien nie: “Doctor African Potato”.

Konstitusionele vandalisme, wat besig is om plaas te vind, wek nie vertroue nie. Die Grondwet is veel, veel meer as net die woorde wat daar staan. Daar is ook in die Grondwet ‘n gees wat ingebou is en wat geleef het in die harte van die mense wat dit tot stand gebring het. (Translations of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[We already have the slumbering, but threatening dispossession of mineral and water rights. Now the President has drafted and signed an Act that expropriation can be used for restitution under the banner of land reform. Is this the road that land reform is going to take? How does this link up with the fact that there is now a proposal that the race of every land owner must be entered in a register. Where are we going?

Then we furthermore have, regarding the Constitution, the Asmal attack on language and cultural rights via our schools. The worst of all is: the ridiculous “certificate of need” that the hon Minister of Health now wants to demand. I salute the 2 000 people who brought a petition. I see in the newspaper they now refer to her as Doctor Garlic. She must take care that she does not instead earn the name Doctor Sweet Potato: “Doctor African Potato”.

Constitutional vandalism, which is taking place, does not instil confidence. The Constitution is much, much more than just the words that are written there. The Constitution also has built into it a spirit that lived in the hearts of the people who drafted it.]

But I want to refer to a last mixed signal: the way the hon President deals with our political system. Our Constitution aims at securing multiparty democracy for South Africa. That is what the Constitution regards as best for South Africa. This presupposes opposition, but the President obviously prefers a system of co-option which effectively silences the opposition. We see that he obviously prefers opposition parties to become his lapdogs.

Mag ek die agb President waarsku: ‘n skoothondjie kan hom nie verdedig nie. ‘n Skoothondjie kan net ‘n groot gemors op sy skoot veroorsaak. [I want to warn the hon President: a lapdog cannot defend him. A lapdog can only make a big mess in his lap.]

The DA will never be that. I shall state my case and the DA will state its case without being intimidated. It is for the electorate, even if it is a minority of the electorate, to say that they like or that they dislike what we are saying. We say to them: South Africa deserves better. To that message they must respond. I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms L M T XINGWANA: Madam Speaker, hon President and hon members of Parliament, I do believe that the DA is indeed a one-eyed monster. [Interjections.] The hon Delport just talks about the whites who are leaving South Africa. He does not talk about the many whites who are coming back, having discovered that the grass is not greener away from home, that home is best and that South Africa is the best home for all South Africans. [Interjections.] He does not even talk about the black youth who are going overseas to learn more skills, and who will then get all those advanced skills and come back, contribute and plough back into the economy of South Africa.

Mr President, you have, on TV, addressed the question of Zimbabwe very adequately.

Abangena zindlebe zokuva abasoze beve. [Those without ears will never hear.] I had the honour to address the women of the Labour Party in Westminster in October last year. Some of the issues raised there were about Zimbabwe and what the President is doing. I told them that Zimbabwe is not the 10th province of South Africa, and therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of the South African President. However, the President has addressed the issues of human rights, violence and all issues concerning the people of Zimbabwe on television and in many other speeches.

I just wanted to address Mr Joe Seremane.

Ke maswabi he, ha ntate Seremane a balehile kajeno. Ke a bona ba mo shapile haholo maobane, ha a kgone ho emela dithupa tsa kajeno. [I am sorry that Mr Seremane has run away today. I realise that they gave him a real hiding, yesterday, and he cannot face today’s punishment.]

I just want to remind Mr Seremane that at one stage we were directors of the SACC. I was the director for women’s ministries; he was the director for justice and reconciliation. I want to go back to what we, through our liberation theologians in the SACC, defined as reconciliation. According to our liberation theology, reconciliation must be based on justice, repentance and practice, that is, you must practise what you preach. I must not look to my left and see white balding males, males with grey hair, representing the DA. I must see change in that party, if the DA is indeed a party for change. [Interjections.]

First of all, we must accept and correct the injustices of the past, that is reconciliation, before we can talk. There can never be reconciliation without justice. In other words, we cannot reconcile God and the devil. We cannot reconcile a party that has become more right wing and more reactionary than any other party in this House with the people of South Africa.

This is the reconciliation that the great theologians and leaders of our time, including Rev Beyers Naudé, Rev Frank Chikane and Dr Albert Nolan, praised and practised; this is the reconciliation that the ANC and its leadership, including President Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela, who formed part of the collective leadership of the ANC, fought for and strove to achieve throughout their lives. It is a reconciliation that is based on justice, equality, respect for human and women’s rights, love, sharing, caring and unity. These are the values that the ANC has espoused from its foundation in 1912 to date.

Our people will continue to vote for the ANC in their overwhelming numbers, because this is the only party that espouses these values today, tomorrow and forever, and for a thousand and a million years to come. [Interjections.] Women in particular will continue to vote for the ANC because of the strides we have made under the ANC leadership.

Malibongwe! [Let women be praised!] In the gallery we have women from Ilitha Labantu, from NGOs in South Africa such as the Victoria Mxenge project, who have been working and supporting the Government in its endeavour to fight violence against and abuse of women, and to push back the frontiers of poverty. [Applause.]

Mr Tony Leon said that South Africa would like to vote for change.

Abukho ubuvuvu nobuxoki obufana nobo. [Nothing could be further from the truth.]

South Africans will not vote for a party that will take them back to a racist, apartheid South Africa … [Interjections.] … which is what the DA has been fighting for in this House since 1994. [Interjections.] They have fought against every piece of legislation that has opened the doors of our schools to all the children of South Africa … [Applause.] … and that has opened the mining industry to all the people of South Africa, including women.

Babaleka, boomama, bahamba baya phesheya kweelwandle, baya kusilandela abelungu ababecinga ukuba babhetele, bazi kakhulu. Bafika singajiki, singabuyi ngamva sibheka phambili. [Kwaqhwatywa.] Ngoko ke, yintshutshiso ye-DA, ethethe ngayo apha, boomama, eza kusibuyisela eYiphutha; kulapho ke abantu bakuthi bangasayi kuya khona. [Uwele-wele.]

Mna ke, maqabane, ekhaya kuseMqanduli. Inkokeli ye-UDM - ndilusizi ayikho apha - ngumkhaya. Sobabini siyazi ukuba umbane phaya eMqanduli siwubone, okokuqala, phantsi koRhulumente we-ANC, hayi kowakhe. Bendiphaya ekhaya ngeKrismesi kulo nyaka uphelileyo. Thina kaloku phaya eMqanduli seehlelwa lilifu elimnyama lokuba umasipala wethu nowaseMtata athatyathwe yi-UDM ngonyaka ka-2000. Ndothuke kakhulu ngumbono endiwubone ekhaya ngalo Disemba. Idolophu ibimdaka, inkunkunkuma yeevenkile ibilahlwa apha esitalatweni. Amangcwaba oomama nootata ebegqunywe yingca, ingangam ndimile, kugcwele ubobo namatyholo, ungakwazi nokulibona ingcwaba lomntu wakho.

Ndiyabazi ke mna oomama, abawafuni amaxelegu. Ndiyabazi ke mna oomama abasokuze bavotele amaxelegu nabantu abangena mbeko, abangazihloniphiyo izinyanya zezwe lakowethu. Sekela-Mongameli, mandingene emxholweni. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[The women ran overseas to fetch white people, whom they thought were better informed, but when they came back they found us progressing and not retrogressing. [Applause.] Therefore it is the oppression that the DA was talking about here, which is going to take us back to Egypt, and we are not going there. [Interjections.]

Comrades, my home is in Mqanduli. Unfortunately the UDM leader is not here, but he is my homeboy. We both know that there was no electricity there up until the ANC Government and not in his regime. I was home during Christmas time. We unfortunately went through a sad period in that area of losing our municipality to the UDM in local elections in the year 2000. I was so shocked by what I saw there in December. The town was untidy and dirty; streets were full of litter from the shops. The graveyard was buried under tall grass and shrubs, it was so neglected that you would never find a relative’s grave in it. I know that women do not like untidy people. They would never give their vote to people without courtesy, who do not respect their ancestors. Deputy President, let me get to the point.]

Madam Speaker, President and hon members, since 1994, after the birth of the first democratic, nonracial, nonsexist Government in our motherland, which is led by the ANC, the quality of life and status of women have improved substantially in South Africa. The adoption of the new Constitution of South Africa, which has been declared one of the most progressive constitutions worldwide, was a major victory for the women of South Africa.

For South African women the Constitution is their charter of rights. It embraces the hopes and aspirations of women and men, many of whom sacrificed their lives, fighting for justice and equality in our country. The Constitution is a product of the liberation struggle that was spearheaded by the ANC in South Africa, that spurred the urban and rural communities, the old and the young, women and men to fight against the pass laws, dispossession and forced removals, exploitation and abuse, poverty, inferior education and laws that discriminated against women.

One of the most significant features of the Constitution is the right to equality. It is hailed as the cornerstone of the Constitution, and all other rights must be interpreted to give effect to equality.

The main thrust of the South African constitutional democracy is the promotion and protection of human dignity for all. It provides a framework for human freedom, which connects civil rights and socioeconomic rights in a holistic manner, affirming and protecting the integrity and dignity of all our people. Therefore, to us, the Constitution is not only the supreme law of the land, it is the single most significant document that seeks to address the injustices of the past and provides a vision for the future.

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the African century, the legal, political, socioeconomic and cultural status of women has changed fundamentally in South Africa. This is the result of 10 years of struggle by the ANC in this House against the forces of darkness. The ANC, together with the people and the women of South Africa, will fight to protect and defend their Constitution.

With regard to the achievements of women in public and political life, I would like to quote from Cedaw:

State parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure that women are on equal terms with men.

This is from the Cedaw Convention.

I now come to the achievements of South African women in the first decade of freedom and democracy. Currently in South Africa, the high proportion of women MPs and women in Cabinet is, largely, as a result of the ANC adopting a one-third quota for women representatives. Other parties were forced to include women …

… kuba ayesazi ukuba anizi kuwavotela, boomama. [… because they knew that you women would not vote for them.]

There has been a steady increase in the number of women Ministers and Deputy Ministers in the South African Cabinet since the first democratic elections.

Post-1999, under the presidency of hon Thabo Mbeki, the Cabinet now consists of nine women Ministers, which is 30% of the Cabinet, and women make up 50% of Deputy Ministers. [Applause.] At provincial level, we have a 24% representation for women. Only three provinces have reached the 30% representation. These are Gauteng, Limpopo and the North West, and of course those are ANC-led provinces.

In our big metro cities we have only one mayor who is a woman, and we indeed need to improve in this regard. We still have just one woman premier and we hope that in the coming year we will have at least four women premiers. [Interjections.]

This is important because it highlights the level of women’s representation in our Government and Parliament in South Africa, and is the result of the political will demonstrated by the leadership of the ANC, starting with former President Nelson Mandela and now the current President Thabo Mbeki, who has actually improved on the initiative started by former President Mandela.

We have women in the judiciary and we need to increase the number of women so that our efforts to transform the judiciary will be a success. We want to applaud Judge Serete for having sentenced a father who had raped his five-year-old daughter. It was the first time that a judge said that this was a serious crime and that we therefore needed to come up with a very heavy sentence, and imposed the maximum sentence on this father. [Applause.] We hope that other judges will follow suit.

We have a number of laws that have been mentioned by other members, that have affirmed the position of the women of South Africa. The challenge that remains is the implementation of these laws. This Government has set the foundation for the liberation and emancipation of the women of South Africa. We therefore ask all our women to join the people’s contract to create work and fight poverty.

We have already mentioned the projects women have initiated. Women are ready. We also want to say, let us transform our tendering system and make it more accessible and user-friendly, particularly in so far as women are concerned. [Applause.]

We also want to say that we need a special development fund, like the Umsobomvu Fund. We have had a number of meetings called by Mrs Zanele Mbeki, at which we were talking as South African women in dialogue. One of the main concerns amongst women is poverty. Women out there are ready to go and initiate projects to create jobs and to fight poverty. However, we need that special fund. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs S V KALYAN: Madam Speaker, the hon President trumpeted the successes of the past 10 years during his state of the nation address on Friday. But he was silent on the challenges and failures which have hampered progress in the social services cluster. He failed to mention that by the end of 2001, five million people were infected by HIV; that 660 000 children have been orphaned by HIV/Aids; that there are 16 000 disgruntled doctors; that 4 413 health care professionals resigned in 2003 and that there are 23 442 vacant posts in the health care sector at the present moment; and that, in short, the health of South Africa is seriously ailing, and has been since Dr Garlic took charge of this vital portfolio.

When the President said in his address that the masses will not allow desperate politicians to do desperate things to win or retain power for themselves, I take it that he was referring to the Minister of Health’s pathetic attempt to hold on to her job by introducing draconian legislation which disables doctors and compromises patient care. Clause 36 of the National Health Bill stipulates that all health care professionals must apply for a certificate of need in order to practise. This clause is a violation of the constitutional rights of doctors in that it encroaches upon the right to freedom of trade, occupation and profession, as protected by section 22 of the Constitution.

The certificate of need also intrudes on the doctors’ rights to human dignity and freedom of movement and residence. In short, it can be likened to a reintroduction of the Group Areas Act. So, while the hon President does not foresee that there will be any need for new and major policy initiatives, the DA asks the President to consider its petition to refer the National Health Bill back to the NA for reconsideration in terms of section 71 of the Constitution of South Africa.

The hon President remarked at the weekend that he does not know why there is so much emphasis on HIV/Aids. Perhaps I could enlighten him on that score. Mr President, secret research done by the Department of Health has found that nearly half of the patients in state hospitals had Aids. This report is under wraps, so it may account for your failure to see why more aggressive measures are needed to contain the pandemic. A report by Parliament puts present Aids infection rates at five million, with a reported 1 500 new infections per day, of which 200 are babies, and we have about 600 deaths per day. The life expectancy in South Africa has dropped from the mid-lower seventies to the fifties as a direct result of the pandemic, yet another reason to place more emphasis on Aids.

The reality is that health in South Africa is currently in a life- threatening crisis. The President’s day has for the past two years been the focus of protest action. In 2003, the TAC marched on Parliament to voice their concern at Government’s refusal to roll out antiretroviral drugs. In 2004, doctors marched to protest against the declining public health care facilities and restrictive legislation. On both occasions, the Minister of Health has been breathtakingly arrogant, chastising the protestors for spoiling an important occasion. She must shoulder the blame. Her attitude has set her on a collision course with doctors and activists. Her incompetence in dealing with her portfolio has resulted in health matters being decided by litigation, and her refusal to comply with court orders reflects her contempt for the rule of law. It is indeed a cause for concern.

The DA believes that South Africa deserves better than the present Minister of Health and her delusional gardening theories. Hon President, South Africa deserves a better health care system. The DA calls on you to prescribe a serious remedy to cure the Minister of her feverish ramblings, to put her out to pasture and inject a greater sense of urgency in addressing the challenges which are crippling the health sector in our country. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Madam Speaker, hon President, hon members, kumnandi ukuma kweli qonga, utekete njengoko i-DA isenza, udlala ngobomi babantu [it must be pleasing to stand here and babble, as the DA does, putting people’s lives at stake in the process], all for political expediency. We know for a fact that the DA is not committed to the welfare of our poor people. [Interjections.] It is harping on the HIV/Aids issue purely for one reason: political expediency.

I think the issue of statistics that only the DA is privy to, is very questionable. We know for a fact that the President did address this issue of the absence of the real reason behind our people dying so much.

First of all, I would like to pay tribute to Dr Ngubane, the former Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, for his invaluable contribution to the development and implementation of the policies that sought to transform our society, especially in the area of arts, culture, science and technology. We wish him well in his latest appointment. [Applause.] We know that he will distinguish himself in his new mandate. Secondly, I would also like to welcome my new Minister, Mlambo Ngcuka.

My input focuses on nation-building. I want to emphasise that this is an ongoing project of reconstructing our society, which needs all South Africans to enter into a contract with the Government if we want it to succeed.

I’m particularly focusing on culture, which was used as a tool to perpetuate racial discrimination during the colonial period and later used as a foundation for establishing the apartheid system. Conversely, the democratic Government ushered in in 1994 chose to utilise culture as a tool for nation-building.

It is a fact that the colonial and apartheid regimes manipulated the fact that the people of South Africa are different: We speak different languages; we dress differently; we have different traditions and values; we eat different food. At the heart of this differentness was the fact that the cultures and traditions of the indigenous people and the majority of South Africans were perceived to be inferior to those of the minority. Consequently, all policies of apartheid governments were designed along these lines, so that we saw things in black and white, as in inferior and superior.

For us, Dr Mulder, whether white meant being English or British, or Afrikaans meant being an Afrikaner, blacks at the time were still third- class citizens under both colonisation and apartheid, in the land of their birth.

I want to give a few examples of the policies that I spoke about earlier on where race was used to disenfranchise the majority of the people: The Land Act of 1913, which was basically about taking away an asset from an inferior person who did not deserve to lead a noble life and to make it an exclusive white privilege.

When the Afrikaners took power in 1948 they never attempted to reverse this situation; instead they intensified it. And surely, Dr Delport, the people haven’t forgotten that. That is the reason why, in showing their confidence in the ANC that liberated them and in the Government that has been ably led by our President, they will vote overwhelmingly on 14 April, refreshing the mandate of the ANC because it is their only hope. [Applause.]

The legacy which manifests itself in the two economies that the President spoke about was the result of such policies as the Land Act of 1913, which enforced poverty on the majority while the minority group enjoyed an opportunity to accumulate riches.

The education system is another example. We had about 17 education systems in this country, all of them along racial lines. We remember Verwoerd’s philosophy that blacks deserved an inferior education so that they could remain subservient to the whites.

On the occasion of enacting the system of Bantu Education in 1953, this is what Verwoerd said, and I quote: The black man has been subject to a school system which drew him away from his own country and misled him by showing him the green pastures of European society on which he is not allowed to graze.

Under the new Act, natives were to be taught from childhood to realise that equality with European is not for them. Different races in South Africa were to be educated separately, not with equal funding or equal opportunities for entrance at university, but rather in a system separated along racial lines where the black will be suppressed forever more.

That was a very strong statement from Verwoerd. “There was no place for him in the European community” … [Interjections.] Because he never spoke against that, and he knew that all the years he was there. It was only after 1994 that he became so vocal in speaking on behalf of the poor.

There was no place for him in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour, and for that reason it is of no value to receive a training which has as its aim absorption in the European community.

This was institutionalised as a system of governance and the consequence thereof was a society polarised along racial lines. It is this legacy that the ANC had to deal with when it took over the reins of power in 1994. We had to deal with such attitudes of hatred that disregarded that we are all human and that we all have the right to be and to exist as we are.

The ANC brought hope to millions of South Africans who were struggling to deal with their prejudices. We knew that the challenge we had to deal with was not easy, from the very outset, when we proclaimed in the Freedom Charter the vision that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white” - a call for unity among all South Africans.

In 1994 the biggest question that we were faced with was: How were we going to create an environment which would lead to people accepting one another, given that - one, we were a bleeding society; two, we were divided; three, we were in a situation where the majority was deprived and destitute; four, we still had pockets of arrogance; and five, we still had people who were resistant to change, a situation which still prevails to date.

Even though we knew that this was a mammoth task, it was clear that we needed to succeed in our commitment to unite the country in order to achieve the stability necessary for social and economic development. We also knew that only the ANC could provide leadership to this challenge because from its inception in 1912, the primary objective of the ANC was to create a nonracial and nonsexist society.

How then did the ANC-led Government respond to this challenge of rebuilding the nation, ridding it of racial stereotypes that characterised our society? We’ve laid a strong foundation for the preservation, promotion and development of our cultural life in all its spheres, among other things. We have policies and a constitution that guarantees the equal protection of all and allows all human beings to exist and coexist, without fear of prejudice. We have a constitution underpinned by human rights, which creates an environment where any violation of human rights is outlawed.

Realising that the laws under apartheid had impoverished about 85% of the population of South Africa - the blacks; the indigenous people - we ensured that our policies sought to redress this situation in a fair and just manner. We had to address the material imbalances, if the reconciliation project was to be meaningful, otherwise the vision of creating a people- centred society would not be realisable. The ANC, again, was wise enough to realise the need for an open process of reconciliation and made it the main focus of its transformation agenda.

The Constitution clearly gives all of us the right to reassert our individual identities, creating the atmosphere for different cultural expressions while learning to tolerate and appreciate other cultures. South Africa, like all other countries that were colonised, is recovering from the effects of a cultural bomb that was unleashed by colonisation. In his book Decolonising the Mind, Ngugi wa Thiongo describes this experience as having an effect of annihilating a people’s belief in their names, languages, environment, heritage, unity and, ultimately, in themselves.

In our Constitution and through the policies of our Government, as people of South Africa, we committed ourselves to redressing the issues that were outlined by Prof Ngugi. Our approach in redressing this situation is a comprehensive one. It is multipronged in nature because it addresses issues from all walks of life. These issues include culture, language, economy, education, poverty, and so on. Of course, we are always guided by the need to be inclusive, carrying along the whole nation in all these processes.

Madam Speaker, today I would like to highlight and emphasise language rights as language is central to culture and, as Prof Ngugi rightly submits, language is central to a process of decolonisation and deracialisation. We also need to appreciate that South Africa is characterised by diverse cultures and by implication this means that we have many languages.

We are certain as the ANC that our policies are adequate and that the responsibility for all of us is to ensure that laws respond to the plight of the poor, whom they were meant to benefit.

As a country, we are faced with the huge task of implementing the National Language Policy. There are enormous challenges in the implementation of this policy. We know that there are still some violation of language rights that exist. We know that farm workers are still subjected to having to speak the languages of their masters.

We also know that domestic workers are still forced to use English and Afrikaans without any efforts from their employers to speak the languages of their workers. Children at school are still not aware of their rights to a wide choice of 11 official languages. There are people who are still not able to access basic services like social grants because they are not proficient in English and Afrikaans.

Madam Speaker, this is a clear indication that racism is still alive and in some areas it is very subtle, whereas in some cases there is blatant racism. The example that the Minister of Defence cited here about the manager at the Mount Nelson Hotel is a typical example of this.

Siyayigxininisa kubantu bakuthi into yokuba lilungelo lakhe wonke umntu ukuba athethe ngokukhululekileyo ngolwimi afuna ukulusebenzisa, kude kuthi, olu lwimi aluncance kuma. [We emphasise it to our people that it is a right, to everyone, to speak freely in a language they prefer, especially their mother tongue.]

Madam Speaker, we need to take cognisance of the fact that critical to our freedom is our cultural heritage, the soul of our nation. Our freedom should also reflect on the work we have undertaken in restoring the dignity of our people and this can best be measured by the extent to which we have revived and promoted our indigenous cultures.

This process needs us to delve into our historical memory to bring forth our cultural identity. As Prof Ngugi, during his recent visit to our country, said:

Memory is also the site of dreams, desire and when we say that a person has lost his or her memory, we are talking of a real loss of those traces that make an individual make sense of what is happening to them.

This preservation of memory, our heritage, is the basis of the legacy projects. The Freedom Park is but one significant legacy project as it is all-encompassing and reflects a comprehensive life history of the struggles of the people of South Africa. We need to give Freedom Park the status of being a foundation for moral regeneration and consciousness that is needed in our society.

Freedom Park should be a place that all South Africans should honour and visit once in their lifetime. We need to explore the possibility of Freedom Park and other legacy projects being integrated into the education programmes to educate and inform not only the young but all the people of South Africa about the historical memory of South Africa.

Mhlawumbi bangade baguquke naba, xa bezibona zibhaliwe izinto ababekade bezenza kuthi. Abaziqondi kakuhle ngoku, ngoba ingathi zisafihlakele. [Maybe these people might change, when they see that the things which they have been doing to us have been recorded. Because they don’t understand them clearly now, it is as though they are still hidden.]

It is no coincidence that we celebrate South Africa Day in the form of National Heritage Day on 24 September, where all South Africans display their diverse cultures in all forms, dress, food and dance.

Madam Speaker, we have had very disturbing experiences about some pockets of our society not giving recognition to this important day whose purpose is to create space for all of us to express our different cultures, to learn each other’s cultures, stimulating a high level of tolerance and promoting unity in South Africa.

It is, especially, sad and painful when these attitudes are transmitted at the level of education in school. Two situations of private schools in Cape Town and East London have been brought to my attention, where children are being told about all other special days - Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day - but they are never told and provided explanations about Heritage Day. One school did not explain the purpose of the holiday and the other decided to call it a “games” day.

This is one piece of evidence of a continued distortion of our history and we are not going to allow this. We are not going to allow a situation where the struggles of the majority of the people are watered down through deliberate disregard. It is even more disheartening to learn that parents pay school fees only for the policies of Government to be undermined.

Since 1994, South Africans have worked together practically to construct a society that cares. The preservation of national heritage is but one important aspect of a caring society because it ensures the country’s future. It takes care of its future generations, the youth.

The statement made by the hon De Lille about African potatoes, Madam Speaker, is also a clear display of an attitude that undermines our indigenous knowledge and the values of our people, which is the basis of our heritage.

After all, Madam Speaker, Mrs De Lille knows as well as I do that her conventional medicine has no cure for HIV/Aids. Who knows where that cure will come from? It may come from the very iingcambu (medical roots) that she is despising here. We want to remind the hon De Lille that traditional healing and medicines are not foreign. It is not something that would be unique to South Africa. Countries like India, Mexico and China are using their indigenous and traditional medicines and are proud to do so.

As a nation we need to respond to former President Mandela, as was quoted by the President in his state of the nation address, when he said: “… regardless of the accumulated effect of our historical burdens, we need to seize the time to define ourselves for ourselves what we want to make of our shared destiny.”

We need to face the reality that we are one nation and we are faced with a responsibility to define our shared destiny. We want to make a call especially to our youth and our intellectuals to enter into a contract with Government and the whole nation and to lead the public discourse of defining the shared destiny that we can never avoid.

Our aspiration towards a united South Africa is also reflected in our national symbols: The National Anthem, the National Flag, and the National Coat of Arms.

Our national anthem is unique in that it represents all the language groups of South Africa and we believe it is the only one in the world with such a characteristic. We invite all South Africans to make an effort to learn to sing the national anthem. You see some of them waffling when it comes to singing the national anthem. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Business suspended at 12:21 and resumed at 14:00.

                          Afternoon Sitting

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Hon Chairperson, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, hon members and ladies and gentlemen, the period we are in today asks of us to actually reflect on who we are and where we actually come from.

From 1652 to 1906 South African history is characterised by the destruction of the subsistence economy of the Africans, the dispossession and the proliterianisation of the Africans by European imperialism and the numerous wars of resistance waged by South Africans in defence of their land, liberties and freedom. The Boer War of October 1899 and the subsequent Peace Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 set the stage for political evolution that would lead to the enactment of the so-called Act of Union of

1. This Act which established the South African Union, led to the creation of a parliament which served exclusively as a forum for political representation of the white minority. These developments led to the realisation among the dispossessed of the need for an effective national organisation which, regardless of tribal origin or language, could unite the people as they struggled against white minority domination.

This awareness found expression on 8 January 1912 when the representatives of the oppressed and dispossessed met to form the ANC. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, it enacted a new constitution which perpetuated the exclusion of Africans from government and parliament. This took place at the same time in the late fifties and sixties as people’s organisations were banned, activists and leaders imprisoned or banished in an attempt to silence all opposition to white minority domination.

The resurgence of internal political resistance in the 1970s, which significantly undermined the apartheid state’s ideological positions, forced the racist regime to try and rebuild its ideological and political foundation around the package of major policy reforms. The inclusive negotiation process, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa culminating in the adoption of the 1993 transitional Constitution, a process which would lead to the holding of the first democratic elections in 1994 and the ushering in of the new Government based on the will of the people, marked an end of a historical era and the beginning of a new one.

Out of these historical processes the new democratic state was born with a Constitution, Government and Parliament that represents a true expression of the will of all our people. This is our proud history of sacrifice, heroism, reconciliation and forgiveness. Ten years into our democracy we look back filled with pride at our extraordinary achievements. Even the obvious fact that we are gathered here today as representatives of our people to debate openly and freely should, if well considered, convince even the worst of cynics that indeed we must celebrate the first decade of our freedom with pride, resolved to push back further the frontiers of hopelessness, united in a people’s contract to create work and fight poverty.

The untarred road of debate we chart today is a necessary occasion we cherish and respect as a platform out of which arises the shared understanding about our shared future and destiny.

The reaction by most parties to the state of the nation address by the President is amazing. It actually reminds me of a story when as boys we had a debate about the origins of the term scapegoat''. One of our friends, Gwinya, told us that the termscapegoat’’ derives from an ancient Greek born in a traditional community.

Each year villagers would gather in one place in the village to perform a ritual. A goat would be brought before the villagers and each villager who had a problem of any sort would come forward and put blame on the goat for his or her misfortunes. For instance, a villager would walk up and say: I do not have a wife today or I lost my girlfriend because of this goat. Another would walk up and say: I think I feel bewitched, so this goat is to blame. This would continue until finally the goat was released to escape to the mountains in the hope that it was leaving with all the ills that villagers had blamed on it and would never return.

I am citing this particular example because when all of us are confronted by social challenges which are man-made some people turn around and say: This situation is not a product of social engineering of a specific era. They look for a convenient scapegoat. In this instance, the ANC is the scapegoat for all racist and colonial era collaborators. All of them are innocent. They have no room in the creation and sustenance of oppressive regimes.

Persistently, questions on the situation in Zimbabwe have been asked in this House. Of course, we should understand that this is part of a normal exercise. However, the motive is not innocent. As the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs put it yesterday. Natives across the Limpopo are grabbing land and violently harassing fellow citizens, so this will also happen here.

The DA has always been quick to deny such an assertion. Mr Ian Davidson, an hon member of this House, has been the Gauteng DA leader since 5 February

1. He has been in the frontline of what they call Democratic Alliance Telemarketing. He informs would-be voters in his letter in the following manner:

The DA is currently doing work to prevent a one-party state situation in our country.

He urges involvement and ``to help prevent such a horrendous debacle which would undoubtedly lead to catastrophic instability in our land, the likes of which we are witnessing in Zimbabwe’’.

Through this very same letter they urge would-be voters to join their confidential supporters’ list and for them to contribute financially towards their growth fund. So, the Zimbabwe issue is used to scare fellow South Africans, so that they should bankrol the DA. [Interjections.] To them this particular issue is never driven by principle at all.

The other new fashionable machination that is gaining currency within the ranks of some in our country is the equation that is being made between a strong ANC and a one-party state. Yisimanga sikaJehova-ke lesi [Uhleko.] [This one is really Jehovah’s miracle.] [Laughter.] And, of course, these are the wonders of our times.

To actually suppose that in a constitutionally entrenched multiparty democracy you could have a one-party state, this being brought about by the democratic process itself, is absurd in the extreme. It is an undemocratic supposition which seeks to deny South Africans their constitutional right to elect freely, without fearing the democratic outcome, a government of their own choice. It is a feeble attempt at twisting the primary object of democracy by exploiting genuine fears that are a residue of our past. Old habits do indeed die hard. The apartheid racist state thrived on whipping up these very same fears among one part of our community so that it would be prepared to take up arms against its fellow citizens.

The beneficiaries of apartheid were persuaded into believing that the victims of that system were savages, barbarians and terrorists waiting to take their wives and their children and destroy everything the country had. Of course, they were wrong. They should have read our policies where they would have discovered our love for our people, our country and all of humanity. They would have discovered that the very first line of the Freedom Charter declares for all to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. In contrast to what they foretold, what has emerged instead is one of the most, if one may borrow the phrase, civilised constitutional democracies in the world - a country envisaged in the Freedom Charter.

Today, hon members, comes the modern scaremonger. He tells our people that if they, in their maximum numbers, unite behind the common conviction to eradicate the legacy of apartheid, their democratic expression would be harmful to the process of eradicating that legacy. Their unity, it is said, is dangerous to democracy. Now, we may as well ask whether people actually do remember our past. Do they remember the days of divide and rule? He says our unity is dangerous to his type of democracy. These scaremongers, like their forerunners, are wrong. No catastrophe is about to befall our country on account of the huge support our people are rendering to speed up the process of democratic transformation.

On the contrary, something bad would happen if our people were to listen to these prophets of doom. In addition to wasting their votes, the scared victims of these schemes would have their money looted too. There we see the negative characteristics born out of years of racial supremist upbringing where one person has the audacity to stand up and tell the whole nation that his view and only his is democracy, not the nation’s overwhelming choice as this nation’s choice, according to him, represent the destruction of democracy. What stupidity, in a country with perhaps the largest number of opposition parties in the world. Here we have a real multiparty democracy.

What a logical turn of events that the DA, which as the PFP used to be the nocturnal friends of the apartheid regime, is now the daylight opponent of constitutional multiparty democracy, scaring people about the dangers of expressing freely their democratic views. As we heard the hon Tony Leon state boldly here yesterday, there is now a new version of multiparty democracy being offered to our people. Let me quote him directly: ``We are going to create a genuine two-party system.’’

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to quote from the Constitution of South Africa: Chapter 1, section 1, subsections (a) and (d):

The Republic of South Africa is one sovereign democratic state founded on the following values:

(a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms …

(d) Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters’ roll, regular elections and a multiparty system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness.

They should also familiarise themselves with our policies. Addressing itself to issues relevant to this point, the ANC has expressed its position as follows:

The ANC commits itself to the fundamental provisions of the basic law of the land, which accords with its own vision of a democratic and just society. We set out to implement both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, including such principles as multiparty democracy, the adoption and practice of separation of powers in a constitutional state, fundamental human rights to all its citizens, respect for the rights of linguistic, religious and cultural communities and social equity within the context of correcting the historical injustices of apartheid.

We adopted this position so that all the people of our country are clear about our commitment, to ensure that even the smallest voice of our people is heard. The overwhelming support for the ANC is in fact a very good signal for our democracy. It proves that more and more people of South Africa are progressively uniting in a people’s contract to accelerate the process of eradicating the apartheid legacy and that they have identified this legacy as their common enemy. South Africa without that legacy would be better in every respect.

It is therefore correct that the people of our country should unite behind the ANC to defeat the legacy of apartheid in all its manifestations, whether it appears in the form of unemployment or schemes designed to scare people into parting with their hard-earned cash. We as a people must remain very vigilant. These scary ideas come in all shapes and sizes. Now the new one being nurtured is the so-called third term for the President. To these people the foremost issues are not unemployment, poverty and a lack of skills from which our people suffer daily humiliation. They are too preoccupied with the powers of the Presidency - which they have no chance in hell of ever occupying.

Truly, life has become interesting in the South Africa of today. Yesterday, no sooner had the President announced the date of the national general elections, than there came the mouse, strutting before the lion, saying: Come here, you weak lion, I am going to show you a thing or two. [Laughter.] This House watched in disbelief - and on some faces I saw some slight smiles. So much for the excitement of the elections. And when the people raised their voices, hon Tony Leon said yesterday, the Government reacted in ways that raised serious questions about its commitment to openness and democracy. I may not agree with the views raised by the hon Leon in this instance, but I think part of the answer that should help to explain our reaction to his interventions may be found in the very statement he read to this House yesterday. In that statement the hon Leon continues to say:

I say this with confidence, because I have listened to the people and the people want real change.

He then he goes on to give us a list of wants, namely that the people want an economy that grows, and he goes through the list to the last bullet, dealing with a road map to democracy in Zimbabwe. These are, according to him, the policies that would bring South Africa real freedom. How can he list six wants that he believes to be policies that would bring real freedom to South Africa?

This is the problem of South Africa’s political opposition. They develop no real policies to address the problems of our people. They only remember that the people are confronted with problems when they find themselves in front of a microphone, where they will then list a set of bulleted wants and call these policies, as the hon Leon did yesterday.

I suppose one should also take this opportunity to respond to the hon Leon’s concerns on issues of our foreign policy in general, and Haiti in particular. He, together with other elements in our country, have made much noise about our participation in the celebrations of the bicentenary of the independence of Haiti. Perhaps the best place to start our response in this regard is to state that as a country we are committed to good governance, peace and stability, human rights and the creation of a better life for all by creating a better world.

As has been stated before, we do not believe that South Africa can survive as an island of prosperity in a sea of poverty and instability. On the other hand, we should also state categorically that it is correct that we celebrate the Haitian revolution, and we make no apologies for that. That revolution, led by a slave by the name of Toussaint l’Ouverture from 1791 to 1803, dealt a heavy blow to slave traders. The cargo, as it was called by them in that business, was nothing other than human beings, whose only crime was that their skin pigmentation could not be defined as white. This particular revolution struck a heavy blow at the slave trade, a trade that was no trade at all. It was a business that ruined families and trampled on human dignity and human rights.

Colonists among themselves during that time used to enjoy a game derived from the blowing-up of slaves. It was called ``burning a little powder in the arse of a nigger”. Because of this trade in human beings, many of our people were murdered and lost their identity, their culture, their future and their humanness. That we should celebrate and rejoice at the Haitian revolution is correct. We should, as President Mbeki once said, celebrate the heroic deeds of these Africans who single-mindedly struggled for their freedom and inspired many of us to understand that none but ourselves can defeat those who subject us to tyranny, oppression and exploitation.

Those in our country who are still intent on continuing their cultural and psychological dominance over those who were the victims of these satanic, dastardly practices, now want to tell us what is of historical significance and what is not. In so doing they are telling us that they must be understood to be yearning for nothing else, except for a continuation on their part to rewrite the story as to who we are in history, deprive us of our language, of poetry, architecture, of civil laws, of social organisations, of art and science, mathematics and abstract concepts and philosophy. Actually, a yearning to efface us from creation, thus depriving us of history and humanity.

Secondly, they want to tell us that in the fight against poverty, we should not work in solidarity with those who are poor. They maintain that we should not contribute to the renaissance of Africans anywhere in the world. They are wrong in this particular instance. For us to defeat poverty and underdevelopment requires that we work to advance, here and everywhere else, the objectives of peace and stability, good governance and an entrenched culture of human rights.

Ben Okri says in his book, Infinite riches:

It is only when diverse people of the earth meet and learn from and love one another, that we can begin to get an inkling of this awesome picture. Call it the picture of divinity or humanity if you want, but like the magic powers that Africans sometimes allude to, this great jigsaw has been distributed amongst all of us. One aspect of our destiny on this earth may be to discover something of that grand image or music of our collective souls, of our immense possibility our infinite riches. No one person or people has the final load or the great keyboard or the exclusive possession of this jigsaw of humanity. Only together as one people of this earth, facing our common predicament and redeeming love, can we make use of this gift, the map of our earthly journey and glory.

In conclusion, forces of backwardness are saying that the hills, valleys and mountain ranges of our country were for nearly 350 years scorched by the evil fires of colonialism, imperialism and racism, the fires that deformed the human spirit within the coloniser beyond recognition; the fires that dispossessed and dehumanised; the fires that for all this time set our people on a collision course, deliberately setting them apart and teaching each to hate the other. They say the beautiful rains of a democratically constituted state must, in one decade, turn the barren, scorched soil of our country into the beautiful garden of Eden, fill up the Sahara desert with the abundant waters of the Nile and fill every stomach with the milk and honey of Canaan. [Time expired.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Chairperson, the hon Chief Whip seems to understand little about the Constitution and even less about democracy. [Interjections.] He thinks we are a democracy because we have a lot of little parties in this House. By his argument, if we had 20 extra parties in the House we would probably be 20 times more democratic. [Interjections.] He must understand democracy does not consist of the outward trappings. What it consists of is an opposition which is able to hold the government to account and do so on behalf of the people of South Africa.

Everybody knows that the ANC has failed on crime. Next to jobs, crime is the ANC’s biggest failure. They are tired, they have no more policies, they have run out of steam. And in any real democracy the voters would be throwing them out and giving the official opposition a turn to take over. Hopefully at least in this election what the voters will do is to cut the Government down to size and then Government and opposition will be in a better balance, so that they have to look over their shoulders.

This Government has failed on crime and three successive Ministers of Safety and Security have left no impression on the fight against crime. They have all been nice guys, but all of them have failed. Even the hon Charles Nqakula, with his silver tongue and his charm, has not managed to make much difference to the horrendous daily reality of crime in South Africa, and that is the truth.

I suspect that if the hon President wins the election, the President will appoint a new Minister, and that will be my fourth sparring partner. My advice to that Minister is that he or she should pay attention to the following matters: Firstly, do not try to hide the statistics from the people of South Africa. It is easy for Ministers to get out of touch with the people, because they move on an elevated plain unlike the rest of us, but they must not be under the impression that ordinary people in South Africa are fools. They are not fools. The people know that 12,5 million crimes have been reported under ANC rule, with only 10% of the criminals having been convicted.

They also know that almost a quarter of a million people have been murdered in the last 10 years and that only a fraction of those murderers have paid for their crimes. The rest are still roaming the streets of South Africa sowing fear and destruction. There have been 263 000 attempted murders, 849 000 robberies with aggravating circumstances, 460 000 reported rapes and attempted rapes and 2,1 million burglaries. The shocking fact is that nine out of 10 criminals get away with it. They never get caught. Every murder, every rape and every violent robbery leaves a scar on the victim, on those who loved him or her and on our collective consciousness as a nation.

Each Minister who comes into office believes in major national strategies and initiatives, but the people have already learned that they do not work. There is only one thing that is effective against crime ie good old fashioned policing in neighbourhood police stations and in the streets where we live. That is where the public, the police and the criminals interface; that is where the criminals commit their crimes, and that is where the criminals are caught.

The DA’s approach to crime is focused on a practical five step plan that will make an immediate difference to the fight against crime. Firstly, there must be 150 000 police officers on the street. There must be enough policemen where it counts. I am sometimes accused of not giving the ANC enough credit for what they do, and I want to congratulate them today for adopting the DA proposal to have 150 000 police officers. Thank you, President and thank you, Minister. Now we must take it further. We do not want police officers that are bogged down in administrative tasks and duties. They must be on the streets on active duty fighting crime.

We are very concerned by the ANC’s lack of urgency about the matter. The target that they want to reach? They will reach it in five years’ time. The DA proposal will start immediately and see 150 000 officers on the streets by 2007. [Interjections.] We will recruit and train 12 000 entry-level constables each year for the next three years. The total cost of this will be R4,5 billion over three years. This requires a real increase in the police budget of only 4%, and that is surely something that South Africa can afford.

It is extremely important that when we have these police officers, they should be properly skilled and properly trained. None of this matters if they are not up to the task, because they have an extremely difficult and dangerous job to do. We have to equip them with the skills and the training to see that they carry out that job.

Thirdly, they have to be properly equipped. They must have radios, they must have bullet proof vests, they must have motor cars, they must have the tools to enable them to do the job.

Fourthly, there must be a service contract. We have to negotiate a contract with them, so that they know and we know exactly what we can expect of our police. Turnaround times, time to answer telephones, statistics … [Laughter.] … what we are going to do in terms of how many criminals we are going to arrest, how many successful prosecutions we are expecting, all of the things which go to making this a successful policing effort.

All that must be in the contract and that contract must be right from the top. The Minister of Safety and Security must enter into such a contract, and so must the National Commissioner and everybody right down to the station commissioner. And then after that we can hold them accountable.

If the crime rate comes down dramatically and substantially, the Minister can claim the credit together with the police. But if it does not come down, if it does not stabilise satisfactorily, then the Minister must either resign or be fired and the same must happen at every level in the Police Service. It really is quite simple: there is accountability if you know what is expected of you and if the state has provided you with the tools to do the job and enough people to do it.

I am absolutely convinced that if people were to follow the DA’s advice on the matter, we would start bringing crime under control in South Africa, because South Africa cannot go on as it is now. South Africa deserves better. [Applause.]

UMPHATHISWA WEZABASEBENZI: Mhlalingaphambili, Mongameli, mandiqale ngeendaba ezibuhlungu, zokufa kukaLungile Mathebula, ofele kwisibhedlele i- Addington emva kokuba ilifti ebekhwele kuyo yena nabanye abathathu, iye yehla nabo yaya kunkaleka ezantsi, waze yena wasweleka kwangoko.

Kwakhona, Mongameli, ndivakalisa ngokusweleka kuNelson Shisane, oye wathatyathwa, waxangxathwa, wanyashwa ngumfama, othe akugqiba ukwenza oko waya kumgibisela ezingonyameni; babukela, bahleka begigitheka ngexa uNelson Shisane edliwa, eqwengwa ziingonyama.

Babekade besifunza ngezinja, ngoku siphoswa ezingonyameni. Siyakrwentshwa, siyaxhokonxwa. Ndilugcalagcala ngumsindo kule ndawo ndimi kuyo, kuba noko le nto ngoku ithande ukuthi kratya, into yokungahoywa kwamalungelo abasebenzi. Sinabantu abafana nohloniphekileyo uTony Leon, abathi umthetho wezabasebenzi mawuthathwe ulahlwe kwesinomhlwa, sibe ngoku sixakene nento yokuphathwa kakubi nokunyashwa kwamalungelo abasebenzi. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[The MINISTER OF LABOUR: Chairperson, hon President, let me start with the bad news that Mr Lungile Mathebula passed away in Addington Hospital, after an accident in which he and three other people were involved, when a lift failed to stop. He died instantly.

Again, Mr President, let me tell you about the brutal death of Nelson Shisane, who died after his farmer employer violently assaulted him and then threw him into a lion’s den to be devoured. They were entertained whilst the lions were feasting on this man.

They used to release dogs to bite us, but now they feed us to the lions. We are being provoked. I am very angry right now because this is really too much. This is a violation of workers’ rights. We have people like the hon Tony Leon, who say that the labour legislation should be scrapped whilst we have on our hands a travesty of these workers’ rights.]

We for our part have a single indispensable need, that of our dignity. There can be no dignity without freedom. Sekou Toure of Guinea said these words at the height of the struggle to free Africa from the shackles of colonialism.

We of the ANC who have gone through the dolorosa of agony in search of freedom have learned and we know that people are the makers of history. They are the determiners of their own destiny. Side by side with the people of South Africa, the ANC fought for the freedom that we all cherish now. It is in the cauldron of the struggle for freedom that the first people’s contact was sealed. Ours is not the weathercock contract often found among the instant parties in the ranks of present day political desperadoes, … ooJoj’ iinkumpa abafana naba bakwesi sandla sam sasekhohlo [… such as the ones to my left]. Our people’s contract is based on trust and lasting optimism that is only known to those who know how this freedom was won. Madam Speaker, we look at the past 10 years with pride. Who will deny that in the past 10 years the Government of the ANC has managed to build monuments of history no force can demolish. South Africans will celebrate 10 years of freedom this year, a freedom that was won through the vision and sacrifice of millions of South Africans. Today, we are a nation of free people, with a Government that has a mandate from the majority of the people of this country to deliver a better life for all, and not just a racially defined minority.

We are celebrating a new dawn after the long dark night of apartheid and the ravages it cost at every level of South African life. There is much to celebrate, but in order to truly appreciate our 10 years of democracy, it is vital that we never forget where we came from.

Less than 20 years ago, the then government promulgated amendments to an earlier Labour Relations Act which, like almost every aspect of South African legislation, was characterised by exclusion. The list of employees who were excluded included farmworkers and domestic workers, while those who enjoyed the benefits of the Act were never explicitly mentioned and were almost always white.

The then Minister of Labour, Schoeman - incidentally, Laboria House is in Schoeman Street [Laughter.] - declared his intention to ``bleed the native unions to death’’. The 1988 amending Act identified the need to include the sectors excluded from the Act, and as late as 1993 separate statutes were introduced, which paid lip service to the needs of this workers.

An examination of the changing nature of the labour market in South Africa will acknowledge that the changes and progress that have been achieved over the past 10 years were achieved as a result of long and bitter struggles on the shop floor. Because, as laughable as some of the amendments to the 1988, 1991 and 1993 statutes were, they were replacing even more draconian legislation that was firmly rooted in notions of kragdadigheid and were deeply anti-worker in complexion. The pre-democracy Labour Relations Act emerged from various master and servants laws, which among other things made desertion a criminal offence. It must never be forgotten that the central truth about the apartheid labour market was that it was meant to ensure that it served the needs of the white minority regime. As such, the labour market was also characterised by a racial twin track, a dualism where the Verwoerdian maxim of blacks being hewers of wood and drawers of water was fanatically enforced.

Acts such as the Job Reservation Act prevented blacks from entering specific professions, while various education departments ensured that you could never get the skills that would be required to participate above certain levels in the labour market. The aim of those education Acts and the denial of opportunities for our people to develop their skills were a deliberate attempt to keep black workers unskilled and illiterate. We were shown the green pastures of economic opportunity and then brutally prevented from entering them.

It is for this reason that human resource development forms the core of ANC policy in undoing the ravages of the past. It is for this reason that this Government of the ANC has invested so much in skills development. Because of the past exclusion of black people from the economy, it was necessary for the ANC Government to pass the 1998 Employment Equity Act, to ensure that all South Africans enjoy access to the labour market.

Likewise, the ANC Government has committed itself to spend over R15 billion on broad-based Black Economic Empowerment to ensure greater inclusion. It smacks of hypocrisy, Comrade President, that certain people complain of the creation of a black elite, implying that only whites have the right to have their Oppenheimers.

Our skills development programme has enjoyed enormous successes, with a significant buy-in from business, labour and the community. Teething problems have been identified and addressed. The skills revolution, Comrade President, is indeed on track. It is successful interventions such as these that give us cause to celebrate our 10 years of democracy. Today South Africa has a democratic Government because of the ANC. Today South Africa has a growing economy because of the ANC. Today South Africa has a well managed economy because of the ANC. We must never forget that it is under the ANC Government that over 2 million jobs have been created since 1995. [Applause.] Before 1994 economic growth had ground to a halt. We are now enjoying growth levels of 2,8% and are in a position to grow even further, precisely because the ANC is confident of the future. It is all thanks to the ANC Government.

Comrade President, we know that the number of people looking for work has increased, because many more people are being casualised: many have been subcontracted and outsourced. You have asked us to investigate this matter, Comrade President, precisely because you are confident of the future. Many more have entered the job market, because more people are getting the opportunity to enter the job market when they complete their schooling or finish their degrees. And this is the problem that is facing our labour market.

We as the ANC believe in a people’s contract to create work and eradicate poverty; a people’s contract, Comrade President, to monitor those Sector Education and Training Authorities; a people’s contract to ensure proper functioning of those Setas; a people’s contract to develop the skills of this nation; a people’s contract to receive 72 000 learners by May 2004; a people’s contract to receive interns and provide skills to young graduates … [Applause.] … and a people’s contract to protect the most vulnerable workers, domestic workers and farmworkers.

McIntosh, hon sir, when I know where your farm is, wait for me, I will be coming wearing my cap inscribed “Inspector, Department of Labour”. I will soon get your address and I will be there. [Interjections.] Don’t call it electioneering: you know that I am the chief inspector of this country. [Interjections.]

The people’s contract finds expression in many aspects, not only in the skills development strategy, but also in our contract with employers and workers in order to ensure safety in the workplace; to ensure stability in the labour markets; and to ensure that even the most vulnerable of workers enjoy protection. I might add that this contract, especially with regard to those rural workers, can only have been made by the ANC-led Government.

Earlier in my speech I referred to the exclusion of domestic workers and farmworkers from the apartheid versions of labour legislation. Today we have reason to celebrate, because those domestic workers now enjoy a minimum wage and basic conditions of employment. Even the hon member, Tony Leon, now knows that there is the Labour Relations Act, failing which we sit on you and we make sure that you pay your domestic worker properly. [Laughter.] He now knows how to treat a domestic worker. This is because of the ANC. [Interjections.]

If you think that I am intimidating you, wait until I meet you outside, then you will see that indeed this man can intimidate you. No other party in this House would have done this. The ANC is the only party that has a track record of delivery, particularly to the poor and the needy. [Applause.]

A further example of our people’s contract came from the Growth and Development Summit, where Government, labour, business and the community organisations committed themselves to the achievement of measurable goals to boost economic growth and job creation. Some of the initial goals have been met and others are well on track. It is through the people’s contract with business that we can proudly say that even our targeted 72 000 young unemployed people will be in learnerships by May 2004. We as the ANC-led Government will ensure that all South Africans enjoy the dignity that freedom brings. Hence we are proud to celebrate 10 years of our democracy.

Oko yasekwayo i-ANC, umbutho wesizwe, yasoloko ibeke phambili umdla wabo bonke abantu beli lizwe loMzantsi Afrika. Yabamanya kwidabi lenkululeko elakhokelela kumnyaka wenkululeko, u-1994. Kuloko ngomhla wama- 27 KuTshazimpuzi siza kube sibhiyozela iminyaka elishumi yenkululeko, sivuyele intatho-nxaxheba kawonkewonke, iminyaka elishumi yoxolo, iminyaka elishumi yozinzo, iminyaka elishumi yenkqubela. Sibhiyozela uMzantsi Afrika wethu xa sisonke sidume ngazwinye sisithi: Halala Mzantsi Afrika! Halala!

Le nkululeko asiyikhongozwanga. Le nkululeko ize ngegazi; le nkululeko ize ngokufa; le nkululeko ize ngokuzincama kwabantu abaninzi, bekhokelwe ngumbutho wesizwe i-ANC. Yinkululeko evule amathuba okukhomba indlela ebheka phambili. Liphumile ngoku ilanga eMzantsi Afrika.

Azange sibe kuRhulumente siyi-ANC ngaphambili. Kule minyakana nje ilishumi, sizuze amava. Uninzi lwabantu luyimbumba ejonge ukukhawulezisa inguqu. Iziseko ezibekwe yi-ANC azihexi, ziqinile. Sifundile ngoku. Siza kuthi chatha ukuzisa inguqu kubomi babantu. Siza kuba manya abantu, sakhe amathuba okusebenza, silwe indlala. Ngumbutho wesizwe i-ANC yodwa enembali engathandabuzekiyo, ezingcayo ngembali yayo. Yiyo yodwa ezise inguqu; yiyo yodwa enamava okuzisa inguqu. Akukhange unyanzeleke, Dlamini, ukuba ufake iCV yakho kwimanifesto ye-ANC. NguHolomisa, uBantu, yedwa ofaka iCV kwimanifesto, kuba akaziwa. Uthe ukuze aziwe, waziwa ngexesha ebekulo mbutho wesizwe, iANC. Siza kuwubukela ngoku umgcwabo wakhe.

Yonke eminye imibuthwana le ngoofunz’ eweni, ovuk’ ayibambe, abangoozungul’ ichele, abanjongo iphambili ikukwahlula nokuchithachitha umanyano lwabantu beli lizwe, ngakumbi, abamnyama. Ndivumele ke, Dlamini, nditshone ngelithi: qina ifokotho, mfo kabawo. Ungabilityutyusi, ungaqhokreki amadolo. Abagxekayo basazalwa nanamhlanje.

Bamatshekile nangoku amaqhithala namayilo. Bakutyibela ngezinyeliso nezithuko, bathi uwedwa jwi ungaguqul’ uMgaqo-siseko kuba ujonge ukuba sisimakade. Thina ke sithi: ngxatsho ke! Utyaph’ uzalwe. Ngxatsho ke! kwedini yasemaZizini, mzukulwana kaNgubonde, kaNdosi, kaLunika, kaMkhuli, kaMavumengwana. [Uwelewele] Gumbi lamagwala, Libokoboko, Ngxibinoboya, uzaz’ ukusuka, uzaz’ ukuhlala kuba lungenantsiba. UNkephuz’ amagwebu ngomlomo, ungxaz’ iimpumlo, usifutyana kukuthandwa ngumkhuhlana. Isagwity’ esisuka kuqala kuneziny’ izagwityi, lirhamncwa elimazinyw’ azinqindi, isikhun’ abasitheza besoyika, guqe bakhedame abamelene naye, uguqe ngezwi elibi kumakhumsha.

Tyityimba ke, wedini, kushukume izidlele. Ziyaxhents’ iingwevu kushukuma amabhovu. Wakuvela kuba ngamayeyeye nemiyiyizelo. Mna le nto ndizibonele. Ziyabong’ iimbongi, ziyabongisela, ziyagxelesh’iintshaba ngokwehlungulu. Zigxelesha zixezula ngenxa yekhwele Dlamini. Abasazi thina singu-ANC. Basiva ngembali.

Kusisityikityiki nangoku. Bayashwantshwatha, bayadwaba, bayadwalula. Fika ngokukhawuleza mhla we-14 ka-Aprili, iza kuba kubadubungela i-ANC, iba gubungele kuba i-ANC iqule yaligangatha. Amavetyevetye namavocovoco aza kuchola phantsi isitya sigcwele. Phambili, ngombutho wesizwe, phambili! [Uwelewele.] [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Since the ANC was formed, the national organisation has always put the interests of all the citizens of this country, South Africa, forward. It united them in the struggle for freedom, which led to the year of freedom,

1. That is why on 27 April, we will be celebrating ten years of freedom and the enjoyment of democracy, ten years of peace and ten years of progress. We are celebrating our own South Africa; all of us are saying with one voice: Congratulations, South Africa! Congratulations!

We did not get this freedom as a gift, but blood was shed for it. People died for it. It came as a result of sacrifices made by many people, led by the ANC. It is freedom that has led to opportunities, progress and a way forward. The sun has risen now in South Africa.

We, as the ANC, have never been in government before but in the last ten years we have gained experience. The majority of the people are united in speeding up change. The foundations that the ANC has laid are unshakeable, they are very strong. We have learnt now. We are going to bring about more changes in people’s lives. We are going to unite people, create employment opportunities and alleviate poverty.

It is the only national organisation, the ANC, that has the unquestionable history, which they are very proud of. It has brought about this change alone, no one else has the experience of bringing about change. You we not obliged, Dlamini, to bring your CV to the ANC manifesto. It is only Bantu Holomisa who puts his CV on the manifesto because he is not well known. He was only known whilst he was with the national organisation, the ANC. We are now going to watch his funeral.

All these other parties are less experienced fortune seekers, whose main objective is to divide and destroy the unity that the people of this country have achieved, especially the blacks. Allow me, Dlamini, to conclude by saying: Be strong, my brother. Do not be a weakling and fear nothing. Cynics are born every day.

They are speechless as we speak now. They have criticised and insulted you, saying you alone can change the Constitution because you want to cling to power. We, on the other hand, are saying: Long live the son of the Zizi clan, the grandson of Ngubonde, of Ndosi; of Lunika; Mkhuli; Mavumengwana. [Interjections.] Gumbi lamagwala [the room of cowards] Libokoboko [is full of scars] Ngxibinoboya, you know yourself very well, for you are not feathered. The one whoe mouth is foaming, who has a running nose, whose chest is always with flu. The bird that flies first before others, a beast with very strong teeth. A piece of wood that wood fetchers carry with caution, the one who saddens his neighbours, the one with a bad voice to those who speak the white man’s language.

Dance, you young man, and shake your cheeks. The old men are dancing and their beard is shaking. When you appear, everyone ululates with pride. I saw this with my own eyes. The poets are praising, the enemies look with savage eyes. They stare with eyes of envy, Dlamini. They undermine us, we are the ANC. They do not know us well; they hear people talking about us. There is mumbling even now; they are inaudible, talking nonsense, they are confused. Come quickly, 14 April; the ANC are going to outclass them, they are going to sweep them out because they are fully prepared. The weaklings are going to get nothing. Forward with the National Congress, forward! [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Dr J T DELPORT: Chairperson, on a point of order: The hon member threatened persons in the opposition during his speech. He said: “Wait until I get you outside.” I submit that that’s unparliamentary. [Interjections.] Can I get a chance to finish? I know that the hon member admitted that he only had a little thing, but nonetheless. [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon Delport, in what the hon member said, I did not hear him specifically mentioning a name. In that particular case, I do not think it … [Interjections.]

An HON MEMBER: Whose fault is that?

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Therefore, I don’t think it’s a threat aimed at a particular member of the House, and I would rule accordingly.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Chairperson, in another time, John F Kennedy declared: “We observe today, not a victory of a party, but a celebration of freedom.”

How true. The lofty achievements and endeavours that the President spoke of in the state of the nation address on Friday actually belong to all the people of South Africa. Our nation’s progress over the past 10 years is the stuff that dreams are made of, a uniquely South Africa dream.

It is amazing to consider that South Africa’s transition to democracy took place under the threat of terrible conflict, a conflict portentous enough for the country to be included in a scholarly collection on collapsed states under the heading States in danger of collapse. Of course, this did not happen. In the pursuit of freedom and democracy, we rejected division and chose unity. We rejected discrimination and chose tolerance. We rejected despair and chose hope. Together as a nation we want peace, a precious peace that, up to the present time, has eluded so many in the Middle East, in Northern Ireland, in Kashmir and in other troubled spots across the globe.

The IFP is immensely proud to have played a significant role in the reconciliation process and the nation-building project since 1994 under the leadership of its president, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. We did not stand on the sidelines. We were not afraid to become involved and we were not afraid to soil our hands.

Whilst the IFP participated in the national Government to advance nation- building and reconciliation, the majority party’s magnanimity in allowing the IFP to contribute to the nation’s governance was, I believe, unprecedented. Also, our differences with the ruling party have not prevented us from giving credit where it is due. Great strides by Government, better than some dared to hope, have been made in providing essential services, water, electricity, housing, sanitation and other services to the poor majority.

The IFP also commends the President for departing in his state of the nation address from the usual ANC tradition, established over the past 10 years, of not recognising where Government has not done enough or has simply failed, by admitting that there are important challenges to be addressed and resolved. In doing this, the President has shown himself to be a statesman able to rise above the narrow sectional politics of parties.

As the political parties are preparing to go out and contest South Africa’s third democratic elections, we must not be lured into believing that the remarkable achievements of the past decade mean that the painstaking process of reconciliation and nation-building is complete. South Africa remains a job in progress. The road to national unity is a long journey. We may not even complete it in our lifetime, but we have made a beginning, however humble it is.

The task of national unity is one that transcends this House and Government, for it can only be achieved by the contribution of all political parties and by the active participation of the constellation of groups that we call civil society - student bodies, women’s organisations, NGOs, religious organisations, etc.

Most importantly, national unity requires the contribution of individual men and women in their daily lives, individuals for whom ubuntu is the touchstone of human character and disposition. Democracy and a human rights culture that flows from living in a free society will only take root and flourish if the full citizenry participates.

So today we celebrate our freedom and not a victory of a party. And yet, we are mindful that, even after a decade of freedom, the black majority still lives in abject poverty which we have not succeeded in overcoming, and the IFP believes that a lasting reconciliation and the building of a successful, united nation can only take place when each and every South African enjoys equality of opportunity and is free from destitution, from disease and from despair.

The IFP was particularly concerned that the President did not take the opportunity of using the pulpit of the state of the nation address to emphasise the fight against HIV/Aids as a national priority. This we deeply regret - that the issue of HIV/Aids, which is a tragedy really, has too often over the past five years been cast in party-political terms and debated in a polemic tone. We are saddened that this issue has threatened to undermine the moral authority of your office, Mr President.

Perhaps, Mr President, your country and people look to you to be a unifying father figure, to show the warm touch and to reach out to your fellow South Africans with compassion in a way that only a head of state can do. When we say this, we do so not to injure or cause offence, because the IFP recognises and sympathises with the difficulties Government faces in confronting this pandemic at this critical moment in history, for there are other overwhelming demands and expectations to correct the injustices and the legacy of the past, but the President and the Government must take the lead on this issue.

More than any other ill, HIV/Aids has the potential to destroy our families, our communities, and our sense of national unity. This war requires a proportional response. Like the task of national unity, the war against HIV/Aids will require all the people of South Africa to work together in unison in order to overcome it.

On the economic front, the IFP welcomed the President’s laudatory remarks in the address about the need to develop the first economy. This must be followed up by action. Government must urgently work out proposals to slash bureaucratic red tape, and review labour legislation, especially those aspects that inhibit job creation, in order to increase our competitiveness as a country to make South Africa a magnet for foreign investment and accelerated growth.

The IFP endorses the President’s commitment to making significant infrastructure investments. The IFP believes that, in this regard, South Africa must emulate the Asian tiger economies, which achieved double-digit growth in the post-war years, and invest in growth industries and services.

On foreign affairs, the President was right to state that South Africa has a role to play in the construction of a new world order within a multilateral framework of international relations. Let us not forget the one billion people who live outside the formal global economy, most of whom are on the continent of Africa. Today we are keenly aware what the serious challenges facing South Africa are: HIV/Aids, economy growth and job creation, crime, corruption and poverty.

The IFP will contest these elections on the merits of its proposals to address these seminal issues, not with rancour and negative campaigning. And so we appeal to all political parties, in the spirit of reconciliation and nation-building, to do the same, for history will judge us harshly if we fail to do so.

We endorse the President’s appraisal of the progress that South Africa has made in the past decade, but we dare not linger here too long and dwell on these achievements, for much still needs to be done. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF HEALTH: Chairperson, Mr President, hon members, the 10th anniversary of freedom invites us to reflect on the dreams and plans we had for our country as we entered the unfamiliar territory of government. It also compels us to consider how far we have moved towards achieving the goals we held most precious.

In his state of the nation address, the President reminded us that South Africa has enjoyed a decade of peace and progress. The notion of progress resonates in the field of health care where we have faced massive challenges, challenges that are linked to the apartheid legacy and challenges that arise from global health trends.

Our direction was determined from the outset by the simple principle that South Africa belongs to all who live in it and that every citizen deserves access to essential health care at a time of need. In time, this principle became our constitutional duty, a duty that we have taken seriously at all times. It is a responsibility that has demanded quite fundamental changes in the health system and the introduction of laws that have not always been popular. We are quite clear that we need to take positive action to affirm the rights of the poor and the vulnerable.

One of the first requirements of our “health care for all” agenda was to establish the infrastructure for the effective delivery of primary health care services. We have substantially achieved this.

In 10 years we have introduced free health care for children and pregnant women. In 1996 free health care was extended to everybody at primary care level. Last year we included people with disabilities in this package, including hospital care. This is a contribution towards poverty alleviation.

Fees for services have been a barrier to basic health care for those who need it most. We have proved our critics wrong who said that free health care was a pipe dream. Sure, it costs money, but we managed this leap because of the political commitment of the ANC.

It must be said, however, that we claim progress - not perfection - in primary health care, precisely because there is still an unacceptable variation in the standard of primary care that is being offered across the country, and this is linked largely to resources. The tragedy is that the poorest amongst us, who are most in need of public health care, all too often have the weakest services. To illustrate this point, expenditure on primary health care per person per year among provinces ranges from R50 to R300.

Equity in service provision is the critical measure that determines who lives and who dies, who suffers permanent harm and who is restored to good health. Let us never forget this reality as we rededicate ourselves to service in the second decade of freedom.

The second major area of transformation in health care was the hospital sector, in which physical revitalisation, rational planning and better management were the key objectives. The investment in capital projects has steadily gained ground. In the year ahead about R2 billion will be spent on infrastructure and the building of new hospitals. An amount of R911 million will be spent on 27 major hospital projects, including the building of 18 new hospitals. In building new hospitals, we have tried to overturn the apartheid legacy and create an effective referral network.

The hospital revitalisation programme deals with organisational development

• proper human resource planning and management systems, ensuring that hospitals have adequate medical equipment and simultaneously improving quality of care. Far from neglecting tertiary level care, we have built three new academic hospitals in the last decade - the Chief Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban, the Nelson Mandela Hospital in Umtata and the Pretoria Academic Hospital Complex.

An increasing number of public hospitals offer the quality of service that attracts full-fee and medical aid patients, but never at the expense of patients who are 100% dependent on public-sector care. These include the Mankweng, Kimberley, Witbank, Folateng and Pelonomi Hospitals and others. The social contract therefore demands that we participate in the governance of these facilities through hospital and clinic boards, and protect and safeguard our facilities from crime and vandalism.

The third major area of innovation was the expansion of programmes of disease control and prevention and the establishment of new programmes. We have expanded the child immunisation programme in line with WHO guidelines, have introduced additional vaccines against hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza and have made immunisation part of our everyday operations. The results have been the eradication of polio and a sharp drop in measles. Therefore, as part of our social contract, I am appealing to fathers and mothers to bring their children to our clinics to be immunised against preventable diseases.

We have seen a drop in the number of deaths owing to diarrhoeal disease as a result of a number of factors, including improved access to clean water and sanitation, the promotion of breast-feeding, the prompt treatment of diarrhoea and education of the public.

We tackled the long-standing problem of tuberculosis by introducing the community-based treatment programme. This improved our ability to identify TB patients, test them and supply them with the correct drugs - all free of charge. TB remains a major challenge and it is further complicated by the development of a multidrug-resistant strain. We therefore need to redouble our efforts against TB. There is no room for complacency.

In the face of a huge escalation in malaria, we took the bold step of reintroducing residual indoor spraying with DDT. By taking this step - and working closely with Swaziland, Mozambique, soon to be followed by Zimbabwe, the DRC and Angola - we effectively turned the tide of malaria infection in the year 2000.

HIV/Aids had begun to emerge as a serious public health threat by 1994, but there was no national programme to speak of as freedom dawned. In the past decade, enormous resources have been committed to HIV/Aids and South Africa has indeed followed international best practice in its national strategy. Few countries would be able to claim an increase of 2 000% in Aids spending in less than 10 years.

Few would be able to point to greater investment in prevention strategies and few could claim such widespread mobilisation across sectors. The South African National Aids Campaign is an achievement. We should not allow our progress to be overshadowed by the sheer scale of HIV infection. We should see the magnitude of the problem as a challenge, not a defeat.

I would be the first to concede that it is not sufficient to have stabilised our HIV infection rates - we need to put them into reverse gear. Therefore, we are committed to strengthening the national response to HIV and Aids through the comprehensive plan adopted by Cabinet in November last year, as this brings to completion our five-year strategic plan on HIV and Aids, which is itself due for review during the next 10-year period.

In the 12 weeks since the plan was adopted, there has been intense preparatory work and our implementation plan is at an advanced stage. The plan requires simultaneous action on many fronts across the health sector. I can assure Parliament that we are committed to making this plan a reality

• to achieving the target of a service point in all 53 districts and metropolitan councils within one year. Let me assure you that we are determined to offer every citizen quality treatment, management and care for HIV and Aids, and not a shoddy programme that some in this House want to hurry us into delivering.

Let me clarify that, as the Minister of Health, the President has delegated to me the responsibility of accounting in detail what the Government is doing regarding HIV and Aids. South Africa is a member of the board of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, where it represents the Southern and Eastern Africa Region. We also chair the Afro Regional Committee of the World Health Organisation.

Through far-sighted tobacco control legislation and tax policies, Government has reduced the size of the smoking population in our country. Given the relationship between tobacco use and various cancers and cardio- vascular disorders, the population is likely to reap the benefit of this decisive move by the Government in years to come. Chairperson, a critical factor in our ability to ensure universal access to health care is equity in the distribution of resources. More bluntly put, it is our ability to overturn the huge imbalance in resources between the private and the public sectors on the one hand, and between urban and rural areas on the other. We have tackled this in two ways, firstly by redistributing financial and human resources in the public health sector, and secondly, by legislation that encourages more efficient use of health resources in the private sector.

The impact of initiatives for redistribution in the public sector is visible. Most of the 900 new clinics we have built are in the rural areas. There is a narrowing as the gap between the health spending of the best- resourced two provinces, namely Gauteng and the Western Cape, and that of the least developed rural provinces. Through community service and government-to-government agreements, we have improved the professional staffing of rural facilities quite dramatically. This year alone, more than 3 000 young graduates are doing community service, and the proportion in rural areas is the highest ever. Just a week ago, we announced a unique system of allowances for 33 000 health professionals in the rural areas, and 66 000 professionals with skills that are in scarce supply.

Despite all these measures, Chairperson, the health gap between the major cities and the rural areas remains unacceptably high. We need to boost the rural areas further, and we cannot do this simply by siphoning funds from the urban areas. We seriously need to consider whether we can achieve peace, progress, social justice and better quality of health care on the current spending levels.

Various laws have been passed to safeguard private sector health consumers and promote better value for money in that sector. These include the Medical Schemes Act and the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, which advance the cause of more affordable and quality medicines.

The National Health Bill replaces the old Health Act of 1977, and ensures that the health sector is in line with the Constitution. This Bill lays the foundation for rational health planning and the proper co-ordination of all the elements of the public and private health sectors, and from this perspective of national interest, it requires that all health service equipment and establishments are certified to provide affordable and quality health services.

Let me read, very quickly, from the submission of the Health Professions Council of South Africa, a body that registers all doctors, in both the private and public health sectors. This is what they had to say on the certificate of need:

Council supports the issue of the certificate of need for health care establishments in relation to the yet-to-be-established institutions but more so supports the idea of revalidating through the certification process of the existing institutions. This is particularly against the backdrop of perverse incentives and schemes that a number of establishments have perpetrated, thereby inducing practitioners registered with Council to act unethically, without a mechanism of ensuring control of the activities in these institutions. Secondly, and more importantly, the issue of adequacy of human resources in these establishments is critical as Council has had instances where some institutions actually operate emergency and trauma units with one practitioner who is not even properly trained in handling trauma cases. Council therefore fully endorses and supports the certificate of need.

Health care cannot be left to the whims of the market. Government has stewardship to ensure that every citizen has equal access to quality services.

Chairperson, during the next decade we will focus on the following priority areas. We will improve our understanding of the causes of death in South Africa in order to ensure proper planning and appropriate allocation of resources. We will accelerate the revitalisation of health facilities to reverse apartheid planning. We will consolidate the improvement of human resource planning and training to deal aggressively with the shortages and unfair distribution of health workers throughout the national health system. We will implement a comprehensive school health programme, as this will lay the foundation for health promotion among the youth. We will accelerate the programme of making sure that medicines are available to all South Africans at an affordable price, as envisaged in the regulations currently under discussion by the public.

The goal of achieving equity between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural, between provinces and within provinces, will continue to drive our health sector reform programme. We will increase the pool of those who have medical aid and protect them against unscrupulous schemes. We will promote solidarity in health by ensuring that those who can afford to, contribute to the health of the poor.

This year we will eliminate the backlog in assistive devices such as wheelchairs and hearing and walking aids, and intensify our programmes on noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases including obesity, by amongst others, stepping up our health promotion programme.

Chairperson, I have observed that the promise of free treatment for HIV and Aids is fast becoming the popular slogan of the opposition parties in this House. I think they need to wake up and stop daydreaming, because we have already adopted a programme to treat comprehensively those who are infected with and affected by Aids, to manage them with compassion, and to provide them with quality care. In the public sector these services will always be provided free of charge.

As we approach the tenth anniversary of freedom and democracy, I would urge sober reflection across society on the meaning and value of a just and equitable health care system to a nation that is still divided in many ways. When we act to uphold the right to health and life of each South African, we truly begin to bridge these divisions. The new decade is a new opportunity. I thank you. [Applause.]

Die ADJUNKMINISTER VAN GESONDHEID: Agb Voorsitter, agb President, agb lede, hierdie is ‘n politieke debat en ek wil begin deur die diepe kommer van die NNP oor gesondheidskwessies in ons land op rekord te plaas.

Die siening van die NNP oor die protesoptog van dokters verlede week, wat ons gesteun het, asook ons sterk opponering van die sertifikaat van behoefte is volledig uiteengesit verlede Vrydag in ‘n mediaverklaring, wat ons vandag weer eens uitreik in die lig van wydverspreide spanning en onrustigheid oor gesondheidskwessies.

Die verkiesingsmanifes van die NNP, wat op 20 Februarie 2004 vrygestel word, sal ook ons sterk standpunte oor die volle spektrum van gesondheidsorg bevat en tydens die verkiesingsveldtog sal ons dit met mening bevorder. Ek wil dus nou terugkeer tot die debat oor sake geopper in die President se staatsrede en spesifiek die kwessie van armoede. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH: Hon Chairperson, hon President, hon members, this is a political debate and I want to start by placing on record the deep concern of the New NP about health matters in our country.

The New NP’s stance on the protest march by doctors last week, which we supported, as well as our strong opposition to the certificate of need, was fully set out in a media statement last Friday, which we are issuing once again today in the light of widespread tension and unease about health matters.

The New NP’s election manifesto, which will be released on 20 February 2004, will also contain our strong views on the entire spectrum of health care and we will be strongly promoting it during the election campaign. I therefore want to return to the debate now and address matters raised in the President’s state of the nation address and specifically the question of poverty.]

It is a fact, Mr President, that anyone who reads your speeches and statements will observe two words featuring very prominently in all your pronouncements. One of the words is “poverty” and the need to deal with it, and the second is “unity” and the need to achieve it.

Increasingly, poverty, like crime, dominates much of our national discourse when dealing with socioeconomic issues, and rightly so. It was Franklin Roosevelt who described those in poverty, the poorest of the poor, as “forgotten men and women at the bottom of the economic pyramid”. Poverty is without a doubt a central issue of our time, globally, continentally and nationally, and that is why the priority that the Government gives to it, and which you restated on Friday, cannot be faulted.

Much of what the Government is doing to fight poverty today is probably informed by the excellent report entitled ``Poverty and Inequality in South Africa’’, prepared and published in May 1998. And although that report contains much data, it makes a very telling observation when it reminds us that statistics say little about people’s actual experience of poverty on a human level, where poverty typically comprises ill health, arduous and often hazardous work for low income, high levels of anxiety, emotional stress and exposure to violence which has a profound impact on the lives of the poor.

The second word which you used frequently, Mr President, was the word “united” - the need for unity of purpose and a national united effort, also in respect of poverty and the other challenges that face us. Correctly you work on the premise that in unity lies strength - ex unitate vires, “eendrag maak mag” - and that the extent of the challenges require such unity and strength for a collective effort to overcome them.

Earlier this year, Mr President, you made an appeal which bears repeating in this debate. You said: We will also have to intensify our work among those sections of our population, both black and white, who occupy more privileged positions in our society. We must encourage these also to lend a hand in the common national effort to defeat poverty and underdevelopment.

We in the New NP are working hard to persuade as many fellow South Africans as we can that that call is worthy of support. But, regrettably, there are forces in our country which prefer a state of disunity, a lack of unity of purpose, even on the biggest problems facing us, who prefer to divide rather than unite and criticise in the most exaggerated terms. I am of course referring to the DA and its leader, the hon Leon, famous Afrikaner icon of note according to his resident imbongi, the hon Douglas Gibson. [Laughter.]

As the election approaches, we see the shrillness and aggression of the DA increasing exponentially, and the targets of their bile range from the President himself to the national leader of the New NP, the media and, more recently, former President F W de Klerk - to whom I will return in a moment. But the common factor in the DA’s pronouncements is the promotion of disunity and division, no matter what the cost to the country or the nation as a whole. We in the New NP see this as a dangerous and gravely flawed approach which threatens to marginalise many good South Africans who can play a positive role.

But I want to return to the hon Leader of the Opposition. A few days ago the hon Leon chose to launch a tirade against Mr F W de Klerk for his intention to restate his support for the ANC/New NP co-operative governance agreement. And of course the attack contained the usual Leon-speak, the prizefighter mentality with words like “double-cross”, “betrayal”, “zigzagging”, etc. It reminds one of the wrestling federation.

Interestingly, in August 2000, when the hon Leon spoke as leader of the DA at the naming of the F W de Klerk Boardroom in the Marks Building, he had the following to say. Mr Tony Leon said that the naming of the boardroom in honour of F W de Klerk was an important milestone in the DA’s short history, because it was De Klerk’s famous speech of 2 February 1990 that made the new politics of today possible. It helped steer our country away from a bloody civil war. Leon said that one of the achievements which flowed from De Klerk’s speech was the establishment of a liberal constitutional state. Now let’s talk about zigzagging and inconsistency. The hon Leon reminds me of a quote by an American president who said: “I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.” [Laughter.] [Applause.]

With all due respect, our submission is that the country deserves a better performance from the hon Leon - if he ever wants to be taken seriously by anyone at all. And in fact, South Africa deserves a better Leader of the Opposition. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY: Chairperson, comrades, President and Deputy President, there are many South Africans, including members of the ANC and the tripartite alliance, who fully understood, Comrade President, the reason you quoted so extensively from former President Nelson Mandela’s speech in this House almost 10 years ago. You were talking to the unbroken thread that has characterised the struggle of the masses of our country under the leadership of the ANC for our liberation.

This unbroken thread predates the establishment of the ANC 92 years ago. It was characterised by the wars of resistance, led by amakhosi in many parts of our motherland to protect our land and our nationhood. Starting with the battle in 1659 when Chief Autshumao, to whom white historians over the years have attached the pejoritive name Harry the Hottentot, led his Khoi- Khoi army against Jan van Riebeeck, who had forcefully seized the tribe’s best grazing lands.

The hope that the resilience of our people had been completely destroyed with the defeat of Nkosi Bhambatha was shattered when the ANC was formed to take forward the struggle of our people, finally to arrive at the point where Madiba addressed this Assembly, as the first South African President to be elected through a truly democratic process.

We understood you, Comrade President, to be asking us to strengthen that thread when you recalled Madiba’s observation that -

… the purpose that will drive this Government shall be the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment, the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom.

What Madiba said then, and your reiteration of the fact, Comrade President, reminded the great majority of our people that the struggle continues: Aluta Continua.

No one can gainsay that the movement forward is littered with many challenges. You indicated some of these in your speech last Friday. You made it clear at the imbizos in KwaZulu-Natal recently that the outstanding challenges will require more time and more resources to overcome. Anyone saying anything to the contrary would be stretching the truth. The timelines for this will not be short.

I was part of the President’s delegation to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month. I could not but marvel at the sight that greeted us every time our convoy travelled from one point to the next. Thousands of that country’s people lined the streets in appreciation of our presence in their country. They waved and ululated as the convoy drove past, many raising their clenched fists to recognise the significance of the visit. They saw it as a clear sign of solidarity with them in their effort to build a new nation, a new country and new opportunities. They carried placards and banners that proclaimed their hopes and their dreams of a better future for themselves and the generations to come. One of the banners screamed:

President Thabo Mbeki is bringing us peace and development.

These words carried both hope and a strong sense of confidence that South Africa would be able to help create the conditions that must lead to peace and stability. That an ANC Government would indeed be ready to help is a mandate that springs directly from the Freedom Charter. There are millions of people at home and abroad, Comrade President, who have internalised our political programme. They have unshaken faith in its great sense of purpose and ideological morality. The Congolese in the DRC and other nations on the African continent expect the ANC and its Government to follow to the letter the stipulations in the Freedom Charter that “there shall be peace and friendship”.

They have fully appreciated our exposition of the clause that:

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation, not war. The right of all the peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognised and shall be the basis of close co-operation. We are bound by those injunctions of our political programme. That is why we respond positively when the governments of the continent and elsewhere in the world call upon us to assist to consolidate their effort to build peace and development in their countries. That is why we are helping the Burundians and the Congolese; and that is why we are helping the Mozambicans to find and destroy the weapons that killed so many of their own in the civil war in their country; and that is why we are helping Zimbabwe. All these nations, and the great majority of our people know that our vision of peace and stability is the only vehicle that will give them thoroughgoing freedom and democracy, equal opportunity and prosperity.

Allow me at this point to pay homage to our people who listened to the President’s appeal to our nation to celebrate last year’s festive season peacefully. The people’s co-operation resulted in the lowest incidence of crime in a very, very long while; and there were fewer deaths on our roads. The South Africans who listened to your call, Comrade President, are the millions of people who want to be part of the people’s contract to create work and fight poverty. They live in Hillbrow in Gauteng, in KwaMashu in KwaZulu-Natal, in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape and in other areas of our country where crime levels in the past were extremely high.

There are many South Africans who come from the various people’s structures that make up our country’s springboard of human advancement, who are participating in the programme to create an atmosphere of safety and security for all our people and the visitors who come as investors and tourists.

On New Year’s Eve last year my colleague, MEC for safety and liaison in Gauteng, Mrs Nomvula Mokonyane and I joined the police on their rounds in some parts of Johannesburg. We were joined by a high-powered delegation from the SA Council of Churches led by that organisation’s General Secretary, Dr Molefe Tsele. We went to the crime hotspots of Hillbrow, Berea and Alexandra, helping to spread your message, Comrade President, of a peaceful festive season.

Prior to this, we had a number of meetings with the SACC where we discussed and agreed on a programme of co-operation in the fight against crime. The agreement of a partnership against crime was meant to formalise a relationship that has existed for a long time between the law enforcement agencies of the democratic government and the clergy and the members of the various parishes across the country. This relationship was a logical development; given the role of religious leaders and their followers in the struggle for a free, democratic, nonracist and nonsexist South Africa.

The march on 24 February 1988 by South Africa’s religious leaders to South Africa’s whites-only parliament, was groundbreaking. The marchers were responding to the dictates of their lodestar, the Kairos Document. The document itself was historic. It was presented by Dr Beyers Naude, General Secretary at the time of the SA Council of Churches, to the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Centre leaders in Geneva on 25 September 1985. The Kairos Document firmly placed religious leaders in the trenches of the liberation movement.

In February last year the clergy initiated a march against crime in Khayelitsha that attracted more than 25 000 participants. All of this was part of the unbroken thread of our struggle you enunciated in your state of the nation address, Comrade President. The religious leaders, who were founder members of the ANC, some of whom went on to lead the movement, set the standard for those who directly challenged apartheid; as did Bishops Trevor Huddleston, Manas Buthelizi, David Russell, Buti Thlagale, Archbishops Desmond Tutu, Dennis Hurley, Njongonkulu Ndungane, Revs Beyers Naude, Frank Chikane, Allan Boesak, and Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, just to mention a few.

The role of progressive religious leaders in the fight against crime is further clarified in the SACC statement released on 15 December last year which said, among other things:

We must all see the fight against crime as an extension of our ongoing struggle for national liberation, social transformation and moral regeneration.

There are many other South Africans like the religious leaders who want to work with the democratic Government as part of the people’s contract to create work and fight poverty. They include leaders in the business sector and in various organs of civil society, from trade unions to the associations of commercial farmers and cultural workers.

The South Africans who continue to speak ill of our country and policies abroad have been reduced to a small coterie of whingers who are mainly whistling as they pass the graveyard, as the saying goes. Some of the sympathisers they still have are barely listening to them. The tourists continue to pour into our country and our economy continues to strengthen. Larger numbers of people here and abroad are supporting us and I believe we are going to enjoy overwhelming support from our people for a long time to come on the basis of the progressive policies that underpin our programme of service delivery, to ensure a better life for all our people. To quote our fallen hero, a beloved son of our people and a leader of this movement, Steve Tshwete: ``Siza kuphatha isithukuthezi sento!’’ [We are going to govern forever!]

Last Saturday when others elsewhere had the luxury to grandstand and shout many meaningless slogans, the Ministry of Community Safety in the Western Cape, under my colleague, Leonard Ramatlakane organised a function at the Castle in Cape Town to express appreciation to 3 500 volunteers who last year participated in the Safer Festive Season programme as crime fighters. Working side by side with the law enforcement agencies, they catered for our people’s safety on the trains, on the roads, on the beaches, and safety for our children wherever they were. [Applause.]

The volunteers will continue to work with the police. The SACC committed to convene in the early part of this year a summit of church leaders to identify ways in which churches can expand their pastoral role in the fight against crime and promote efforts to build peace and security at grassroots level. There is a lot of goodwill all around and readiness to work with the ANC and Government to eliminate the many stumbling blocks that still remain in our march to freedom.

Your call to South Africans across the board, Comrade President, at the 90th anniversary celebrations of the oldest political party on the African continent, the ANC, to commit time and energy in a collective way to create conditions for a better life for all our people remains valid. The volunteers in Cape Town and elsewhere are responding to you. There is a strong indication that the ANC’s call to all South Africans to participate in the people’s contract to create work and fight poverty will get a positive response.

The ANC articulated, before the 1994 democratic elections, a vision for the new police service for South Africa. That has informed the current programme for safety and security. For a new police service to be effective, it needed to be rooted firmly among the people working together as units and sections of the same army to prevent and combat crime. The ANC recognised that a police service of that kind would enjoy the confidence of the law-abiding citizens of the country, with the people as the best repository of information, placing essential intelligence at the disposal of the members of the service. As it were, there is better co-operation between the police and the people, resulting in better crime detection and prosecution these days.

During the presidential imbizos in KwaZulu-Natal and again last Friday, the President spoke about “those among us who are fond of threatening violence to promote their causes”. The people of KwaZulu-Natal who attended these imbizos gave the President strong support when he raised the matter of peaceful campaigning as a prerequisite for a free and fair election. They are tired of bloodletting and want permanent peace in KZN.

The entire law-enforcement sector and armed forces of South Africa fully identify with the call for nonviolent political activity, be it around election campaigns or ordinary political programmes. Members of these institutional structures understand the mandate they have to protect our democracy. That means, among other things, the right of all parties, big and small, from the ANC to the ID party, freely to promote their policies among all sections of the people anywhere in South Africa. This means nobody will declare any part of our country a no-go area. Consequently, the right of every citizen to campaign freely would be protected with all the resources at the disposal of the state. That this was not so going into the 1994 elections should not be construed as available space for visiting political violence on our people once again. That space is simply no longer available.

That is an injunction from our Constitution. This is the Constitution that the Leader of the Opposition would like to change to create a situation where only two parties would be participants in this Assembly. When the question was asked today, the hon Gibson came here and further explained what they meant by that. He said in depicting the political parties that are here in opposition, from the IFP right down to Azapo, they are mere outward trappings of democracy, following a tune from his leader.

I watched as the hon Delport was speaking here today. Looking at the hon Dan Maluleke, I was trying to read what was perhaps going through his mind as a member of his own party was saying here, in raising the issues of security, that security only relates to white farmers in South Africa and in Zimbabwe. And when we were talking about mineral rights again it related to those who have been owners of the mines for a long time and obviously those are white people. You heard when he was talking about the white brain drain. I was looking at the hon Maluleke because he is mobilising people in Soweto to support his DA. I wonder what they think when they hear this kind of talk.

Shenge, I really felt for you yesterday when you were, in a constrained manner, talking about the relationship between your party and the DA. It was clarified later when the DA said that the only parties in the type of democracy that they understand to be acceptable in these hallowed Chambers would be a two-party democracy. It means that as far as they are concerned, looking at the current situation, those parties should be the ANC as the ruling party and the DA as the opposition. No IFP, no New NP and none of these other parties.

You said that you were forced to go into that untenable situation by circumstances, maybe beyond your control, Shenge, but the fact of the matter is that in the final analysis this type of relationship is not going to be longstanding. It is not based on principle. It was described here today as it was described yesterday, namely that the only parties that matter in this House are the ANC and the DA and the rest are only outward trappings of democracy. As the ANC we want to recommit ourselves to the democracy that we understand, where all our people must be participants and where the representatives of all our people must have the possibility to come here and be represented. Thank you. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Chairperson, my colleague was very fast in going back to his seat. I wanted to ask a question concerning what he said about me.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: You had a minute left, Minister. If you want to take the question, I will still afford you the time. Do you want to take the question? [Interjections.] No. The Minister declines.

The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: So this great democrat is refusing my question. [Interjections.]

Miss S RAJBALLY: Deputy Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President and Ministers, our democratic Government and all South Africans, I bring greetings to all of you from the hon leader of the MF, Mr A Rajbansi. I take this opportunity to welcome all of you back in a new year and express the hope that 2004 will be approached with determination, unity and strength in undertaking the challenges, aims and dreams of our nation.

The MF welcomes the President’s state of the nation address. Mr President, in your address last Friday, you correctly followed the course mapped out by our great former President, Nelson Mandela. The emphasis on peace, unity and reconciliation that forms the landmark of this map is the strength of our nation. The country should recognise the call that there is no need for negative opposition. Let us all join hands and, together, we will build a great nation.

India has an excellent growth rate and is fast becoming an economic powerhouse. This is a result of the great Prime Minister, Pundit Nehru’s efforts, since it was he who unfolded five-year plans and toured the world. Hon President, you have unfolded a second 10-year plan and, like the hon Nehru, are building good relations globally. Through your actions, you have secured great investment for our beloved country. Generations to come will look back at this period with pride.

To date, we have had a number of comments and criticism on the President’s state of the nation address. The loved and legendary Mahatma Ghandi once said: “Do not judge India by bright lights. Look at the villages that suffer.”

Hon President, it is pleasing to note that, in your address, many of our achievements were highlighted, and that our shortfalls and the realities of the less fortunate in our country were acknowledged too. Those on my left only worry about the haves, but the stock-taking shows that homes have been built; education has been uplifted; and there is water, sanitation, electricity, clinics and hospitals in place that had never been there before. These are but a few achievements that the MF is proud that we have achieved in this decade of democracy.

At this juncture, I take the opportunity to pass on a message. I have a message for the hon Tony Leon. In the 2000 local election your party, the DA, adopted a dirty tactic against the MF. You came to Chatsworth like a fox terrier. Mr Rajbansi has called you ``the balloon boy’’ as you seem to come once every five years with your balloons. Unfortunately, the hon Tony Leon is not here, but I’m sure he will get the message.

Mr Rajbansi, the Bengal tiger, once again challenges you to a debate. The MF will worry the SABC to allow the debate. Our hon leader proposes that you make use of your notes and advisors, as he will challenge you without the above and swallow you for breakfast. [Laughter.] Mr Rajbansi senses your fear, hon Tony Leon. You may retort with Visvin Reddy. For the past two years, the DA has attacked the MF for the doings of Mr Reddy. The DA wanted him removed from the council for alleged corruption.

When our leader wanted to remove Mr Reddy from the council’s executive, the DA offered him carrots. The DA has taken Reddy, the same person they wanted removed for corruption. While the MF is lean and clean, a journalist recently reported that the DA is lean and white.

The MF shares the concerns of many regarding poverty, crime and the social wellbeing of the nation. The extreme effects of HIV/Aids on all sectors of our community and its continuous threat need serious attention and, hon President, I think a number of persons, including the MF, were hoping for your greater emphasis and attention on that matter.

Job creation is another matter that we are hoping, hon President, you will emphasise more. It is through job creation that we can tackle our sad reality of poverty. The DA says more cops, less crime. The MF, on the other hand, says more jobs, less crime. If we can relieve our nation of the burden of poverty through job creation, we would certainly be taking many criminals off the streets, replacing their desperation with hopes for a brighter tomorrow.

Regarding the rights of association, we have here our double-standards DA that shares an alliance with the right-wing parties as well as the IFP, and they call it nation-building. When others have a working relationship, the DA stoops to its lowest level and criticises these parties. The DA attacks working with the ANC, yet they have an alliance with the IFP that is in a coalition with the ANC.

The MF is proud of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights that has awarded every South African equality and democracy. Our belief is that the rights to equality, freedom and democracy and the assurance to uphold these rights is a duty of all. Moreover, we see human rights as not only South African rights, but as global rights of all people.

In view of this and our foreign policy, the MF feels that all human rights violations - and that includes in neigbouring countries - need serious attention. On matters of this nature, we need to take a serious moral stand.

Hon President, in your speech, you took us back to our horrific past, a past that we never want to return to, a past that we swear we shall never allow to repeat itself. Hon President, in your address, you wisely noted … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon members, before I call upon the hon I Vadi, the Chair proposes that we have a seven-minute adjournment at the end of Mr Vadi’s speech. Five minutes into the adjournment, the bells will be rung for two minutes to afford members sufficient time to be back in their seats again, refreshed, to resume the business of the House.

Mr I VADI: Deputy Chairperson, whenever the hon Tony Leon speaks, it appears as if he despises South Africa, he dislikes its people; and he undermines public confidence in our country. At home and abroad, he consistently projects negative images of our country, its leaders and its people. Its about crime and alleged corruption, the danger of a one-party dictatorship and a power-hungry President. Its a picture of doom and gloom.

The hon Leon’s politics is potently destructive, it is patently divisive, and it is designed to leave South Africans demobilised and disunited. That is why he will go down in history, not as a nation-builder, but as one who has polarised our society.

In Shakespearean theatre, the royal comedian often proclaimed the truth to his Majesty through humour. Perhaps in our democracy, Karen Bliksem of The Sunday Independent can be likened to a modern day court jester. She captured a truth this weekend, when she called the hon Leon “the DA Fuhrer”. She said: “C’mon Tony, things aren’t that serious. It seems unlikely that you will ever take responsibility for anything large, like say, the government, in my lifetime or yours.” The hon Leon will not become the President of South Africa after the 2004 elections. Maybe destiny has it in store for him in 4002.

In contrast to the Leon’s political cacophony, listen to the voices of ordinary South Africans who go about in their daily lives building our nation. Some of these voices are poignantly captured in Antjie Krog’s latest book, A Change of Tongue. In her opening chapter, she describes the victory of a black athlete in a predominantly white school at an inter- schools athletics meeting in the following way:

The pavilion crowd is on its feet. The black parents are yelling wildly and pressing against the railing…The white parents are cheering, one tossing a hat into the air. “Why is everybody happy?” she asks some men next to her, and listens to his reply. “The blacks are happy because it is a black kid beating the whites. The whites are happy because the winning kid is from a white school and was trained by them.”

That is precisely the point. All South Africans, that is Africans, coloureds, Indians and whites can play a meaningful role in building our nonracial democracy. We may do so from different perspectives, with different purposes in mind. We can contribute to nation-building by forging partnerships with the democratic Government.

A good example of this is the work of the Lenasia-based Crescent of Hope, which has teamed up with the Mpumalanga government to provide borehole water to villages in remote areas in the province. We can build South Africa by working within organs of civil society, such as the Gandhi Walk Committee, which raises funds annually and then distributes these to over 10 development organisations in and around Lenasia. And we can do so by individual acts of kindness.

Mr President, I wish to cite the example of Mrs Zohra Gaibee from Mayfair in Johannesburg, who makes and sells Indian pickles and uses every cent that she makes in profit to educate two boys from the Transkei and four orphans in Bosnia. [Applause.] These are golden examples of ordinary South Africans doing something to help build this nation.

However, a conflict-ridden society such as ours can only be healed through forgiveness, humility and sensitivity. It cannot be built on the political arrogance as exemplified by the DA. Many South Africans across the racial spectrum have drunk the milk of human kindness. They have forgiven their former tormentors and oppressors. Whatever the imperfections of the TRC, it became the historical instrument that allowed thousands of South Africans to render forgiveness, to bury the past, and move forward. That process is beautifully captured in a poem by an 18 year old girl, Emma Hendrie:

Memories bubble to the surface And erupt with pain Generating heated words Which burn to be said and burn to be heard. Microphones turn shameful whispers into booming confessions And private sobs of grief into the mourning of a nation Shame and sorrow, but ultimately Tears are the common product. The forgiver and the forgiven are welded together By the cathartic reaction of conflicting memories And finally, through the searing handshake, Two opposing truths are forged into a single understanding.

This is how a nation is born, moulded and built!

Deputy Speaker, the hon Leon has another bad habit which he displays in public every now and then. He has tried to drive a wedge between the politics of former President Mandela and President Mbeki, casting the one as a good guy and the other as a bad one. He has attacked President Mbeki for allegedly turning his back on the path of national reconciliation and for re-opening racial wounds. He accuses the President of espousing a narrow-minded Africanism, as opposed to the broad South Africanism of Mandela. Nothing is further from the truth. [Interjections.]

President Mbeki has consistently sought to interact and converse with all communities in South Africa. Last year he addressed a major gathering of the South African Jewish community. President Mbeki has visited my own hometown on three separate occasions, the most memorable being the annual Diwali celebrations organised by the Hindu Co-ordinating Council. He has held ongoing dialogues with religious leaders through the National Religious Forum.

He has walked the dusty roads of dorpies in the Cape platteland and listened to Coloured women speaking their minds. He has spoken to young Afrikaners. He has interacted with the representatives of the business community - black and white - and with militant trade unionists. So the reality is that he has reached out to leaders and representatives of all racial, class, religious and cultural communities in South Africa. His door is open to all, except that there may be some who don’t want to knock on his door.

But his door remains decidedly shut to those who have used terrorism to advance their cause. Terrorists have threatened our national security and undermined our nation and our democratic order. The wave of urban terror in the Western Cape in the mid 1990s, and the more recent bombings by the white right wing represent the systematic use of coercive intimidation to secure narrow political ends and to destabilise democratic rule.

It is the work of desperate groups who are afraid of democracy and freedom. In the case of the Western Cape, terror attacks against gangsters and drug dealers soon degenerated into violent attacks on Muslim religious leaders and academics, Government officials and symbols of state. In the most recent terror attacks they have targeted a mosque, a Buddist temple and civilian transport infrastructure. The aim was to instil a panic in society, spark off religious and racial conflict and extract ill-gained concessions from our Government.

It is to the credit of our democracy that all political parties in this House have unreservedly condemned these acts of terror. Democracies throughout the world are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, but a young and fragile democracy such as ours is even more vulnerable. It is highly commendable that our democratic state has acted swiftly to smash terror groups in South Africa, and it is more commendable that it has done so without unduly restricting or curtailing civil liberties and individual freedoms. This inspires confidence in our nation and in our democratic institutions.

We live in an era where race, ethnicity, religion, culture and imperialism have torn asunder many nations in the world, particularly in the Third World. Ethno-nationalists and ethno-religious conflicts have resulted in brutal massacres, genocide and failed states. One can cite numerous examples; Yugoslavia, Burundi and Somalia are but a few. South Africa pulled itself from the edge of the precipice on the eve of the first democratic elections in 1994.

While many political leaders can claim some responsibility for the peaceful transition to democracy, the lion’s share undoubtedly must go to the leadership of the ANC. [Applause.] The origins of this success lie in the Freedom Charter - adopted in June 1955 - which declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. We are one nation. We are politically united in spite of our diverse cultures, languages, religions, and racial and ethnic identities. We are proudly South African!

After 10 years we have a functioning and cohesive nation-state, a Government that enjoys popular legitimacy and an administration that is displaying greater capacity to distribute public services efficiently and equitably. This is the miracle of our country - the centre is holding. The greater miracle is that the prophets of doom or the traditional doomsayers have been proved wrong. Some, like Rian Malan, are bold and big enough to acknowledge it - albeit belatedly. I suppose, others on that side never will.

The hour has come for the hon Leon to stop punting doomsday messages. Don’t put your country down! Leon must listen carefully to the humble advice of a quiet and unassuming South African poet, Shabir Banoobhai, when he says:

Our understanding of truth is coloured by who we are. This very statement reveals the particular understanding of a particular person with particular limitations … This does not mean that nothing is true. It simply means that we may understand something as true, when it is not. This is our right. But your right to be wrong does not give you the right to mislead others.

Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Business suspended at 16:07 and resumed at 16:24.

Mr C AUCAMP: Hon President, the Chairperson in his wisdom decided to give you a break before facing me - you need it. [Laughter.]

Agb Speaker, agb President Mbeki, wyle prof Gawie Cilliers het per geleentheid tydens ‘n geselligheid waar hy matrieks in Tzaneen toegespreek het, hulle dié lewenswysheid geleer van “eet jou rape eerste”. Hy het vertel hoe hulle tydens die arm kinderjare in die depressie rape moes eet wat in die tuin gekweek is, en hulle het rape gehaat. Dan eet hulle maar eers al die ander kos op die bord, maar die rape lê daar vir jou en loer. En hy word al hoe groter en groter, en uiteindelik moet jy hom maar inwurg, en dit bederf die hele maaltyd. Toe het hy geleer: eet jou rape eerste en geniet dan die res van jou maaltyd.

Agb President, u kan gerus hierdie les leer as dit kom by Suid-Afrika en sy vraagstukke. U het in u toespraak Vrydag dié kos geëet waarmee u gemaklik is - die makro-ekonomie, die mikro-ekonomie en swart bemagtiging - maar u het die rape gelos - Zimbabwe, Vigs en misdaad. En daardie rape lê en loer, meneer, en hulle is besig om die maaltyd van u presidentskap te bederf. Hulle gaan nie verdwyn nie. Hulle word net groter en groter, en u sal dit moét aanspreek. Julle sal dit na die verkiesing moét aanspreek. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Hon Speaker, hon President Mbeki, the late Prof Gawie Cilliers had occasion at a function where he addressed matrics in Tzaneen, to teach them the worldly wisdom ``eat your turnips first’’. He told how, during his poor childhood years in the depression, they had to eat turnips grown in the garden, and they hated turnips. Then they would first eat all the other food on the plate, but the turnips would be lying there looking at them. And that pile of turnips would grow bigger and bigger, and eventually you would have to force it down, and it would spoil the whole meal. Then he learnt: eat your turnips first and then enjoy the rest of your meal.

Hon President, you would do well to learn this lesson when it comes to South Africa and its issues. In your speech on Friday you ate the food with which you are comfortable - the macro-economy, the micro-economy and black empowerment - but you left the turnips - Zimbabwe, Aids and crime. And those turnips are lying there looking at you, sir, and they are spoiling the meal of your presidency. They are not going to disappear. They are just getting bigger and bigger, and you will have to address this. You will have to address this after the election.]

It is with delight, Mr President, that we have to recognise that your theory of two nations has made way for the more realistic and reconciliatory theory of two economies. I must agree with the hon Carol Johnson that your speech echoes the sentiments of one nation. Of course, the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the same, but I feel it is much safer today to quote Carol Johnson. But still, there is a problem with your concept of one nation. Let me explain. [Interjections.] Jong, jy lawaai nou net. [All you are doing is making a noise now!]

When my wife and I got married, the dominee said: You will become one.’’ After 33 years I realised which one. And this is the question behind your concept of one nation. Which one? You focused on the absence of vengeance and retaliation amongst black people. You mentioned that they were standing in the election queues and never uttered a word of anger nor jostled the white person next to them. Yes, sir, that is true. But it is only one side of the coin and not the only truth. It takes two to tango. In the same queues there were white people who willingly let go of the power they had for many years without the war being lost. People who did not choose the Savimbi option, but still give their everything for this country. People who are not throwing their toys out of the cot, just because the ANC is ruling the country; in the agricultural sector, the financial sector, big business, small business, political parties, you name it, accepting this beloved country as their own, even under different circumstances. Loyal, positive citizens, taking up the situation of being a minority without power as a challenge to still be themselves. And that, Mr President, is exactly the approach of the NA. And now you can relax, I am now actually addressing the electorate. [Laughter.]

Our slogan is: Your future is here! A new party with hope and with a message that we believe will eventually be the trademark of a successful South Africa; a party which indeed left behind the values of the past; a party which did not only make cosmetic changes by putting an extra ``n’’ before its name or a plus behind an old name; a new fresh start, exactly what South Africa needs.

Meneer, die Nasionale Aksie het ‘n visie vir Suid-Afrika - ‘n visie wat werklik reg wil laat geskied aan die beginsel van eenheid in verskeidenheid, “unity in diversity”. Eenheid. Die NA sê duidelik Suid- Afrika eerste. Ons erken Suid-Afrika as ons enigste vaderland en is daartoe verbind om saam met ander Suid-Afrikaners ‘n beslissende rol te speel om ‘n beter Suid-Afrika vir almal daar te stel. Maar meneer, ons gee gelyke klem aan die erkenning van die verskeidenheid van Suid-Afrika. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Sir, the National Action has a vision for South Africa - a vision that will really do justice to the principle of unity in diversity. Unity. The NA clearly says South Africa first. We recognise South Africa as our only fatherland and are committed, together with other South Africans, to play a decisive role to establish a better South Africa for all. But, Sir, we place equal emphasis on the recognition of the diversity of South Africa.] The ANC is also preaching diversity. But the ANC’s model for diversity is that every institution and every organisation should reflect the demographics of the country. The result is that every institution looks the same, and that’s not diversity. Every school becomes a parallel medium school and that’s not diversity.

Meneer, die NA erken en respekteer die identiteit en kultuur van elke gemeenskap as voorwaarde vir goeie verhoudings in Suid-Afrika. Die NA ag kulturele sekuriteit as ‘n absolute voorwaarde vir volhoubare ontwikkeling, vrede, harmonie en vooruitgang. ‘n Geborge mens is ‘n positiewe mens, en Suid-Afrika het positiewe mense nodig. En hierdie geborgenheid, hierdie kulturele sekuriteit, word vandag op vele terreine aangetas. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

Sir, the NA recognises and respects the identity and culture of every community as a condition for good relations in South Africa. The NA regards cultural security as an absolute condition for sustainable development, peace, harmony and progress. A secure person is a positive person, and South Africa needs positive people. And this security, this cultural security, is today being assailed in many spheres.]

Top-down mergers of tertiary institutions; irresponsible changes of geographical names; governmental pressure for parallel medium schools resulting in a decline of Afrikaans medium schools from over 2 000 to a mere 300; everlasting affirmative action - even if it is young people who started school after apartheid had been abolished; and compulsory multifaith religious education enforced upon children as young as five and six years old - a matter taken to the Section 185 Commission by the NA. [Interjections.] We will meet you there, Minister; don’t smile too soon.

On the other hand we know that if we want others to be serious about our priorities with regard to these matters so dear to us, addressing the most basic need of poverty and the daily need of existence is just as indispensable. As long as millions of people suffer through a lack of basic needs, the issues so dear to us will not be high on the agenda.

We believe, Mr President, that the necessity for development in South Africa and the nourishing of the communities, does not demand an everlasting clash of interests. With the right approach and mutual respect, and with loyalty towards this dear fatherland, the one would rather be the key to the other.

The NA is devoting itself to set our country along these lines. We base our approach on the words of the prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites in exile in Babylon: “Pray for the city, seek the peace of the city for the peace thereof shall ye have peace … ‘’ The NA is a party devoted to change the fate of South Africa according to these principles, and is not a mere calculated political business for Afrikaners.

Ons opposisierol word nie bepaal deur ons nabyheid of ons afstand van die regerende party nie, maar selfstandig deur ons visie vir Suid-Afrika. Meneer, ons word deur die … [Our role in opposition is not determined by our proximity to or our distance from the ruling party, but independently by our vision for South Africa. Sir, we are being …]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order!

Mr C AUCAMP: … apaties by die huis bly en onttrek … [… stay apathetically at home and withdraw …]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order, hon member! Although we share the same bench, I am afraid that’s as much as I can allow you to address the House.

Mnr C AUCAMP: Ons wil op die hoofveld speel … [We want to play on the main field …]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Order, hon member! Order! Thank you. Hon Minister of Sport.

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Chairperson, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, hon members of the House, I made a vow to myself that I would not listen to the howling from this side. I will just keep on going on with what I have to do.

I wish I had more time at my disposal for reflecting on the contributions of sport to the development of our democracy during the 10 years of freedom that we have traversed in our country. I think it may even be necessary to recall developments from 1994, from that critical Canon Collins Memorial Lecture delivered in May 1987 by the then ANC President, Oliver Tambo, in which he announced the new strategy for the movement, deviating from that of boycotting and isolating the apartheid regime, towards giving recognition to and transforming those vital institutions of the future democratic South Africa.

Sport was one of the identified institutions. It set the tone for the various engagements between the sports movements of the country and the future government still in exile at that time. The role that our President played was seminal in that regard. The initial meetings, some of which were held with you in Lusaka, Mr President, set us on an irreversible path that would lead to unity and, eventually, a dispensation that would guarantee access to and support for sport for all the country’s citizens.

As a movement, the ANC knew that it held the key to South Africa’s future in sport. Leaders of the apartheid sports structures in the country realised that too, for apart from a few rebel tours to and from South Africa, their sportspeople were thoroughly isolated. They realised that only the ANC had the key that could open doors nationally, continentally and internationally. Meetings followed in Dakar and Harare, amongst others. The hon President was even instrumental in bringing rugby to the table in meetings in Frankfurt, Dakar and London.

The establishment of the National Sports Congress in 1988 laid the foundation for the mass-based, democratic sports movement in South Africa. For sixteen years prior to that, SANROC and later SACOS, represented the voice of disadvantaged sportspeople in our country. The ANC played a crucial role in securing South Africa’s participation in the Barcelona Olympic Games even before the first democratic elections. It was an indication of the magnanimity of our people, whose only wish was to see our nation united through sport. We continued to see sport, as the hon President did during those days in Lusaka, as an agent or catalyst for change in the country.

I thought it was necessary to remind the House of the cardinal and critical role played by the ANC, for it laid the foundation for a dispensation in sport in our country that contributed to the remarkable developments that we have witnessed over the past ten years. In this respect, I would like to pay homage to my predecessor, the late Comrade Steve Tshwete, whose role in securing unity will be engraved in the annals of sports history of this country. [Applause.] He was instrumental in so many things. But who will forget his role in organising that inaugural cricket tour to India and in sorting out disputes during the unity process. He deserved his nickname, Mr Fixit. I dedicate this speech to him and others like him, foot soldiers who gave unselfishly, to ensure that ordinary South Africans should enjoy a fair dispensation in sport and, indeed, in everyday life.

People like Kedi Tshoma, Khaya Majola, Jomo King, Ben Tengimfene, Rosina Mogola, Jimmy Summers, Bill Jardine and others spring to mind immediately. Through their intervention, and that of the ANC, we were able to secure and successfully host the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. We could so easily have ignored that event in the light of terrible and serious incidents perpetrated against our people, but remained true to our word and sacrificed the losses that we suffered and forgave in favour of the longer term benefits that we knew the pursuit of our mission held in store for our country and all its people.

We recognised that sport was a platform for nation building, for inculcating pride and nationalism, and for promoting social cohesion. Ons toewyding was ‘n teken van ons grootmoedigheid, onselfsugtigheid en bereidwilligheid om die toekoms van al ons land se burgers eerste te stel. Sport sou bydra tot ‘n rooskleurige toekoms, het ons geglo en ons glo nog steeds so. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Our dedication was a sign of our magnanimity, unselfishness and willingness to put the future of all the citizens of our country first. We believed and still believe that sport would contribute to a brighter future.]

Apart from winning the Rugby World Cup, we successfully hosted the 1996 African Cup of Nations tournament and in the process were crowned the champions of Africa. We hosted the 1997 world championships in athletics and the 1999 All Africa Games, from which we also emerged as overall winners. More recently we hosted the Cricket World Cup and the President’s Cup in golf and firmly proved to the world, our capabilities as presenters of major, international sports events. We have participated in three major, international sports events. We have participated in three consecutive Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Our flag has flown proudly in many stadiums across the globe and in other sport events worldwide. The fact that we made it to the finals of two consecutive Soccer World Cups, speaks volumes for the character of our players. Our individual athletes have been proud bearers of our magnificent standard, making it one of the most recognisable national flags in the world. I would like to reiterate that all these opportunities were made possible through the intervention of the ANC-led Government.

We achieved a lot over the past decade. We have spent much of the first ten years of our democracy in sport, laying the basis for an equitable dispensation in which the major focus was ensuring access to the institution of sport by all South African citizens. We started by giving some order to it by drafting a White Paper on Sports and Recreation - the roadmap that we believed would put us on course for a flourishing sports dispensation. We inherited a situation in which sport was run on an ad hoc basis.

In the state of the nation address, the President indicated that we now have policies in place that will allow us to deliver on our various mandates. I believe that the same is true for sport and recreation in which the White Paper, our policy document, is as relevant today as it was when it was first launched six years ago. It is a good document. We followed that up with legislation that started to give substance to our policy directions. I must still steer one piece of legislation through Parliament that will give the Minister of Sport and Recreation the right to intervene in disputes and problems in sport, without crossing the line in terms of the protocols of international federations.

We also tried to create the physical environment in which sportspeople from all walks of life participate. We determined in 1995, for example, that just to eradicate the backlog of facilities in disadvantaged areas would require an investment of some R5 billion by 2005.

Dit gee ‘n eenvoudige aanduiding van hoe apartheid ons land skade berokken het. Ek wonder soms hoe ver gevorderd ons sou wees, ook op sportterrein, sonder daardie afskuwelike stelsel. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

This gives us a simple indication of the damage caused to the country by apartheid. I sometimes wonder how far we would have progressed, also in the field of sport, without that horrible system.]

Amongst numerous and disparate needs in our country, we have still been able to invest some R500 million by the end of the 2003-04 financial year and a further R140 million in 2004-05 to counteract the problem.

I would be the first to admit that we still have a considerable way to go. We cannot expect our children to develop golf skills on the pavements of our townships or learn to swim in dams and forests. We have to provide them with the requisite facilities, equipment, teachers and coaches. In the past three years alone, we have built and upgraded more than 250 basic, multi- purpose sports facilities. We have established community councils around each of them, that have been empowered to manage and sustain them and we have trained our people to establish and run sports clubs. I personally handed over many of these facilities to community leaders and have observed the pride on the faces of the residents - the rural people, in many instances, who at last, have been afforded the dignity of playing sport and exhibiting their talents on decent surfaces with appropriate equipment.

Xa sisakha la mabala, senza igalelo kwiphulo lokulwa nendlala. Sisusa ikati eziko ngokuthi sidale amathuba emisebenzi exesha elide nelifutshane. Kule minyaka mithathu idlulileyo sidale imisebenzi engama-10 000, kuba xa kusakhiwa naxa kudlalwa, bayakwazi oomama basezilalini ukuba baze kuthengisa oko banakho, ukuzama ukususa ikati eziko. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.) [By building these sport facilities, we are contributing to poverty alleviation. We are fighting hunger by creating short and long-term employment. In the last three years, we have created about 10 000 jobs. When builders are working, and when there are sporting events, local women get the chance to sell their goods, so as to earn money to buy food.]

By the same token, we supported and assisted the Cricket World Cup organising committee to run a successful tournament. We trained sport administrators, managers, coaches and officials with our partners in the sports commission. I believe that we have performed well within the confines of the competing priorities. Lots of things still need to be done. We have a national academy that Cabinet has given us the right to run. Within the next financial year, the national academy will be up and running.

We have also created opportunities through which to identify talented athletes. We will be launching a mass participation programme. Again, in all of these, I must thank the hon President for his continued interest in the development of sport and recreation, for batting for us in our quest to secure more resources to promote our activities. I recall vividly, Mr President, at the Presidential Sports Awards function at Tuynhuys, where, upon returning from a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Australia, you insisted that we should invest more substantially in sport in our country. I am convinced that those comments prompted MINCOMBUD and the National Treasury, who I thank, to consider our requests for more resources favourably, to ensure that our mass participation and our national sports academy, amongst others, can be realised.

There are many challenges that we must tackle and overcome. We must build more facilities. I want us to address one thing quickly. You spoke about the weaknesses in the management and the efficient running of sports. Mr President, I can assure you that we will make sure that there are adequate programmes to look at those issues - to consolidate the unity process, to transform sports structures and to eliminate those weaknesses that you have identified. You have given an order, and it will be carried through. [Interjections.]

We are working very hard for the World Cup Bid for 2010. We can’t be judged only by the participation of the team in the Cup of Nations. We will be judged by what we put in front of the technical committee of FIFA. We are working very hard as Government to make sure that we do that. We will not fail FIFA when they announce on 15 May that the host country will be Afrique de Sud. [Interjections.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs R A NDZANGA: Chairperson, Mr President, Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon members, the struggle for the ideal of the liberation of women was born in the lap of the liberation movement.

This was endorsed by the 1954 women’s charter, which called for the enfranchisement of men and women of all races. It was about the equality of employment opportunities; equal pay for equal work; equal rights in relation to property, marriage and children; and the removal of all laws and customs that denied women such equality.

Whether one likes it or not, change has occurred in the past five to 10 years. As women, more especially women from the rural areas, our lives have now been changed for the better by what our ANC-led Government has done during the 10 years of democracy.

Water is now within walking distance from our homes. We have electricity in our homes and telephones in the rural areas. Beyond any doubt, the apartheid government was not committed to making the lives of women better. But now, as women, we know that our lives have improved. Even domestic workers can now be registered as workers and a minimum wage has been legislated for them. [Applause.]

It is African women, more especially rural women, who suffered more than any other group of people and have borne the brunt of oppression in this country. We have all met this with patience and courage. Above all, we have remained human. It is because of our patience and courage that the late Comrade Oliver Tambo had this to say at a rally where the ANC Women’s League was relaunched in Durban, in August 1990, and I quote:

I am asking you to take action to help ensure that the future of our country matches the aspirations for which our people, and particularly our women, have struggled for so long.

When I speak about the women’s struggle, it brings me back to 1957 when the women of Zeerust in the North West province, struggled against pass laws. They struggled and fought because they did not want to carry pass books. The women in Sekhukhune also fought for their husbands’ cattle when the commissioner ruled that African people could not have more than five cattle. It was the women who fought that battle, and they did so successfully.

This was the reason why Comrade Oliver Tambo said that. The commissioner who came to tell the people about the cattle culling had to run away, leaving his assistant, who was a black man, behind.

Basadi ba ne ba ntshetsa botlhoko jwa pelo mo go bona, gonne ba ne ba sa batle gore dikgomo tsa bona di kgaolwe. Ba ne ba itse gore bana ba bona ba tlaa tlhoka ma[s]i. [The women took out their anger on them, because they did not want their cattle to be culled. They knew that their children would need milk.]

In my life I have seen a lot of hardship. I remember that on 12 May 1969 I was detained. A lot of other people - members of the ANC - were also detained. The ANC was still banned and it was said that we were furthering the aims of a banned organisation. We were taken to Pretoria.

Many people died at that time. A man called Caleb Mayekiso, who came from New Brighton, was one of the people who died there. Again, in 1976 we were detained during the school uprisings. Each time my husband and I were detained, we were forced to leave our children behind, who were then still very young. The first born was nine years old, and she is the one who had to cook for her brothers.

When we were detained in November during the uprisings, my husband died in detention. To rub salt into the wound, I was not even allowed to go home for his burial. They refused me permission, and he was buried by my children and relatives. I was only released after the funeral. That is why Comrade Tambo said what he said at the rally I spoke about.

It is because of that repression that we as women steadfastly worked towards the realisation of a nonracial, democratic South Africa, which celebrates 10 years of freedom this year. Women with potential are no longer just housewives, but have opportunities opened for their advancement in all sectors of life, eg in Government and the industries.

These changes to democratise our country were achieved because we as women acted and organised ourselves to bring about a change in attitude among those men and women who perpetuated that situation.

This reminds me of the time when I was a little girl. My granny used to tell us stories. She once told us that when the moon is full, dogs bark until it goes down. They bark because they think they can get to the moon, to tear it up and eat it. But when the moon goes down, they stop barking.

I want to address myself to the President of our country: never mind how much the dogs bark, just be like the moon! [Applause.] Do not worry, because they will never get to you even if they try. [Applause.]

It is, therefore, not surprising that, despite all the hardships he was subjected to, Chief Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I think one day our President will also get that prize. [Applause.] In accepting his prize, he said:

I am recognised, however, that in my country, South Africa, the spirit of peace is subject to some of the severest tensions known to man. For that reason South Africa has been and continues to be in the focus of world attention.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Thank you, hon member, your speaking time has expired. [Applause.]

Mrs R A NDZANGA: A pula e ne. Pula! [Thank you. Thank you!]

HON MEMBERS: A e ne! [Thank you!]

Mr W P DOMAN: Deputy Chairperson, hon President and members, I want to say to the member who spoke before me that a dog can also warn you of trouble. We have a delivery problem, a delivery crisis, in our country. [Interjections.] One example: Last month, after the schools opened, the Limpopo education department instructed schools to retrieve all Grade 10 reports and adjust the marks upwards according to a sliding scale. Thirty- six percent must now become 50% and so on. [Interjections.] Why this exercise? Because the education department was not ready with the Grade 10 to 12 curriculum and learners were forced to adapt to the old curriculum, and failed in droves.

It put the schools two weeks back to rectify the situation and thousands of learners will in the next and very important final phase of their school career suffer because of this lack of delivery. [Interjections.]

Prof Lawrence Schlemmer writes:

It has become conventional wisdom that although Government policies are frequently very sound and sophisticated, their implementation is equally frequently disappointing or deficient.

Prof Louwrens Pretorius says that it is accepted by experienced analysts that the gap between policy and delivery is not only a delivery problem, but also that any policy is defective if it fails to assume and predict in advance that there will be serious problems of implementation capacity.

Pretorius further emphasises that in South Africa today we are particularly prone to evaluate the policy products of Government in terms of rather virtuous checklists of criteria such as equity, empowerment, participation, etc.

No wonder Prof Jonathan Jansen has observed that our policy-makers regard their public policies as products to be admired on their intrinsic ideological merits, with cavalier disregard for what the actual consequences may be. [Interjections.] As an educationalist he must have had education policies in mind. [Interjections.]

Minister Kader Asmal is one of the best exponents of virtuous goals who has wrapped his policies in self-congratulation and hence in political armour. [Interjections.] Their design flaws, however, impede policy implementation, and the nemesis of unintended consequences often overshadows the consequences planned in these policies. [Interjections.]

Looking back, the education reforms of this Government have led to an exodus from the profession of South Africa’s best teachers and a rapid growth in private education, which has robbed the state system of significant income flows. [Interjections.] All the Government has to show is greater access, which would have been achieved in any event, but poor quality. [Interjections.]

Ná sy aanstelling het minister Asmal op 27 Julie 1999 nege beloftes gemaak. Nou, vyf jaar later, het hy nog nie een daarvan ten volle nagekom nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] [After his appointment Minister Asmal made nine promises on 27 July 1999. Now, five years later, he has not kept one of them fully yet. [Interjections.]]

Firstly, the back of illiteracy among adults and youths has not been broken. Secondly, many schools have become, not centres of peace and stability, but of ill discipline by learners, violence, sexual abuse and continued poor performance by too many educators. Thirdly, physical degradation in schools has not ended. Vandalism of schools continues unabated.

Vierdens, uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys is deur die Minister aangekondig as die groot redder om aktiewe leer te bevorder. Nie alleen moes dit haastig geskrap word nie, maar derduisende leerders het deur hierdie eksperiment skade opgedoen vir die res van hulle loopbaan. Vyf, die gehalte van die onderwyserpoel het eerder afgeneem. So kan ek voortgaan.

Watter invloed het die NNP nou hierop? Nêrens blyk die NNP se versaking van sy opposisierol duideliker as in die onderwys nie. In 2002 het die NNP nog teen die onderwysbegroting gestem en die agb Geldenhuys het as rede aangevoer dat die Minister nie veeltalige, Afrikaanse hoëronderwysinstellings finansieel vergoed nie. Niks het hieraan verander nie, maar verlede jaar stem hulle vir die begroting. [Tussenwerpsels.]

In 2002 beveg die NNP nog wetgewing wat die magte van beheerliggame wegneem om nuwe onderwysers te kan aanstel. Verlede jaar word beheerliggame se magte ten opsigte van die ekstra vergoeding van onderwysers verder afgewater, en die NNP stem jou waarlik ten gunste van hierdie ingryping! [Tussenwerpsels.]

Uit die onderwys blyk dit die NNP is op ‘n glybaan en teen die tyd dat die verkiesing kom, sal hulle netjies in die ANC se poel plons. [Tussenwerpsels.]

Daar is darem ook goeie nuus! In die bespreking van die Aanvullende Begroting in die Portefeuljekomitee oor Finansies einde verlede jaar kondig Minister Asmal aan dat onderwysers wat pakkette geneem het, tog weer in diens geneem sal word. Toe los die Minister egter ‘n bom. Hierdie onderwysers sal egter in die swart townships en afgeleë platteland moet gaan werk. Hy sê uitdruklik die Kaapse Vlakte word hiervan uitgesluit! (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Fourthly, outcomes-based education was proclaimed by the Minister to be the great saviour to promote active learning. Not only did it have to be scrapped hastily, but thousands of learners have suffered harm for the rest of their careers because of this experiment. Fifthly, the quality of the pool of teachers declined instead. I can continue in this vein.

What influence does the NNP now have on this? Nowhere is the NNP’s forsaking of its opposition role clearer than in education. In 2002 the NNP still voted against the education budget and the hon Geldenhuys gave as the reason for this that the Minister was not financially compensating multilingual, Afrikaans institutions of higher education. Nothing has changed in this regard but last year they voted in favour of the budget. [Interjections.]

In 2002 the NNP still opposed legislation which deprived governing bodies of the power to appoint new educators. Last year the power of governing bodies in respect of the extra remuneration of educators was watered down even further, and the NNP actually voted in favour of this intervention! [Interjections.] From education it would appear that the NNP is on a slide and by the time the elections come around, they will splash neatly into the ANC’s pool. [Interjections.]

However, there is also some good news! In the discussion of the Supplementary Appropriation in the Portfolio Committee on Finance at the end of last year, Minister Asmal announced that educators that had taken voluntary severance packages, would in fact be reappointed. Then the Minister dropped a bomb, however. These educators would, however, have to go and work in the black townships and remote rural areas. He clearly stated that the Cape Flats was excluded from this!]

Mr President, in the light of your repeated commitment to South Africa as one nation we call on you to intervene. This is blatant discrimination against the coloured schools and population! [Interjections.] That Minister’s ideological smugness is going to rob South Africans … [Interjections.] You said it! You said it in the Chamber above this one! [Interjections.] The Minister’s ideological smugness is going to rob South Africans, and in this instance from the coloured community, of quality, mostly Afrikaans-speaking teachers. And the people on the Cape Flats are Afrikaans-speaking. South Africa deserves better. [Interjections.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr D J SITHOLE: Chairperson, his Excellency the President of South Africa, the hon Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, hon members, it is significant that today we are discussing the state of the nation address that signifies the end of the term of this Parliament, but which sets a process in motion for the victory of the ANC in the coming election.

This debate comes at a time when the country is celebrating a decade of freedom - 10 years of freedom from apartheid, racial discrimination, and the denial of human rights to the African majority and blacks in general. It is difficult for those who enjoyed the benefits of apartheid and participated in prolonging its life to continue preserving the privileges it gave them over time and to understand why the ANC holds dear the creation of a stable, democratic and prosperous continent.

They have refused to understand - and they will probably not even make an effort to accept - that white domination is a thing of the past. They will oppose us when we seek to articulate the plight of the poor of this continent. They will complain when we contribute to the African continental struggle for peace, democracy and prosperity.

They will complain about the time and money we spend on supporting efforts to build a continent that is peaceful, democratic and respects people’s rights. They will go around preaching hopelessness and despair among our people in an effort to divorce South Africans from other Africans.

They will manipulate genuine fears and the desperation of the white community in pursuance of their ill-conceived ambition of the 20th century, which was that of making Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, a fifth province of the Union. This assimilation failed then, but the white apartheid regime in South Africa and their counterpart in Rhodesia went ahead nevertheless to shape the economic structure of Zimbabwe in such a way that it became an undeclared fifth province of the Union.

In pursuit of this policy of annexation, the apartheid regime deployed troops in support of the minority regime in Rhodesia. They lost the war, and now they want to use this democratic Government to advance the cause of their apartheid forefathers. We will not do it. We will not do it. We will continue to send our boys in uniform to preserve and defend the peace on the continent.

It is true that we will continue to equip our army to be able to meet the challenges of their new responsibilities on the continent. It would be wrong for anyone, sitting in the comfort of the opposition benches, to refuse those who ask for help to disarm armed rebels using inferior weapons.

As we modernise this House to make our lives and functions easy, we must do the same for the boys we send into the bush to defend democracy. The amount of damage they caused this country …

Mrs S M CAMERER: [Inaudible.]

Mr D J SITHOLE: Of course, Sheila, this is not part of your concern, hence you moved from the NP. [Interjections.]

They have, on a number of occasions, been proved wrong. This Government, with its own overwhelming majority, has not deviated from its programme to fight poverty and create peace amongst the people.

The vision of this Government is the rebirth of Africa. Working together with others, we will continue to promote peace, regional economic integration, growth and development and strengthen the pillars of democracy on the continent. We will put resources into developing progressive leadership and the principles of good governance in our region and the continent as a whole. We have committed ourselves since 1994 to working for a better Africa and a better world in order to promote collective and multilateral actions to meet global challenges. This commitment was elaborated on by the President on 4 February 2000 when he addressed this House. He said:

As much as the rest of the world stood with us as we fought to end the system of apartheid, which struggle brought about the announcements that were made from this rostrum as the apartheid parliament opened 10 years ago, so do we have an obligation ourselves to contribute to the construction of a better world for all humanity.

We should aim to make a meaningful contribution in this regard because with regard to all the important objectives we have to pursue, at no point during our entire history have we ever been as well placed as we are to meet the challenges that confront us. From this, we cannot walk away.

Yes, from this we cannot walk away. We cannot walk away because our own destiny as a nation, as opposed to those who want us to believe that we South Africans are not part of the African continent, is tied to that of our region and Africa as a whole. Hence, the declaration. President, I agree, we cannot walk away from that task.

We will dedicate more resources to ensure that we contribute more effectively to the efforts on our continent to prevent and resolve conflict. We will seek not to dictate to people what to do, but to work with them. When we contributed to resolving the Lockerbie standoff between the West and Libya, everybody rejoiced in the success, but no one said anything about the nature of diplomacy used.

As we continue to score successes in building peace in the DRC, Burundi and other areas, no one stops to ask the question: “What diplomacy is being applied?” If I am correct - which I think I am - it is not megaphone diplomacy they are advocating in the Zimbabwean situation.

Comrade O R Tambo articulated this 36 years ago when he addressed the South African situation. He said:

We in the ANC have always believed that the honourable task of freeing South Africa rested firmly with the people of South Africa themselves. The task of international organisations was to assist the liberation movement. This still remains the fundamental position of principle from which all international actions should be appraised.

That indicates the commitment to working with people, and not coming with a road map that you designed in your boardroom to dictate to people what they must do. [Applause.] Therefore, they must allow Zimbabweans to be assisted to find solutions to their political situation and accept that it is not possible to implement failed attempts to annex it.

It is, however, understandable why they are aggrieved. It is because we are not listening to or taking instructions from those who in their upbringing were taught to look down on Africans’ ability to find solutions to problems. It is they who have a superior colour who must provide solutions to these people in executing their God-given right to lead Africans and blacks in general. As the ANC continues to involve ordinary people in the governance of their lives, this sends shock waves down the spine of those who are used to Bantustan power.

Before I take my seat, I want to conclude with a critical quote from the hero of our struggle, Comrade O R Tambo, when addressing the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid in 1968 - that is exactly 36 years ago - with the hope that this will provide clarification to those who seek to portray the ANC as nothing but an organisation that does not care. This quote, President, is from 36 years ago, exactly to the year in which I was born:

By the year 1961, it had reached a level which led the ANC and the oppressed population of South Africa to decide on armed struggle as the next phase of the fight for freedom. That decision which, it can now be said, will always constitute an important chapter in any analysis of the current political situation in the whole of Southern Africa, was not taken lightly. The massive loss of life it entailed, the destruction of property, its implication for individual African independent states and for peace and security of the whole of Africa and the world were not lost to the ANC and its leaders.

That is what we are saying today, and that is what we continue to say. Together we can do and we will do more, better. A better life for all South Africans and a better life for our people. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs S M CAMERER: Chairperson, hon President, hon members, after nearly 17 years as a member of Parliament, during the last 10 years of which I have been privileged to serve as a member of a fully democratic institution, it is an honour to participate in this debate, marking the last parliamentary session of our first 10 years of democracy.

It is a historic moment to savour among many historic moments in the past 14 years that I have been fortunate enough to be part of since that February day when my political leader and hero at the time, former President F W de Klerk, spoke in this House at the opening of Parliament to herald the dawn of democracy.

The President in his speech on Friday, referred to 27 April 1994, the fulfilment of De Klerk’s announcement, when he said ``black and white stood together, acting voluntarily for the first time in our history, together to give birth to a new social order’’.

At that time there was no doubt that De Klerk was the acknowledged leader of the whites who stood in those queues to vote, as well as the black minority communities. He had a clear mandate from those communities to take his party into a Government of National Unity with the ANC majority for a constitutionally mandated period of at least five years, with the goal of national reconciliation and nation-building.

Sadly, soon after that, things went wrong. De Klerk lost his political magic touch. He betrayed his supporters and the South African electorate by leaving the Government of National Unity in 1996. [Interjections.] Eight years later, in an interview in Rapport - you will be sure to be interested in the jobs, hon member - last Sunday, De Klerk claimed that that decision was not only his and that the NP did back him up. This is a very skewed version of events. I know because I was there. Every senior member of the NP executive, every Cabinet member, myself included, made an impassioned plea for him to stay in President Mandela’s Government. [Interjections.] We argued that this was what people wanted, what we were mandated by the voters to do.

I remember two exceptions, ie Marthinus van Schalkwyk, recently described by my hon leader as the ANC’s weakest link and David Malatsi, now awaiting trial on corruption charges. De Klerk then held us to ransom with his threat to resign as the NP leader if we didn’t go along with him, leaving us little option. The bottom dropped out of my political world that day; there was total disillusionment. The electorate too showed its displeasure by drastically reducing its support for the NNP in the 1999 election.

However, times change and the requirements of the Mbeki Presidency were different. Now the ANC was a huge party with a rampant majority, where many of its functionaries and acolytes were abusing the levers of power and were involved in self-enrichment and corrupt practices on a huge scale, as has been seen in the aftermath of the arms deal with the Shaik, Yengeni, Madikizela-Mandela and many other court cases, not to mention maladministration and failure to deliver on a huge scale. [Interjections.]

What our constituency wanted in 2000, was a strong vocal opposition which could hold the Government to account. Due to the initiative of the then DP leader, the hon Tony Leon, they got what they wanted with the amalgamation of the DP and the NNP ahead of the local government elections in 2000. On the ticket of strengthening multiparty democracy, the electorate gave the new DA a ringing endorsement with 23% of the total votes. [Interjections.]

However, once again the South African electorate was betrayed by the NNP, backed behind the scenes by De Klerk, who had sadly lost touch with his constituency. Once again the mandate given by the voters was conveniently ignored by the NNP when it tucked itself under the wing of the ANC to ensure that party’s hegemony in the Western Cape and for the sake of a few posts. [Interjections.]

South Africa deserves better than this and on 14 April our constituency will give the DA a renewed mandate. [Applause.] In his speech on Friday President Mbeki rightly looked back over the past 10 years … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mnr R D PIETERSE: Wit vrese vir ‘n swart regering; hoe hoër ‘n boom, hoe meer kritiek. Maar daar is u nog steeds die hoogste met ‘n hoë profiel. Met u as die hoogste van alle bome, met jou lang wortels wat uitreik na ander bome, maar nog steeds na u opkyk. Geen vrees of apart-rassisme, want die ander wat u gehelp het, groei. Met minder bome wat apart is, het die reënboog meer kleurvol geraak. Met die genade van die Here hoop ons dat u nog jare by ons sal bly. Dankie, Thabo Mbeki.

Agb President, hierdie gedig is geskryf en opgedra aan u deur Britney Garies, ‘n graad 12-student aan die Gerhard du Plessis Hoër Skool, ná u staatsrede, Vrydag, 6 Februarie. Die mense van Langeberg sê vir u dankie.

Agb Speaker, agb lede van die Parlement, waar kry ons ‘n land waar eertydse aartsvyande nou om dieselfde tafel sit en die toekoms van ons pragtige land en sy mense bespreek, beplan en selfs help uitvoer? Watter land se mense vergewe so maklik wanneer sy nasionale spanne soos sokker, krieket en rugby swak vaar in internasionale kompetisies?

Maar laat ons dadelik begin werk om te verbeter en te wen by die volgende. As ‘n land is ons vasberade om bo uit te kom en ek glo ook dat ons die 2010- Wêreldbekerbod sal kry. Ons het die kapasiteit, ons het die infrastruktuur, die tegnologie, ensovoorts, om hierdie toernooi suksesvol aan te bied.

Agb lede, in 1994 het ons ‘n regering geërf wat swartmense verhinder het om wetenskap en tegnologie te studeer. Wanneer ons as kinders standerd 10 voltooi het, kon jy seker wees daardie kind word óf ‘n onderwyser óf ‘n predikant. As ‘n seun standerd agt voltooi het, het jy weer geweet hy word ‘n ambagsman - dis nou ‘n messelaar, ‘n skrynwerker of ‘n verwer.

Die land se regering wat ons geërf het, was gestruktureer om die land se militêre masjinerie tegnologies aan die gang te hou. En nie lank terug nie het die land juis van sy militêre masjinerie ingespan om aangrensende lande aan te val. Baie van daardie mense kom oor die grens omdat hulle geleenthede soek en dan behandel ons hulle soos vyande; ons ly aan xenofobie.

Tog doen ons nie dieselfde nie, selfs nadat blankes Chris Hani vermoor het. As ons dan nou oor xenofobie beskik, waarom pas ons dan nie dieselfde toe nie? Net wanneer dit swart Suider-Afrikaners is, dan raak ons histeries en sê hulle moet terug na hul lande toe. Ons moet somtyds net stilstaan en dink en vra waarvandaan ons kom dat ons nou dié vryheid geniet.

In 1994 begin die ANC-regering om hierdie prentjie te verander deur van die militêre fasiliteite te omskep tot voordeel van almal; nie net in Suid- Afrika nie, maar in Afrika. President Mbeki, in die jaar 2000 sê u in u staatsrede dat spesiale aandag geskenk moet word aan die kritiese tekort aan wiskunde-, wetenskap- en taalonderwysers, sowel as die nuwe eise van inligtingstegnologie.

Minister Asmal en sy departement het dadelik aan die werk gespring en vroeg in 2001 die nasionale strategie vir wiskunde, wetenskap en tegnologiese opleiding geloods. ‘n Deel van hierdie strategie fokus op vroue en die platteland. Ons kan terugkyk en met trots sê ‘n merkbare en positiewe verandering het plaasgevind.

Laat my toe om al die betrokkenes te bedank: die Departement van Onderwys, die onderwysers, die dosente, en veral die studente en hul ouers. Hulle het skouer aan die wiel gesit; hulle het harder gewerk en daarom kan ons sien dat verlede jaar se matriekuitslae nie slegs ‘n verbetering was nie maar ook wat daardie vakke betref, naamlik wiskunde en wetenskap. Dus sien ons dat die ANC-regering sy vinger op die pols het en die hersiening sal toepas, indien nodig.

Ons het navorsing en ontwikkeling rakende elektronika begin doen om die elektroniese media te bevry en vandag sien ons dat meer van ons mense nou toegang het om na programme van hul keuse en taal te kyk, as ooit tevore. Destyds is een klopjag na die ander op gemeenskapsradiostasies uitgevoer in ‘n poging om ons mense stil te maak en te verhoed om na hul eie programme te luister. Vra maar vir Bush Radio hier in die Kaap.

Vandag is daar meer as 40 gemeenskapsradiostasies en die einde hiervan is nog nie in sig nie. Ons het ook onlangs die MDDA gestig om te sorg vir ondersteuning, onder andere vir die gemeenskapsradiostasies. Natuurlik is dit nie genoeg nie en meer moet nog gedoen word en ek glo dat die ANC- regering verbind is om meer te doen en sommer vinniger ook.

Maar dit kan nie alleen gedoen word nie en slegs wanneer die publiek, die privaatsektor en die regering saamwerk in daardie vennootskap, in daardie kontrak, kan dit gebeur. Ons moet ‘n vennootskap vorm met die mense van Suid-Afrika, insluitende die privaatsektor, om werk te skep en saam die grense van armoede terug te stoot.

So, in daardie vennootskap is dit belangrik dat ons moet betaal vir ons dienste gelewer, ons sal beskerm wat ons s’n is - die telefone en die radiostasies - ons moet dit beskerm teen misdadigers, teen vandaliste.

President Mbeki, in 1996 in u beroemde “I am an African”-toespraak het u baie mense gedwing tot ‘n diepgaande selfondersoek. Baie agb lede het oor hul voete geval om dit te kom beaam, selfs dié wat nie geweet het waaroor dit gaan nie. ‘n Vriend van my antwoord só daarop:

Ek is gebore in ‘n karoodorpie genaamd Zoar, skoolgegaan en grootgeword daar, myself in die Kaapse Vlakte begewe, terwyl ek gehoop het vir “‘n job”, Manenberg om presies te wees. Ja, ek praat Afrikaans, my moedertaal met ‘n “slang”, maar ek is ‘n “African”, want ek vra nie wat my land vir my doen nie, maar wat ek vir my land kan doen. Natuurlik is ek ‘n “African”.

Agb lede, Mark Shuttleworth het sy plafon in sy lewe geïdentifiseer en suksesvol aangepak met die hulp van tegnologie. Trots het elke Suid- Afrikaner hul vlaggies geswaai, na die televisieskerm gewys en gesê: “Daar is ons vlag. Daar is Suid-Afrika se vlag wat hoog in die hemelruim rondvlieg.”

Wie kan vergeet van mnr Velani, eens ‘n gewone veewagter en dan ‘n amptenaar van die Nasionale Parkeraad wat ook sy plafon aangedurf het: die berg Everest? Die traan van trots wat menige van ons weggevee het toe mnr Velani die Suid-Afrikaanse vlag om sy skouers laat wapper het, terwyl hy op die hoogste piek gestaan het. Hy het wetenskap en tegnologie gebruik om hom voor te berei vir die uitvoering van sy taak.

Volgende week vertrek die absolute trots van Suid-Afrika, van Afrika, die vyftienjarige Nomathemba Kontyo van Khayelitsha na Kalifornië in Amerika om deel te vorm van ‘n studenteruimtevaarderprogram. Sy verteenwoordig Afrika, nadat sy aan die internasionale kompetisie deelgeneem het. Sy is die beste

• nie net in Suid-Afrika nie.

Maar belangrik ook, toe die ANC-regering oorneem, toe is sy in graad een. Sy is nou in graad 10 en sy verteenwoordig die toekoms van wat die ANC vir ons kinders beplan. Natuurlik is haar gunstelingvakke wiskunde en wetenskap.

Ons het natuurlik ook ‘n bod ingesit om die bou van ‘n reuse internasionale teleskoop wat in die Noord-Kaap geleë sal wees. Indien suksesvol, sal dit broodnodige werkskepping meebring en ‘n finansiële inspuiting vir hierdie gebied wees.

Kan u sien dat ‘n beter lewe op ‘n daaglikse basis op verskillende fronte plaasvind? Nou het ons daardie kontrak, daardie ooreenkoms tussen alle rolspelers nodig om te verseker dat ons dinge beter, vinniger en nog meer doen.

President Mbeki, Mariëtta Struis, ‘n graad 11-leerling, sê die volgende van u:

Thabo Mbeki is die president van ons land, want deur hom vorm ons almal in Afrika ‘n sterk band. Hy sê nooit nee nie en help waar hy kan, want ons in Suid-Afrika is ‘n uitgebreide span. Hy is altyd betrokke as rampe ons tref; hy is onse pappa, het julle dit besef? Hy is soos ‘n plant wat aanhou groei en maak die lewe vir ons beter as die son so gloei.

Nou wil ek graag ‘n beroep doen op die mense van Langeberg - dis waar my kiesafdeling is - die mense van die Kaapse Vlakte, maar veral die Wes-Kaap, KwaZulu-Natal. Maak die regte besluite, stem reg, stem vir ‘n beter lewe. Word deel en bly deel van die volkskontrak om werk te skep en armoede te beveg. Vergeet van die uitgediende IVP.

Ek kon gister regtig nie my ore glo toe minister Buthelezi sê waarom hy ‘n ooreenkoms, ‘n koalisie het met … ek wil amper sê … ek moet net ordentlik wees en nie die mense se regte name noem nie, die mense aan my linkerkant … Nou vergeet van die Herstigte DP, stem vir een party. Stem vir die ANC.

Nou, mnr Leon, me De Lille, mnr Holomisa praat altyd van die President wat nooit hier is nie. Maar baie van hulle kom net om hul “paycheques” te kom haal. Dan is hulle weg. [Tussenwerpsels.] Agb Leon is voor aan die punt. Ek hoop hy het die moed om die bus waarmee hulle rondry na Zimbabwe te ry en mnr Mugabe daar te gaan uitskel. Ek wil hom graag uitdaag om oor te gaan Zimbabwe toe en nie hiervandaan te skel nie. Ek hoop hy het die moed om daar te gaan skel, dat hy kan sien wat maak “Uncle Bob” met hom.

Mnr Leon, male sonder tal, praat van die plaasboere. Ek het nog nooit gehoor hy praat van die plaaswerkers nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] Hoekom praat hy nie van die plaaswerkers in Suid-Afrika en in Zimbabwe nie? Hoekom het hulle gestem vir die “minimum wage” van plaaswerkers en die “domestics”? En dan het hulle die “audacity” om te sê daardie mense moet vir hulle stem!

Kyk, mnr Leon, hy “aspire” mos om die President te wees. Nou, hy het ook ‘n nar wat in my kiesafdeling is, aangestel om die premier te wees. Nou, daardie nar gaan ons ‘n ding wys. Ons gaan doodseker maak mnr Leon sal nooit weer sy kop hier kan oplig nie. Dat hy nie net weer in die opposisie sal sit nie, maar hy sal deel wees van daardie opposisie, want hy sê daar is net twee partye. Die tweede party weet jy nie waarvan hy praat nie. Hy sal daar agter sit daar by ons waar daar net een persoon is. Hy sal nooit weer kans kry om te praat as leier van die opposisie nie.

Agb lede, ek wil graag afsluit en vra elke regdenkende mens stem vir die party wat vir jou vryheid gebring het, stem vir die party wat seker gemaak het dat kinders soos Nomathemba uitstyg in hul skoolwerk. Dís die soort mense wat ons nodig het. Maak seker julle stem vir die ANC. Vergeet van die IFP. Vergeet van die ID. Vergeet van die Herstigte Demokratiese Party. Daar is een party; stem ANC. Ek dank u. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)

[Mr R D PIETERSE:

Wit vrese vir ‘n swart regering; hoe hoër ‘n boom, hoe meer kritiek. Maar daar is u nog steeds die hoogste met ‘n hoë profiel. Maar u as die hoogste van alle bome, met jou lang wortels wat uitreik na ander bome, maar nog steeds na u opkyk. Geen vrees of apart-rassisme, want die ander wat u gehelp het, groei. Met minder bome wat apart is, het die reënboog meer kleurvol geraak. Met die genade van die Here hoop ons dat u nog jare by ons sal bly. Dankie, Thabo Mbeki.

Hon President, this poem was written and dedicated to you by Britney Garies, a grade 12 student at the Gerhard du Plessis High School, after your opening address on Friday, 6 February. The people of Langeberg say thank you to you.

Hon Speaker, hon members of Parliament, where would we find a country where former sworn enemies are now sitting around the same table discussing, planning and even helping to implement the future of our beautiful country and its people? What country’s people forgive so easily when its national teams such as soccer, cricket and rugby perform poorly in international competitions? But let us set to work immediately to improve and to win at the next competition. As a country we are determined to reach the top and I also believe that we will get the 2010 World Cup Bid. We have the capacity, we have the infrastructure, the technology, etc, to present this tournament successfully.

Hon members, in 1994 we took over from a government that prevented blacks from studying science and technology. When we as children had completed standard 10, one could be sure that that child would become either a teacher or a clergyman. If a boy had completed standard eight, you knew he would become an artisan - that is a bricklayer, a carpenter or a painter.

The country’s government which we inherited was structured to keep the country’s military machinery going technologically. And not long ago the country actually harnessed some of its military machinery to attack neighbouring countries. Many of those people come over the borders because they are looking for opportunities and then we treat them as enemies; we are suffering from xenophobia.

Yet we do not do the same, even after whites murdered Chris Hani. If we now have xenophobia, why do we not apply it the same? Only when black Southern Africans are involved, then we become hysterical and say that they must return to their countries. We must sometimes pause and think and ask where we come from that we now enjoy this freedom.

In 1994 the ANC Government started changing this picture by converting some of the military facilities to the advantage of all; not only in South Africa, but in Africa. President Mbeki, in the year 2000 you said in your opening address that special attention must be given to the critical shortage of mathematics, science and language teachers, as well as the new demands of information technology.

Minister Asmal and his department set to work immediately and early in 2001 they launched the national strategy for mathematics, science and technological training. Part of this strategy focuses on women and rural areas. We can look back and say proudly that a marked and positive change has taken place.

Allow me to thank all those concerned: the Department of Education, the teachers, the lecturers, and especially the students and their parents. They made a concerted effort; they worked harder and therefore we can see that last year’s matriculation results were not only an improvement but also as far as those subjects are concerned, namely mathematics and science. Therefore we see that the ANC Government has its finger on the pulse and will apply the revision, if necessary.

We started doing research and development regarding electronics to liberate the electronic media and today we see that more of our people now have access to watch programmes of their choice in the language of their choice than ever before. In the past many raids were carried out on community radio stations in an endeavour to silence our people and to prevent them from listening to their own programmes. Ask Bush Radio here in the Cape.

Today there are more than 40 community radio stations and the end is not yet in sight. We also recently established the MDDA to ensure support, inter alia for the community radio stations. Of course this is not enough and more will have to be done and I believe that the ANC Government is committed to doing more and faster too.

But this cannot be done alone and only when the public, the private sector and the Government co-operate in that partnership, in that contract, will it be possible. We must form a partnership with the people of South Africa, including the private sector, to create employment and to push back the frontiers of poverty together.

So, in that partnership it is important that we pay for services, we protect what is ours - the telephones and the radio stations - we must protect them from criminals, from vandals.

President Mbeki, in 1996 in your famous ``I am an African’’ speech you forced many people to a deep introspection. Many hon members fell over their feet to come and confirm it, even those who had no idea what it was all about. A friend of mine responds to it as follows:

Ek is gebore in ‘n karoodorpie genaamd Zoar, skoolgegaan en grootgeword daar, myself in die Kaapse Vlakte begewe, terwyl ek gehoop het vir 'n job'', Manenberg om presies te wees. Ja, ek praat Afrikaans, my moedertaal met 'n "slang", maar ek is 'nAfrican’’, want ek vra nie wat my land vir my doen nie, maar wat ek vir my land kan doen. Natuurlik is ek ‘n ``African’’.

Hon members, Mark Shuttleworth identified and successfully addressed his ceiling in his life with the aid of technology. Proudly every South African waved their little flag, pointed at the television screen and said: ``There is our flag. There is South Africa’s flag flying high in space.’’

Who can forget Mr Velani, once an ordinary shepherd and then an official of the National Parks Board, who also tackled his ceiling: Mount Everest? The tears of pride that many of us wiped away when Mr Velani draped the South African flag around his shoulders, while he stood on the highest peak. He used science and technology to prepare himself for the performance of his task.

Next week the absolute pride of South Africa, of Africa, 15-year-old Nomathemba Kontyo, of Khayelitsha will be going to California in America to form part of a student astronaut programme. She is representing Africa, after having taken part in the international competition. She is the best - not only in South Africa.

But what is also important is that when the ANC Government took over, she was in grade one. She is now in grade 10 and she is representing the future of what the ANC is planning for our children. Of course her favourite subjects are mathematics and science.

Of course we also put in a bid for the construction of a massive international telescope which will be situated in the Northern Cape. If successful, it will result in much needed job creation and will be a financial injection for this area.

Can you see that a better life on a daily basis is taking place on various fronts? Now we need that contract, that agreement between all role-players to ensure that we do things better, faster and far more.

President Mbeki, Mariëtta Struis, a grade 11 pupil, says the following about you:

Thabo Mbeki is die president van ons land, Want deur hom vorm ons in Afrika ‘n sterk band. Hy sê nooit nee nie en help waar hy kan, Want ons in Suid-Afrika is ‘n uitgebreide span. Hy is altyd betrokke as rampe ons tref; Hy is onse pappa, het julle dit besef? Hy is soos ‘n plant wat aanhou groei En maak die lewe vir ons beter as die son so gloei. Now I would like to make an appeal to the people of Langeberg - that is where my constituency is - the people of the Cape Flats, but especially the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal. Make the right decisions, vote correctly, vote for a better life. Become a part and remain a part of the people’s contract to create employment and fight poverty. Forget about the outdated IFP.

I could really not believe my ears yesterday when Minister Buthelezi told us why he had an agreement, a coalition with … I almost want to say … I must just be decent and not mention the people’s real names, the people to my left. Forget about the Herstigte DP, vote for one party. Vote for the ANC.

Now, Mr Leon, Ms De Lille, Mr Holomisa always talk about the President who is never here. But many of them come only to collect their pay cheques. Then they are gone. [Interjections.] Hon Leon is first in line. I hope he has the courage to take the bus they ride around in to Zimbabwe to harangue Mr Mugabe there. I would like to challenge him to go to Zimbabwe and not to harangue him from here. I hope he has the courage to go and harangue him over there, then he can see what ``Uncle Bob’’ will do to him.

Mr Leon talks about the farmers time and time again. I have never heard him talk about the farmworkers. [Interjections.] Why does he not talk about the farmworkers in South Africa and in Zimbabwe? Why did they vote for the minimum wage of farmworkers and domestics? And then they have the audacity to say that those people must vote for them!

Look, Mr Leon is aspiring to be the President. Now, he has also appointed a clown who is in my constituency to be the premier. Now, that clown is going to show us a thing or two. We will make quite sure that Mr Leon will never be able to lift his head here again. That he will not only sit in the opposition again, but that he will be part of that opposition, because he says that there are only two parties. One does not know what he means by the second party. He will sit at the back there with us where there is only one person. He will never again get the opportunity to speak as leader of the opposition.

Hon members, I would like to conclude and ask every right-minded person to vote for the party that brought you freedom, vote for the party that ensures that children such as Nomathemba do well in their school work. These are the types of people we need. Make sure that you vote for the ANC. Forget about the IFP. Forget about the ID. Forget about the Herstigte Democratic Party. There is only one party; vote ANC. I thank you.]

Mr S E OPPERMAN: Hon President, Deputy President, serious seekers of the truth are always confronted with the question: Is there an ultimate truth or is truth relative? The answer to this very important question is not always as easy and straightforward. In many instances there is a thin but decisive line between truth and deception. We, as politicians, need to be very cautious in our approach, evaluation and conclusion because our diagnosis will determine the prescription that will ultimately bring either hope or despair to the people.

Meneer die President, soekers na waarheid vra vrae. [Mr President, those who seek the truth ask questions.]

And I’m not referring to sweetheart questions.

En as hierdie vrae eerlik hanteer word en ware patriotte sal dit eerlik hanteer, behoort ons antwoorde te kan kry vir die vrae waarmee ons worstel. Ons kan die vrae vra of ons kan ons besig hou met politieke clichés en politieke “grandstanding”. [Tussenwerpsels.]

Wat is die waarheid omtrent die misdaadvlakke in ons land? Wat is die waarheid omtrent Vigs? Wat is die waarheid omtrent werkloosheid, armoede, korrupsie, “shady deals”? Wat is die waarheid in verband met probleme met ons dienslewering? Wat is die waarheid omtrent die beweerde nuwe vorms van diskriminasie?

Op die oomblik is die verhoor van ‘n monster van Mitchell’s Plain in die Kaapse Hooggeregshof aan die gang. ‘n Familie is wreedaardig vermoor en vroue op ‘n bisarre wyse verkrag. [Tussenwerpsels.] In my gesprek verlede week met die familie van die slagoffers het hulle beweer dat die beskuldigde een van hulle is aan wie u presidensiële kwytskelding verleen het.

Meneer die President, is dit ‘n persepsie of is dit die waarheid? Ek het vanoggend gehoor van iemand wat gruwelik aangerand is en vir leeus gevoer is. Misdadigers is besig om in ons land op te tree met roekelose arrrogansie. Ook verlede week het ‘n man in desperaatheid met sy bakkie en die kapers oor ‘n krans gejaag. Orals begin mense die wet in hulle eie hande neem. Verslaggewers van City Press kan uit polisiekantore stap met belangrike dokumente sonder dat iemand ‘n vinger veroer. Verwag u dat ons, die wetsgehoorsame burgers, moet omrol en dood speel as ons dogters en vroue verkrag en vermoor word? Die belangrikste konstitusionele verantwoordelikheid om die burgers te beskerm, word gruwelik verwaarloos, word gesê. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[And when these questions are dealt with in an honourable way, and true patriots will deal with them in an honourable way, we ought to find answers to the questions that we are grappling with. We could ask the questions or we could occupy ourselves with political clichés and political grandstanding. [Interjections.]

What is the truth about the crime levels in our country? What is the truth about Aids? What is the truth about unemployment, poverty, corruption and shaky deals? What is the truth regarding the problems with our service delivery? What is the truth about the alleged new forms of discrimination?

At the moment the trial of a monster from Mitchell’s Plain is continuing in the Cape High Court. A family was brutally murdered and women were raped in a bizarre way. [Interjections.] In my discussions with the victims’ family last week they alleged that the accused was one of those who had been granted a presidential pardon by you.

Mr President, is this a perception or is it the truth? This morning I heard about someone who had been viciously assaulted and fed to lions. Criminals are behaving with reckless arrogance in our country. Last week, in desperation, a man drove his van and the hijackers over a cliff. People all over are starting to take the law into their own hands. Reporters from City Press can walk out of police offices with important documents without anyone lifting a finger. Do you expect us, the law-abiding citizens, to roll over and pretend to be dead when our daughters and women are being raped and murdered? It is said that the most important constitutional responsibility of protecting our citizens is being grossly neglected.]

Is it fact or fiction? Is the feeling that the Government is more concerned about the basic human rights of hooligans, murderers and rapists than the rights of law-abiding citizens a perception or is it a truth? The question of discrimination has been raised by the former members of the SACC, “voormalige Kaapse Korps” [former Cape Corps]. They say that their former Commander in Chief, Mr F W de Klerk, has been given the Gold Order of Mapungubwe by you, Mr President, while they, in contrast to how you treat their former superiors, and what has been given to the former members of Umkhonto weSizwe, feel that they are being discriminated against and treated like dirt. Is this the truth or is it a perception? [Interjections.]

The question of discrimination has also been raised by traditional leaders of the Kung, Xhwe! and Quena people. Promises were made a long time ago, but also during the discussions of the Bill on traditional leadership, that urgent attention would be given to reach a solution to their problems. The fact that indigenous names of ancient historical standing - Quena and otentottu - were replaced by politically motivated academics with artificial and never previously recorded colonial names such as the so- called Khoi-Khoi, as invented by the German Theoplus Hahn in 1881 and the name Khoisan, as invented by another German, Leonard Shultze, in 1928, is not helping to get an historically sound and acceptable solution. Existing results are available from research that was historically demanding … [Laughter.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr J DURAND: Mr Chair, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, today the vast majority of our population is rejoicing. They are rejoicing because they know there is no turning back. They are rejoicing because they accept the inevitability of the irreversible process of liberation from poverty and racial discrimination.

Only a small minority of our population, led by the DA and a number of extraparliamentary splinter groups such as the Boeremag have a negative and hostile disposition towards the removal of racial discrimination and the vision of a new, just South Africa. They are trying to make this moment of truth in our history the basis for resistance and even revolt. With contemptuous disregard for reason and rational thinking, for reality, they are exploiting the uncertainty of change and the anxiety which causes this.

Today I want to say the following to all those out there who feel uncertain, who continue to try to find their security in the restrictive racial isolation of the DA: Do not allow yourselves to become the prey of rabble-rousing right-wing politicians and troublemakers. Think for yourselves. Look around you and know that you cannot build a safe future on disregard for the rights of the permanent and irremovable majority of this population. What is dear to you and what is also dear to me can only be protected if there is full recognition of the human dignity and basic rights of all South Africans, irrespective of colour.

This vision of a new South Africa brought most South Africans increasingly closer together. In most hearts there is a yearning for peaceful solutions and co-operation. The majority are tired of the negative and the destructive, and wish to join hands, but do not always know how to do this. These facts place the responsible and positive leadership corps in our country before a challenge. The time has arrived for nation-building. I wish to accept this challenge today and invite every leader to join me in doing so.

Mr President, on Saturday we saw the Leader of the Opposition representing himself to the country. In a darkened room, in dark clothes like a Satanist evangelist, he ranted and raved. He levelled curses at the leader of the majority of this country. [Interjections.] Yesterday we saw him again. Let us analyse him. Let us consider what a South Africa under Tony Leon would be like.

I will not use propaganda; I will use the words of a member of the DA, who said that the DA was built on a platform of treachery. Leon and his personal Rasputin, Ryan Coetzee, told the DP federal council in June 2000 that the move was essential to remove the New NP from the political arena. You cannot take his word. We were assured that Marthinus van Schalkwyk and other New NP leaders would be removed from office at the first congress. The entire plan was based on Leon’s ambition to be the leader of an alternative government. Yesterday he acknowledged that.

In 1999 and 2000 the Fight Back'' campaign did in fact mean fight blacks’’ to the newfound DP supporters who came from the Conservative Party, the Herstigte Nasionale Party, the FF and even the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, who sit with the Afrikaner Boeremag now. When the DA is accused of racism, it is true of a large percentage of its supporters and is reflected in the management structures in some provinces and regions. These are not my words. The DA can no longer claim to be the home of liberal democrats.

Prof Themba Sono and Richard Ntuli recently said that the DA’s black public representatives were nothing more than window-dressing, black ornaments. By and large they are people who could not get elected via the ANC.

Richard Ntuli came to this Parliament as a retired inspector of schools, educated and with experience. When Dominee Doman left the pulpit and went to the DA, he was considered a better DA spokesperson for education than a qualified former teacher. That is the DA’s racism. This is what Carl Werth says.

The DA prescribes ethics and morals for the Government ad nauseum, but does not apply the same standards to its activities. Two MPs were caught fudging canvassing results but have never been disciplined. The same Leon who bayed for the head of the Mpumalanga premier when he said it was acceptable for politicians to lie under certain circumstances, supported Gerald Morkel when he openly lied and ``bent the truth’’ - in his words - after the New NP walked out of the DA.

But the most damning of all were the allegations that the DA accepted money from Jürgen Harksen, a known fugitive from justice. The fact that Leon wrote a personal letter of thanks to all donors of more than R20 000 makes it inconceivable that he would not have known about the donation. [Interjections.]

The spending, exemplified by the R8,8 million debt run up in the December 2000 local government elections, is most disturbing in a party that professes to be a ``mean and lean’’ alternative government to the ANC, whose financial and economic record is the best in the history of South Africa. [Applause.]

While Leon criticises the President when he travels around the world to open markets for us, and to assist this continent in becoming a continent of peace and prosperity, he himself is off on an overseas junket every time Parliament goes into recess - this is what his own people are saying. The details of his visits and who pays for them would make interesting reading. We should find that out. [Interjections.]

The political promiscuity of courting first the New NP, now Inkatha, the Minority Front, the United Democratic Front and Lucas Mangope’s United Christian Democratic Party - and they talk about multiparty democracy - is just another cynical attempt. But let us see what the independent press says. Carol Paton, liberal journalist, says:

… the DA saw taking control of Cape Town as an opportunity to build what they called a ``shining city on the hill’’.

At the outset, in December 2000, the DA declared that - with their businesslike efficiency and corruption-free record - they were going to ``work smarter’’ than anyone had before. They would deliver more at the same or even less expense.

[Interjections.]

Not only has the process of governing turned out to be more difficult than they imagined, but the DA has shown themselves to be clowns.

On the level of political leadership, the DA has been an outright failure.

The blunders and embarrassments are incredible: top officials fired for political reasons; the mayor involved in fraud …

With Gerald Morkel at the helm as mayor, things got no better. Stories of his relationship with a fraudster soon hit headlines and Morkel, refusing to stand down, dragged the DA down further.

She goes on to say:

Although the DA concede that they have failed politically, they insist that Cape Town administration is doing very well in terms of service delivery.

But is it?

The city’s finances are in a mess. City manager Robert Maydon battled to balance the budget, presented in June, and all departments were ordered to shave their budgets by R140 million.

Over the past few weeks it emerged that it was not enough of a cut. The council had to reduce the electricity tariff for bulk users, losing revenue of R50 million, underestimated wage costs by R73 million and miscalculated the rates on former agricultural land.

Despite the business acumen of the top officials that the DA installed in the city, Cape Town has still not balanced its budget. Furthermore …

[Interjections.] I am reading the article.

Services have already been cut back. The metro police force, which aimed to take in another batch of recruits this year, has cancelled its plans.

At the end she says, and these are very important words:

… the DA could ironically be worse off. It will lose the chance to offload the burden of governing - a burden it has found surprisingly heavy.

The DA was happy when the ANC and the New NP stabilised the Western Cape and the metrocity.

Yesterday the Institute of Security Studies said:

Since the ANC and the New NP has governed the Western Cape, the emphasis turned to service delivery.

The people of the Western Cape, like the people of KwaZulu-Natal, and the people of South Africa, will next term experience the stability and service delivery from the ANC-New NP coalition. I thank you. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Mnu F BHENGU: Mhlalingaphambili, amathunz’ anabile, kurhatyele, masigoduke; umsebenzi usilindile phandl’ apha.

Mhlalingaphambili, Mongameli, Sekela-Mongameli, balweli nani bathandi benkululeko, malungu abekekileyo, naku ukwenzeka: Unyaka ngu-1993, ilanga libumnyamarha, inyanga ihamba ngamathunzi obumnyama, umoya unengcwangu; imigqumo yeengxangxasi yimindumzelo. Amasimi abharhile yimbalela; amabuzi ngoocwethe eziseleni; abantwana imikhunyu yomele emathatheni; umsi wesirhalarhala ubika indlal’ entungo; intsengwakazi ibukul’ ithole; isikhova ngongcwalazi sibik’ umonakalo.

UNgxabani ubal’ iinkozo ngomsimelelo kuba amacebo aphelile; amehlo antywizis’ iinyembezi lurhatyazo; ngesingqala, “inzima le ndlela, inameva; uyasinda lo mthwalo, uyandongamela; inkululeko suka yaziinkwenkwezi.”

Naku ukwenzeka: uMamQocwa, usan’ ebeleni; umbhekaphesheya yincindi yekhala; ubuthongo libali; uqamele ngoMqulu weNkululeko; kungqungq’ ingoma echukumis’ izazela; abantu baza kulawula; abantu baza kwabelana ngentlutha yelizwe labo; siza kuyisebenzela le nkululeko. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Mr F BHENGU: Chairperson, it is late, the time is against us. Let us go back home. Our work is waiting for us out there.

Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, freedom lovers and fighters, hon members, listen to this: It is 1993, the weather is not clear and bright; the sun is behind the clouds; it is very windy and drought is reigning. The children look very hungry and poor, even nature and the environment all around look pale; the calves do not get any milk from the cows; the owl is crying foul.

Ngxabani is counting mealy beans with his stick because he has lost hope. His eyes shed tears because of blindness. He sobs: “It is becoming very difficult; I am losing hope, freedom has become impossible.”

Listen: MamQocwa, breastfeeding her child; her smoking pipe is full of tar; she is having sleepless nights. Under her pillow there is freedom chatter; she is quietly singing an inspirational song; the people shall govern; the people shall share their country’s wealth. We are going to work hard for our freedom.]

The people shall govern; the people shall share in the country’s wealth. We pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes have been won.

Kumaxesh’ obunzima iAfrika iyahlabela; kumaxesh’ obumnyama iAfrika iyahlabela; kumaxesh’ enkxwaleko iAfrika iyahlabela; kumaxesh’ eentsizi iAfrika iyahlabela; kumaxesh’ ovuyo iAfrika iyahlabela.

Nyamezel’ inkululek’ ifikile; nyamezel’ inkululek’ isemagxen’ ethu; thath’ umthwalo ungabi namkhinkqi; thath’ umthwalo ukhokel’ iAfrika; thath’ abantu ubabeke phambili, kub’ inkululeko lilima, kub’ inkululeko kukubambisana, kub’ inkululeko kukuvuka uzenzele, kub’ inkululeko iyasetyenzelwa. I-ANC iyasetyenzelwa. [Kwaqhwatywa.]

Ingoma kaMamQocwa yeza nenkululeko ngo-1994. Ngaloo nyaka mnye waba nakho ukuya kuvotela umbutho awuthandayo norhulumente amthandayo. Ngubani na oze nale nkululeko? Ngaba ngumhlekazi uTony Leon? [Uwele-wele.] Hayi, akunjalo.

Namhlanje iinkonde zakuthi zamkela inkamnkam nyanga zonke, ide yanokratya. Ngubani oze neli cebo? NguTony Leon, umhlekazi? Hayi!

Namhlanje amanzi aqukuqela ngemibhobho angcanyulwa kwiinkalo ngeenkalo zeelali zethu. Ngubani umenzi, ngaba yi-DA na?

AMALUNGU AHLONIPHEKILEYO: Hayi!

Mnu F BHENGU: Hayi!

Umbane ezilalini utsho kwasemini. Ngubani unobangela, nguLeon, umhlekazi?

AMALUNGU AHLONIPHEKILEYO: Hayi!

Mnu F BHENGU: Hayi!

Iintsana ukuya kwiminyaka eli-11 zifumana isibonelelo senkxaso-mali. Yingcamango kabani na leyo, yekaTony? Hayi! [Uwele-wele.]

Iindlela ezilalini zigudisiwe, into engazange yenzeka. Ngubani kanene unobangela woku, nguTony?

AMALUNGU AHLONIPHEKILEYO: Hayi!

Mnu F BHENGU: Hayi!

Izikolo zakhiwe, akukho mntwan’ uvalelwe ngaphandle. Uthini uTony, uthi nguye? Hayi!

AMALUNGU AHLONIPHEKILEYO: Hayi!

Mnu F BHENGU: Imihlaba ibuyele kubaniniyo. Nguban’ umenzi? Yi-ANC. Izindlu zakhiwe. Zakhiwe ngubani? Ikwa yile ANC. Kumabala emidlalo yintsholo kuqhwatyw’ izandla, ngamayeye. Ngubani owenze kwaba njalo? Yi-ANC.

ILUNGU ELIHLONIPHEKILEYO: DA! [Kwahlekwa.]

Mnu F BHENGU: Iimfonomfono zikhala mihla nezolo, ziyasiphazamisa. Kazi ukuba ngubani na owenze kwaba njalo? Ikwa yile ANC. [Uwele-wele.]

Yakhan’ umkhanya, nikhalime, nibuze umbuzo kwi-DA wokuba kule minyaka eli- 10 yenze ntoni? [Uwele-wele.] Ikhona? Hayi, ayikho. Into abayenzayo kukuhlala ezithebeni zabagxeki, behlala nabantu abangabahanahanisi, bebaxelela okungekukho, baqwele bangazazi neenkokeli ezikhokela ilizwe, bathethe unobenani. Babulibele ubuAfrika kuba ababazi.

Ndiphaya kuTsolo, kuwelela kuthi, Tat’ uMbadi, amalungu athile athi: “Kwezi wadana zethu besisoloko sisithi sithi abalawulayo kuba sasiyifumene ivoti, kodwa into esoyisileyo kukuba singakwazi ukuya kuthi ebantwini kukwenza kwethu. Imihla nezolo sithi: “Hayi, niyayifumana inkamnkam. Hayi, amanzi akho, kuba sibakho kwiingxoxo zekansile, kodwa asikwazi ukulikhupha litsole sithi, `Hayi, sithi abenze oku singulo mbutho’. Kodwa into esimisa ngayo ngulo Khongolose. Yiyo loo nto sibuyele kuKhongolose; soyisakele. Sizibuzile ukuba kode kube nini na sisoloko sixokisa abantu, kuba uKhongolose akanamkhethe. UKhongolose ukwenzela indlela nawe mntu we-DA, ukuze uhambe kuyo.” [Uwele-wele.]

Wena we-UDM, uKhongolose ukuseza amanzi, ude uxhaphe ngamanzi. Akathi: “Hayi, ndenzela abantu be-ANC.”

Makhe ndijike ndithi: (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[In times of struggle Africa sings; in times of darkness Africa sings; in times of despair Africa sings; in times of sorrow Africa sings; in times of happiness Africa sings.

Hold on, freedom has arrived; endure, freedom depends on us; take up the baton, do not tire, take it and lead Africa, make the people lead because freedom is co-operation, it is helping each other. Freedom is doing things for yourself. And it is worked for. You must work for the ANC. [Applause.]

MamQocwa’s song brought us freedom in 1994. In the same year she was able to vote for the party of her choice and for her own Government. Who brought us freedom then, is it the hon Tony Leon? [Interjections.] No! I do not think so.

Today, our elderly people get pension grants every month, it is even incremental. Who came up with that plan? Is it the hon Tony Leon? No!

Today, the water goes through pipes to the different destinations of our villages. Who is responsible for that, is it DA?

HON MEMBERS: No!

Mr F BHENGU: No!

Electricity in our villages is available throughout the day. Who made that possible, is it the hon Tony Leon?

HON MEMBERS: No!

Mr F BHENGU: No!

Infants up to children of 11 years old receive social grants. Who thought of that, is it the hon Tony? No! [Interjections.]

The village roads have been smoothly paved, something which had never happened before. Who did that, is it the hon Tony?

HON MEMBERS: No!

Mr F BHENGU: No!

Schools have been built for every child to be able to have access to education. What does the hon Tony have to say about that? Is he responsible for that? No!

HON MEMBERS: No!

Mr F BHENGU: Land has been redistributed to its rightful owners. Who did that? The ANC. Houses have been built. Who built them? The ANC. In sport facilities the people are happy and applauding their heroes loudly. Who is responsible for that? It is the ANC.

An HON MEMBER: DA! [Laughter.]

Mr F BHENGU: The telephones, though they disturb us, ring every day. I wonder who is responsible for that? Again it is the ANC. [Interjections.]

Look, stop and ask the DA some questions like whether there is anything that they have done in the last ten years. [Interjections.] Is there anything? No, there is not. What they do best is being cynical, sitting with misleading people, who tell them lies; they end up not knowing who the country’s leaders are. All they speak is nonsense. They have forgotten about Africanism, because they do no know it.

I live in Tsolo village, Mr Mbadi, where some people are saying: “In these little wards of ours we are taught that we are governing because we were voted into power, but the problem is that we cannot go and tell people that we are responsible for their plight.” Every day we say: “But, you do get social grants. And you have access to water, because we are always there in local council meetings.” But we cannot say confidently: “We as this organisation are responsible for this.” But we always put the ANC name forward. And that is why we have come back to the ANC, to look for help. We have asked ourselves why we are lying to people. The ANC does not discriminate. The ANC paves the way, even for the DA people to walk on.” [Interjections.]

The ANC supplies water to even you people of the UDM, and it gives you more of it than you actually need. It does not say: “We only serve the ANC constituencies.”

Let me say for a change that:]

Our Government has, over the past 10 years, put in place a conducive environment in the form of the Constitution; a legislative framework and a concrete programme that seeks to address especially the plight of the vulnerable groups, such as our children, women, persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Most of my colleagues have already referred to and specified such programmes and legislation, which facilitated the social transformation of South Africa. We need not go through the long list … kuhlwile bantu bakuthi; ngaba sidlala ngexesha [… it’s late in the evening; we would be wasting time].

However, what is important to mention is that as we enter our second decade as a democracy, we need to agree, as South Africans, on what needs to be done to realise the people-centred society that our leaders have spoken about repeatedly.

Loo nto ijika ibuze ukuba ngaba siya kusoloko sigxeka de kube nini na, mnta kaMike Ellis? Loo nto ithi siya kusoloko sikhala kude kube nini na, ngaba asiyiboni na indlela? UMongameli utshilo ukuba umgaqo, umkhombandlela weli lizwe, usanele. Nina makholwa nazi ngcono. Ithi iBhayibhile: (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)

[That leaves the question: For how long are you going to continue being cynical, Mr Mike Ellis? When are you going to stop complaining, do we not see the way? The President said that the law, the Constitution of this country is enough as the ultimate authority. You Christians, know better. The Bible says:]

My grace is sufficient for you. [Interjections.] Mntan’ eNkosi! [Child of the Lord!]

I would like to take this opportunity to state some of the goals and aims that this Government has come up with in effecting social transformation underpinning all programmes of the national and provincial departments. These goals are: One, building a nation united in action for change.

Zibuze mntan’ enkosi ukuba ngaba uyinxalenye yokwenza oko na. [Ask yourself, child of the Lord, if you are part of that process.] Secondly, moving to a faster job-creation economic growth path; thirdly, investing in human resources; fourthly, more effective integrated and interactive government; fifthly, rural development and urban renewal; sixthly, eradicating poverty and expanding access to social services; seventhly, fighting crime and corruption; eighthly, African recovery.

Masibuye, masenze umbulelo ongazenzisiyo kuMongameli. Ndileqa nexesha. Phaya kwela phondo lethu leMpuma Koloni, kwathi kwakubakho umonakalo ombi kumasebe ethu, kukhala oomakhulu noobawomkhulu, besithi: “Asiyazi le nto yenzekayo. Kazi ukuba uphi na lo Khongolose?” UMongameli wathumela igqiza ukuze liye kujonga ukuba umonakalo uphi na. Ibuyile ingxelo isithi: “Umhlola usembizeni.” [Uwele-wele.]

UKhongolose ukwazile, ngalo Rhulumente, ukuba alungise iziphene kuba umhlola obusembizeni ngabantu esifumanise ukuba abakhathalelanga abantu bethu, kodwa besitya kwale mali iphuma kwiipokotho zabantu bakuthi abahluphekileyo ukuze bona baphile. Ndithetha nawe nje namhlanje, lukhona ucwangco nozinzo, kuba lo Rhulumente utshilo, mntakaNqakula, ukuba uya kubulwa bonke ubugwenxa, kwaye uza kulwa nabantu abangazimiselanga ukunceda abantu bakuthi nabarhwaphilizayo.

Into eyenzekileyo, bantu bakuthi abamameleyo phandl’ apho, kukuba lo Rhulumente ukwazile ukufumanisa ukuba kukho abantu ababe neenjongo ezingezizo zokondla nokwakha abantu bakuthi, kodwa babe besamkela. Andizi kuphinda amazwi kaMongameli, obesele ethethile ebonakalisa ukuba umonakalo uleli phi na.

Ndingathathanga thuba lide, ndingangenanga nakweminye imiba, mandilithathe eli thuba ndibulele kumaQocwa, ndiwubulela umzi waseMzantsi Afrika ngokunika i-ANC inkxaso engagungqinyo kuyo yonke le minyaka, ude ube nethemba lokuba i-ANC iya kusithatha isise enkululekweni.

Masiyibulele inkxaso esiyifumana ebantwini bakuthi, amaxhegwazana akuthi, ngokusinyamezela kuloo miqodi xa esiya kwamkela inkamnkam yawo, de kubekho aswelekayo kuwo, kubekho ukuphatheka kakubi ezintliziyweni. I-ANC iyabulela ngokusinyamezela. I-ANC ihlaba ikhwelo kubo bonke oosomashishini ukuba nabo bancedise kwiphulo likaRhulumente; kulutsha lwakuthi, amadoda neentombi zakuthi, kaloku eli lizwe lelenu. Xa ningakwazi ukumamela ezi nkokeli, nakulilawula njani na eli lizwe? Siyanqanda sithi kuni, musan’ ukuba nentandabuzo, wuthembeni lo mbutho; mthembeni lo Rhulumente. Nize nithi ngalaa mhla we-14 nihambe niye kuvotela i-ANC.

Ayizi nazithembiso, koko into eyenzayo i-ANC kukusebenza nani. Sihlab’ ikhwelo. Yile nto sithi sisibhambathiso noluntu, i-people’s contract. Aniyiva na, i-ANC ithi: “Yizani sisebenze sonke.” [Uwele-wele.] Mhlalingaphambili, ndingakutyelanga ixesha, amathunz’ anabile, ndiyabulela. [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Let us now sincerely thank our President. I am running out of time. In our province, the Eastern Cape, when there was a crisis in our departments, the elderly cried out and said: “We do not know what is happening. I wonder where the ANC is?” The President sent a delegation to investigate the problem. The report came back saying: “There are internal problems.” [Interjections.]

The ANC, through the Government, was able to solve those problems, and it was discovered that the problem was internal negligence, by people who misuse the funds of our poor people for their own selfish needs. As I am talking to you now there is stability and order, because this Government, Mr Nqakula, is going to fight all the corruption and deal with people who do not want to assist the community members, and with fraudsters also.

To all the community members who are listening out there, this is what happened, this Government discovered that there were people with sinister motives, people whose intentions were neither to feed nor to build the nation, whilst on the other hand they benefited by drawing salaries. I am not going to repeat what the President said as he has spoken already, and identified the problem.

Without taking too much time and dwelling on other issues, let me take this opportunity to thank MamQocwa, together with the whole country of South Africa, for giving the ANC consistent support throughout the years. We have always hoped that the ANC will lead us to freedom.

We have to thank the people for their support, especially our elderly women, who endure a lot of pain when standing in those queues for their social grants; some of whom die in those queues; which does not augur well at all. The ANC thanks you for you patience. The ANC would like to plead to the private sector also to give their assistance to all the government initiatives; to all the youth; to all our men and women; do not forget that this is your country. If you cannot listen to these leaders, how are you going to govern this country? We are pleading with you and saying, do not have reservations, but trust this organisation, trust this Government. On 14 April go and vote for the ANC.

It does not come with any promises, but what the ANC does is to work with you. We are issuing a challenge. This is what we call a people’s contract. Are you listening? The ANC says: “Come, let us work together”. [Interjections.] Chairperson, without wasting your time, it is late. I thank you. [Applause.]]

Ms R TALJAARD: Chairperson, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the hon Durand on his swan song. The voters will finish what they started in 1999, I have no doubt. [Interjections.]

As the Hefer saga recedes and the first Hawk trainer jets into South African skies, last week, South Africa’s arms deal and the real issues in the arms deal are back on the public agenda. These include the mammoth costs involved and the hidden costs involved in the deal, the suitability of the equipment that we are purchasing for a changed role of peace-keeping and peace-building under the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations, the lack of delivery of suppliers on the industrial participation obligations, as evidenced in today’s Business Day again, and the outstanding corruption allegations against the Deputy President and others who are still under investigation, both locally and abroad.

While the Mac and Mo show may have hogged the headlines at home, abroad, developments in Sweden, the United Kingdom and, indeed, in France, have highlighted the corruption allegations in this deal, once again. This procurement cannot, and will never have a clean bill of health.

The issue of the Deputy President has to be dealt with. As long as the Deputy President continues to serve in this Cabinet, claims of moral renewal will ring hollow. The people of South Africa deserve better than this, Mr President.

Another year has passed, and the matter remains unattended to. When will you display leadership in this regard, Mr President? When will you stop hiding and deflecting the way you did on a recent state visit to France, when you said on Radio France International: We are proceeding from the position that everybody is innocent until they are found guilty. We have not found Thomson guilty, we have not found the Deputy President guilty on this thing.

These comments are as inappropriate as they are premature. As the Scorpion’s case against Schabir Sheikh gathers momentum, one would trust that the Deputy President would do the honourable thing and step down. The collateral damage of the Zuma affair is considerable in the international domain and must not be underestimated.

You must act, Mr President, and protect the international standing and reputation of your Cabinet. Do not wait for the elections to resolve this matter by default and by appointing a new Deputy President. The South African people and this House deserve to also know whether this matter was discussed with the French foreign Minister and/or Mr Chirac on your recent visit.

In Sweden, parliamentarians and church groups are calling for an investigation of the allegation that Gripen contributed over $35 million to the ANC; in the United Kingdom, a quadripartite committee of the House of Commons will probe allegations that have engulfed BAE systems in respect of the Hawk deals in the Czech Republic, in India, in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia and in South Africa. These allegations, repeated by Andrew Feinstein recently, include that BAE systems contributed directly to the ANC’s election fund in 1999.

While South Africa’s constitutional oversight structures may have failed in probing this procurement, the oversight structures in the supplying countries appear to be functioning. Today, as we gather in this House, new oil slick allegations have emerged less than a year after similar allegations about Nigeria.

This time, however, it is far more potentially damaging, as it relates to corrupt oil voucher schemes operated by Saddam Hussein’s former regime in Iraq, a scheme which may even have included a defrauding of the United Nation’s Oil for Food programme or manifested itself in sanction-busting operations.

However, what does Almader and the documents in the possession of the Iraqi governing council say about our foreign policy? Were these random individuals or companies carrying on their own purely commercial activities and carrying their own commercial briefs?

If so, why did it coincide with visits by the ANC heavyweights, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe and Mandy Msimang, to Iraq? What prompted the high-profile visits of Tariq Aziz and other Baathists to South Africa in 2002, and the immortal picture of Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Aziz Pahad, with former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein?

Or are there more sinister diplomatic reasons for the concerns that we raised about the ongoing issues involved in Iraq? The Minister of Foreign Affairs must tell us categorically whether our foreign policy concerns, expressed on the eve of the war, were focused, fundamentally and foremost, on concerns about the impact of unilateral military pre-emption in Iraq, or were there more sinister motivations at work. [Interjections.]

These allegations paint a worrying picture, Minister. It is up to you to tell us whether our foreign policy is for sale, is it for rent to the highest bidder or is it, indeed, on auction for … [Interjections.] … barrels of crude oil? We cannot be seen as a country whose foreign policy is hallmarked by a dinar dictator or a dinar principle, instead of being guided by solid commitments to human rights.

Our country cannot founder its diplomatic standing at a time when the multilateral international system requires us to speak in a chorus of the developing countries on Doha, the United Nations, Kyoto and others. The challenges to you and your Presidency and this Cabinet are clear. Act, Mr President. [Interjections.] [Time expired] [Applause.]

Mr N L DIALE: I thank you, Chairperson. I will not waste time responding to the hon member Kalyan. We have principles, rooted in the objective conditions of our struggle. We are clear enough.

Hon President of the Republic of South Africa, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, hon Deputy President Jacob Zuma, hon members, Deputy Ministers, members and comrades, …

… ke a le dumedisa ka moka. Ke thaba go tsea karolo mo ngangisanong ye ya MoPresidente wa naga ya puso ya Batho Pele. [I greet you all. I am happy to take part in this debate of the President of a country that puts people first.]

Chairperson, as South Africans, we can look back over the last 10 years with an enormous sense of pride. We have triumphed against overwhelming odds, weathered much criticism, entered into dynamic discussions and experienced dramatic changes to the world order. In the SA National Defence Force we can take pride in knowing that the debates around our country’s defence requirements have been acknowledged as among the most transparent and consultative in the world.

The Defence Force exists through its primary objective, which is to defend and protect South Africa, its territorial integrity and its people in accordance with the Constitution. We can look back on the last few years of restructuring and know that we are on the right course by acknowledging that we have shown that we are a learning organisation, capable of new thinking. We are a living organisation one capable of adapting and changing. We have shown that we are a leading part in Africa and SADC in important areas, and we have shown that our armed forces can deliver the support that is needed.

What are our achievements? Since the advent of democracy, South Africa has undertaken one of the most systematic defence and security reviews in the developing world. This has led to the abandoning of nuclear deterrence, a commitment to collective and common security and the adoption of a new framework for the management of security. One of the major tasks over the last few years has been to build an integrated Defence Force and ensure that integration of the various armed formations went off smoothly.

Given the historical animosities amongst the various armed formations, this was an admirable achievement. Transforming the SA National Defence Force has been a long and difficult process, as witnessed in the Tempe and Phalaborwa shootings. It remains a challenge of restructuring and re- engineering of the management of the information control system necessary to support the Defence Secretariat with regard to its statutory obligations. In many SA National Defence Force divisions, top leadership remains white and male. Gender transformation also remains a daunting task in the Department of Defence. The policy framework of the SA National Defence Force evolved through the comprehensive Defence Review which formed the basis of the White Paper on Defence and the subsequent legislation that governs this important area of our national security.

The White Paper set out important principles for civil military relations and for the organisational structure of defence management. It also brought to prominence the fact that Parliament ``has a range of significant powers regarding military affairs in order to assert democratic control over the armed forces and defence policy’’.

Some of the other successes today within defence include the adoption of various bilateral and multilateral agreements; the launching and implementation of the Civic Education Programme; the drafting of and wideranging consultation on the defence Bill; steady progress towards the balancing of the personnel budget; the successful launching of the Foundation training; the implementation of equitable merit bonuses; and the recognition of former nonstatutory force service for the provision of pension benefits.

This resolution seeks to address the pension benefits of members of the Public Service who were previously disadvantaged by the past discriminatory pension policies. The Defence Force also played an important role during the floods in Mozambique a few years ago. All SADC member states also have the opportunity to annually train members of their armed forces at our establishments.

The department’s programme to replace obsolete equipment is on track with the acquisition of air force and naval equipment, and will continue into the next decade. Most importantly, the department continues to demonstrate its responsibility as a custodian of land entrusted to it through active co- operation in the land redistribution and restitution policies of Government. It co-operated in a pilot study regarding the closing down and the re-use of redundant military bases for the purposes of alternative economic land use initiatives.

Insecurity was one of the most critical challenges facing the ANC-led Government when it took office in May 1994. The military carved a powerful role for itself in the apartheid government and society. Ten years later the ANC-led Government has presided over a far-reaching demilitarisation process, establishing effective civil control over the armed forces; integrating the seven different military formations into a single SA National Defence Force; working towards securing a common security regime in Southern Africa; and cutting the defence budget in real terms by more than 15%.

The achievements of South Africa’s first democratic Government in the fields of defence and policy are remarkable and considerable. Formulating alternative policy to that of the apartheid structure and transforming the National Defence Force into a respected and dynamic core force is laudable. However, policy translation and implementation require more effort and present a challenge to all those who serve in the SA National Defence Force,

As for Correctional Services, another challenge facing our Government is the transformation of our prison system. We acknowledge that while prisons are the right place for some offenders, they are the wrong place for others. Contained within this thought, the Correctional Services system within this country has sought to exercise its mandate of delivering correctional services with integrity and commitment to excellence. The Department of Correctional Service has to be commended for striving ahead, notwithstanding the legacy it has been burdened with and for the achievement it has made within a relatively short period of time.

As part of its core programme, the department has sought to place rehabilitation at the centre of all its activities. The Draft Paper of the Department of Correctional Services aims to ensure that the department achieves its objectives. With this aim in mind, the department has also developed individualised training programmes to develop the skills of its personnel.

However, overcrowding remains a major factor that impacts negatively on the department’s costs, performance and service delivery. Our prisons are overcrowded and the number of awaiting-trial detainees grows each day. The awareness that comes forth is that an already overworked court system is unable to cope with the number of cases awaiting a hearing. Overcrowding in prisons appears to affect both the first world and developing countries. The number of people incarcerated in the United States reached 2 million in the year 2000. [Time expired.]

Mr N J CLELLAND-STOKES: Chairperson, Mr President, in your state of the nation address, you quoted Pablo Neruda’s poem, The Men. You have quoted Neruda before in November 1998 referring to his work called A Century Dying, where you said:

If the poet is correct that out of time’s pestilence, out of an epoch that is rotting away comes a literature written by flies, we foresee for ourselves a healthier future of democracy, reconciliation, nation- building, prosperity, respect for human rights and the emergence of a caring society.

A caring society! The hon President continuously refers to our own national goal to build a caring and people-centred society. Yet, with the greatest respect to the hon President, he displays no empathy and no emotion for the people of South Africa. And whatever the content of the words, that’s what the people notice. Quite simply, when the hon President says he cares, the people do not believe him. The people do not believe him because they know it is easy to say that you care, … [Interjections.] … but actions and authentic empathy speak much louder than words.

The hon President and his Government reinforce this perception with symbols of uncaring. For instance, a R600 million luxury jet that cost more than R900 000 to fly from Paris to Pretoria - that, hon Minister of Finance, is a symbol of uncaring; the hon Minister of Finance described the suggestion that the Government should spend money on antiretrovirals as ``a waste of very limited resources’’ - that, Minister, is a symbol of uncaring; and the President propping up the Mugabe of the Caribbean, Haiti’s President Jean- Bertrand Aristide, and in the process misusing millions of the South African taxpayers’ rands - that is a symbol of uncaring.

Also the President saying, and I quote: ``Personally I do not know anybody who has died of Aids. I really, honestly don’t’’. This does not only confirm that the President is completely out of touch with the people and the plight that is killing millions of our fellow South Africans, but that too is a symbol of uncaring; the failure to roll out an effective, nation- wide HIV treatment programme - that, Minister, is a symbol of uncaring; saying no to a basic income grant - that, again, is a symbol of uncaring; refusing to condemn the Mugabe regime’s abuse of human rights, subversion of democracy and abdication of the rule of law, as well as not applying real pressure, to restore a democratic government that can begin to rebuild Zimbabwe - that is a symbol of uncaring. [Interjections.]

Mr President, a caring, people-centred society requires much more than eloquent words. The President’s now infamous line, and I quote: ``We do not foresee that there would be any need for new and major policy initiatives,’’ would be met with astonishment and disbelief by our people, because there is no care, there is no empathy in those words or the terrible meaning that they convey. The DA does care. We share the people’s concerns and the people of South Africa need real change. [Interjections.] They know this because their lives are scarred by the reality of South Africa today. They need a government that cares. They need a government that will provide real solutions. They deserve better and frankly South Africa deserves better. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Dr Z P JORDAN: Mr Chairperson, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, hon members and comrades, five days ago I was among a group of participants at the launch of a community empowerment programme just outside Cape Town. This was a joint initiative amongst two community projects, the engineering faculty of the University of Stellenbosch and a Dutch foundation. The site of the launch was the well-known vineyard renowned for the quality of its wine.

The purpose of the consortium that was established that night is to stimulate entrepreneurship among the historically disadvantaged communities of Stellenbosch and the Helderberg. This is one of many such small local initiatives that have been stimulated into existence by your call of Faranani and Vukuzenzele, Comrade President.

The consortium that was established that night was not put up in order to deny the past. Its conception and establishment are rooted in a recognition of the past and the moral imperative today to undo the consequences of that past. The relationship between the Netherlands and the communities of the Western Cape, black and white, dates back to a time when African sovereignty was being chipped away piecemeal by an increasingly aggressive European colonialism. Three and a half centuries later, African sovereignty has been re-established and the challenge facing the African continent now is how to employ her sovereignty in order to empower Africa’s children so that they may survive and prosper in the 21st century.

The central plank of South African foreign policy is to create the space for Africa, African countries and the peoples of Africa to define their own future by exploring and offering viable indigenously-evolved alternative agendas to those imposed on our continent by former colonial powers and their allies.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Nepad, is about addressing the principal challenge facing the African continent today. That challenge, which is universally recognised, is the eradication of poverty. Nepad is also a programme to secure the hard-won freedom of the peoples of Africa by equipping our continent for success during the 21st century. Political stability and peace remain very illusive objectives. We nonetheless have to pursue these with even greater tenacity precisely because there have been such disheartening reverses in the last three years.

The flickering flame of progress in the Sudan, in Burundi and on the horn of Africa indicates that our efforts are not fruitless. From day one of your presidency, Comrade President, you embarked on a bold foreign policy initiative in the Congo where South Africa had become involved during the post-Mobutu interregnum. Former President Mandela’s attempts to arrange a relatively peaceful transfer of power had collapsed when Laurent Kabila assumed power in Kinshasa with the backing of two neighbouring countries.

South African diplomacy minimised the capacity of non-African powers to interfere in the Congo, so as to give the Congolese and their neighbours a chance to resolve their problems. After three years of talks, interrupted by outbreaks of terrible bloodletting, the Congolese factions agreed to constitute a government of national unity. South Africa has invested millions of rands to keep hope alive in the Congo. Even today South African forces are serving as peacekeepers in that country and South African investors have committed themselves to the rehabilitation of the Congolese economy. That might not be much, but it is a beginning.

Having nailed our colours to the mast of an African Renaissance, that vision has been further fleshed out by the actions of the ANC Government. The arrival of the new millennium six months after the 1999 elections offered us a golden opportunity to mount Africa’s most promising initiative. Working at first with Algeria and Nigeria, we jointly crafted what was then named the Millennium African Project or Map. Map evolved into Nepad. This ambitious programme for African economic growth and development is premised on good governance and rapid economic growth.

South Africa was given the honour of leading the campaign to win support for Nepad amongst the political leaders of the developed countries after being elected to chair the African Union. Commitments from two successive G8 summits and undertakings made by the ASEAN countries and Japan sustain our optimism. But we have at the same time insisted that Africans and African governments must assume first responsibility for the upliftment of our continent.

Under the stewardship of an extremely energetic Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the person of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa has been recognised as a country punching way above its weight division. We have hosted a number of international conferences in which our country has been at the centre of crafting new policies with a significant bearing on the future of our continent.

Africa has adopted new and far-reaching human rights instruments during the past four years. Though the rights contained in these charters are in the main aspirational, their adoption is indicative of and will reinforce the growing trend toward democratic governance on the continent. Though progress towards democratisation on the continent is still very uneven, the struggles of ordinary citizens and political activists are gaining momentum.

During the course of last year, for example, employing the democratic space present in a number of African countries, the women of Africa, backed and supported by the women of the world, saved the life of Amina Lawal. I want to take this opportunity too to congratulate the ANC Women’s League that led that campaign here in South Africa. [Applause.]

Igama lamakhosikazi malibongwe! [Praise the name of women!]

Hon MEMBERS: Malibongwe! [Let it be praised!]

Dr Z P JORDAN: The creation and extension of democratic space in Africa requires us to defend the gains of the liberation struggle, especially the civil liberties that every colonial and white minority regime on the continent had suppressed.

As a poor and recently democratised developing country, South Africa is naturally extremely jealous of her sovereignty. But we have recognised that our country cannot hope to prosper by having recourse to autarchy. Given that globalisation is the reality of our modern world, South Africa has argued, multilateralism is preferable to unilateralism in addressing points of tension and potential conflict in the world today. We have also asserted that the geopolitical changes during the second part of the 20th century required the reformation of the UN organisation, especially its Security Council. Few Africans realise that there have been more Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the African continent than anywhere else in the world. To the credit of African states, none of them made the knee-jerk panic responses with shades of xenophobia that we have seen in other parts of the world. South Africa too has joined the international campaign against terrorism, but it has at the same time preserved the integrity of the democratic liberties contained in our Constitution.

Our presence in this Chamber and today’s debate testify to the fallaciousness of the claim that you can purchase security through repression. Terrorism is the programme of action of desperate extremists who are totally lacking in conscience. But the actions of such groups can strike resonances in societies experiencing the stress of rapid change. Collapsed and failed states have afforded terrorist networks opportunities to use their territory for training facilities and as co-ordinating centres. This underlines the need for effective and resilient states that won’t collapse at the first signs of stress and tension. Mercenary activities which could easily merge into terrorist networks continue to plague the world. This is why South Africa passed stringent legislation outlawing mercenaries. It is my view that our Government should thoroughly investigate those South African mercenaries who are signing up for duty in Iraq. And, if they are found to have broken our laws, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

When we were debating the US/UK sponsored war in Iraq in this Chamber some months back none of us realised how soon the threadbare causus belli would be exposed for what it was. It’s extremely disturbing to hear that the two heads of government who less than 12 months ago were swearing by everything that is holy that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction now pronounce mealy-mouthed excuses that place the blame on their intelligence communities.

We repeatedly drew public attention to the cynical manner in which these two governments tried to mislead the rest of the world with falsified intelligence reports, plagiarised theses and just outright lies. I trust that it is now clear to everyone that the war was not about weapons of mass destruction. They did not exist, so President Bush himself now admits. The war was about a demonstration of US military power and to serve as a warning to the rest of us that the United States has now adopted a new foreign policy doctrine, a doctrine of pre-emptive war that arrogates unto itself the right to attack any country the US suspects might in the future be a threat to its security. The dangerous implications of such a policy thrust should be clear to everyone.

The problem of Zimbabwe must continue to occupy our attention for reasons of altruism and self-interest. Zimbabwe is our neighbour and the history of our two countries is intertwined. South Africa and other SADC countries are already feeling the repercussions of the economic decline of Zimbabwe. Self- interest alone dictates that we assist Zimbabwe back to its feet.

Helping a neighbour, however, cannot be a pretext for imposing solutions from outside, no matter how well-intentioned those solutions are. [Applause.] The people of Zimbabwe must resolve the problems of their country. The obligation of friends and neighbours is to assist them to reduce the high degree of polarisation in their society and to devise the means to draw the two sides of the quarrel closer. The promised national dialogue among the key players, civil society and other stakeholders is now set to take off. South Africa must assist and ensure that that dialogue is a success.

What must be remembered is that none of the megaphone diplomacy and grandstanding South Africa was being advised to adopt, moved the process forward. It was rather the slow, patient and low-key diplomacy of South Africa that has nudged the two sides forward.

Regrettably, the bloodletting in the Middle East continues. The great tragedy of the Middle East is that Israel appears to feel no obligation to enhance the credibility of the Palestinian Authority. Those who tell us that this conflict is not comparable to apartheid are, of course, absolutely right. I was shocked during a visit to Palestine last year by the concrete wall that is being erected through Palestinian territory in open defiance of international opinion. What we have in the Middle East is military occupation of other people’s land by a regional minipower. This is something far worse than what apartheid was.

The Spier Initiative was not an attempt to export a South African negotiating model to the Middle East. I don’t think that there is anyone among us so arrogant as to believe that ours is a one-size-fits-all and appropriate for all situations of conflict. The joint Geneva Declaration made by those committed to peace from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides was a necessary confidence-building measure. It also demonstrated that there are Palestinians and Israelis who want to move beyond the cycle of mutual demonisation and who are ready to explore home-grown initiatives that can replace what appears to be a cul-de-sac - the US sponsored roadmap to peace in the Middle East.

Our optimism about the future must be tempered by the hard-nosed realism that takes full account of the challenges that South Africa and the continent still face. I agree on one score with the hon Leader of the Opposition and his cohorts that South Africa does deserve better. South Africa deserves a better opposition party and a better leader of that opposition. [Applause.]

Kodwa oyena mntu undothusileyo ngumtwan’ omhle wakwaPhindangene. Kucacile ukuba abanye bethu bayitya kamnandi le ngcinezelo sasikhala ngayo. Ade athi, uNdabezitha: “Kwakungcono kwaseYiphutha.”

Ewe siyavuma ukuba asikafiki kwizwe ledinga, Ndabezitha. Unyaka ka-1994 wasibeka emazibukweni. Nangoku sisawela. Ke, mntwan’ omhle, ukuba ufumanisa ukuba lo mthwalo uyakusinda, wubeke phantsi, mntwan’ enkosi, uphumle. Uya kusifumana phambili, endleleni. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [Laphela ixesha.] Ndiya kuwuthabatha umbuzo, mntwan’ omhle. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[But the one who surprised me the most was the Prince of kwaPhindangene - the Minister of Home Affairs. It is clear that some of us were living it up during the oppression we were crying out against. Ndabezitha - the Minister of Home Affairs - even said: “It was better in Egypt.”

Yes, Ndabezitha, we acknowledge that we have not yet reached the promised land. The year 1994 placed us at the fords. We are still in the process of crossing. So, prince, if you find the burden too heavy for you, put it down, my prince, and take a rest. You will catch up with us later, along the way. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

I’ll take the question.]

The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Angikhethwanga nguwe. [You did not elect me.]

Dr Z P JORDAN: Andiva? [I beg your pardon?] The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Angikhethwanga nguwe. [You did not elect me.]

Dr Z P JORDAN: Awonyulwanga ndim, mntwan’ omhle, kodwa ke ndithi undothusile. [You were not elected by me, but I am saying you surprised me.]

The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Ngiyozizwa mina ukuthi ngikhathele, hhayi ukuthi ngikhishwe nguwe. Angitshelwa abafana … [I myself will decide when I am tired and will not be instructed to leave by you. Young men cannot tell me …] [Inaudible.]

Dr Z P JORDAN: Andiva? Hayi, ndithi kaloku, mntwan’ omhle, “ukuba uyakusinda”. Andikhange ndithi “uyakusinda”, ndithe “ukuba”. [I beg your pardon. No, Prince, I am saying, “if the burden is too heavy for you”. I did not say, “it is too heavy for you”. I said “if”.]

The MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Kufanele uzwiwe yimi uma ungowami. Angitshelwa ngabafana lokho. [Ubuwelewele.] [Ihlombe.] [I am the one who should feel the burden if it is mine. Young men cannot tell me that. [Interjections.] [Applause.]]

Mr C M LOWE: Mr Chairman, when the President told the nation last Friday that he did not foresee any need for new and major policy initiatives, it showed just how far removed he and Cabinet are from the needs and suffering of ordinary South Africans. Safely insulated from South African reality, in the comfort of a half a billion rand presidential jet, endlessly circling the globe while making just the occasional courtesy call to South African soil.

And again today, when the Minister of Labour tried to tell us how much there is to celebrate, he confirmed just how out of touch this ANC Government is with the people of South Africa. Eight million South Africans cannot find work and more than 22 million live in poverty. More than a million jobs have been lost since the ANC came to power a decade ago, and the vast majority of 400 000 matriculants entering the job market each year have little chance of finding employment. Yet only 9% of the skills levy collected by the Sector Education and Training Authorities last year was actually spent, with R2,8 billion of the R3,3 billion available for skills training lying idle. Does it come as any surprise then, that in a global entrepreneurship monitor survey of entrepreneural activity in 38 developing countries, South Africa comes stone last? [Interjections.]

Meanwhile the Department of Labour and the 25 Setas are immersed, Mr Minister, in a R1 billion fraud investigation with the officials apparently dipping their hands into the skills fund and robbing 8 million unemployed South Africans of the moneys earmarked for their training and skills development. South Africa deserves better. With such appalling statistics, no wonder the ANC speakers here use spin and subterfuge to mask the facts.

And how has Cabinet met this job crisis, our country’s gravest challenge? Not by making investment and economic growth its single-minded obsession and the cornerstone of every new policy, as the DA does, nor by amending inflexible and impractical labour laws to attract foreign investment and to encourage South African employers to take on new hands, but rather by promising one million jobs through its Expanded Public Works Programme that lacks credibility and will never solve the problem of unemployment in South Africa. For these are not real jobs, but short-term, part-time and unsustainable work opportunities with only 20% of them lasting any longer than four months.

These jobs are as bogus as Government’s moral regeneration campaign and its claims to be winning the war against crime. And such are the double standards of Government that it exempts itself and its public works programme from the entire edifice of labour legislation, including minimum wages and UIF contributions. Yet at the same time it enforces legislation with hypocritical vigour on the private sector.

No, there is little to celebrate. Government faces a labour crisis of staggering proportions with the latest unemployment and training statistics an appalling indictment of the ANC’s failure to deliver on its promise of jobs and the striking indication of the failure of the Setas themselves. Even where training is taking place, the system is structured to benefit larger organisations rather than smaller companies, which don’t participate properly because of the burdensome administration and the hassle factor.

And it is for those thousands of small businesses, which are prevented from offering jobs to the 8 million unemployed by Government’s inflexible and draconian labour law regime, that the DA speaks out. Given the the ANC’s attitude to small business development and its ineffective support for skills development, it is hardly surprising that South Africa’s entrepreneural activity rate is on average 50% lower than that of other developing countries like Argentina, India, Uganda, Chile, Thailand and Mexico - all of whom compete with us for foreign investment dollars.

No, South Africa deserves better. It needs fewer praise singers and far more practical solutions to increase skills, to develop training and to create thousands of jobs. It deserves genuine and effective broad-based empowerment that focuses on job creation, on skills development and training that starts at the bottom, not the top; that empowers the many, and not just the few; that tackles poverty, unemployment and inadequate education, is measured by job creation and entrepreneurship and comes from giving people skills, resources and opportunities to realise their full potential.

The people who need and deserve empowerment are not the ANC cronies, fat cats and wabenzi, but ordinary people - men and women from across South Africa. They deserve a new kind of South Africa of hope and opportunity where basic work has an intrinsic dignity; where criminals are caught and punished; and where every South African can look forward to achieving prosperity and success. South Africa deserves better. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr M T GONIWE: Hon Chairperson, hon President, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, good afternoon. Contrary to the distorted, short-sighted arguments by the likes of the hon Tony Leon, Koos van der Merwe and all those who seek to keep black people, and Africans in particular, at the fringes of the mainstream economy in our country, the ANC approach has always been informed by the understanding that black and white do not only share one country, but also a common destiny.

The ANC has identified the legacy of colonialism, apartheid, poverty and underdevelopment as the common enemies that confront all our people. The black economic empowerment process has indeed been triggered by the past economic inequalities that were systematically created by the apartheid regime to exclude blacks from the mainstream economy. Therefore, black economic empowerment is one of the key instruments designed to confront this legacy head-on. Only those who want this legacy to endure are opposed to black economic empowerment.

The black economic empowerment commission defines black economic empowerment as an integral, integrated and coherent socioeconomic process located within the context of the country’s national transformation programme, namely the Reconstruction and Development Programme. This programme is aimed at redressing the imbalances of the past by seeking to substantially and equitably transfer and confer ownership, management and control of South Africa’s financial and economic resources to the majority of its citizens.

Furthermore, it seeks to ensure broader and more meaningful participation in the economy by black people to achieve sustainable development and prosperity. Black economic empowerment categorises people in certain stages of economy development as follows: the first category represents those people living on the poverty line, who represent the people living in absolute poverty and who do not have the basic needs and access to skills, and who will find it difficult to be entrepreneurs.

The second category represents those people living in the economic survival sector. They are stable income earners, but need additional training to become entrepreneurs. The third category represents the economically ready group. They possess the necessary skills and intellectual resources to become fully empowered, but need access to finance, preferential procurement and enterprise development. The fourth category represents the economically empowered group who exercise ownership, management and control over economic resources and who are fully integrated into the mainstream economy. The expansion of the proportion represented by the previously disadvantaged individuals in this group remains one of the primary objectives of the black economic process. This has nothing to do with race, colour, sex or creed.

Most importantly, the ANC has a programme to advance all of these categories. They have already tasted the fruits of liberty in the past decade of freedom and will continue to do so even in larger numbers in the coming decade of freedom. Everything that the ANC has done is aimed at empowering blacks, not because of their colour, but because they are the most disadvantaged sector in the economy, bore the brunt of oppression and as a group are the most affected by the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.

The approach that seeks to create a division between Africans and coloureds will not succeed. These people emerged from a past of inequality, oppression and exploitation. Together they have became the major beneficiaries of the fruits of liberty and shall together continue to be beneficiaries to a greater extent in the coming decade of freedom.

Regarding the first of the categories, we can list the following achievements: 1,9 million housing subsidies; 1,6 million houses built; more than 70% of houses electrified; 9 million additional people now have access to water; 63% of households now have access to sanitation; the successful formation of an integrated education system; nutrition and early childhood interventions established to achieve better results for children from a poor background of all races; and 85% secondary school enrolment in 2002 - an excellent achievement by any standard. And yet the ANC, being the humble servant of the people, does not gloat about these achievements. It says more needs to be done and will be done in the coming decade to consolidate and advance these achievements.

With regard to the second category, I would like to use the example of Petro SA as an indicator. There, they define BEE in terms of capacity- building, employment equity, affirmative procurement, equity participation, financial and other support, supplier development and social development. Nothing again about race.

During the 2002-03 financial year, Petro SA spent the following on black economic programmes: R459 million was spent on procuring goods and services from black businesses; R83 million on human capital development; R15,6 million on human resources development and training; R8,8 million on capacity-building programmes; and R50 million on projects in education, health, environment and entrepreneurship. Excellent achievements again! And yet again the ANC says more needs to be done and will be done in the coming decade to advance and consolidate these achievements.

With regard to the third category, I would like to use the example of Eskom. Eskom’s statistics on black economic empowerment programmes show that from 1996 to 2002 their BEE target for previously disadvantaged individuals was set at approximately R10,140 million, and yet the actual amount spent was R14 million towards black economic programmes. The black shareholding companies that benefit from black economic programmes vary from a minimum of 20% held by black consortiums to 100% black-owned and controlled companies. The list of these companies is exhaustive, yet again an excellent advance towards deracialising our economy, but most striking on this list is the domination by ordinary companies with no single connection to the so-called black emerging elite.

With regard to the last category, recent studies show that black ownership of the joint stock exchange’s top 100 companies has increased substantially from less than 4% in 1997 to approximately 10% in 2002. As we celebrate the decade of freedom, we must admit that a conducive environment for all talented sons and daughters of this land has been created to enable them to reach the best of their potential. The ANC recognises and applauds the pioneering role that has been played by the petroleum and mining industries, as well as the finance sector in this regard. We equally encourage the other sectors to follow this example, because it is the right thing to do.

But what is really important is what we as parliamentarians do to advance the implementation of Government policies. Please allow me for a very brief moment to examine this predicament through the failings of our time. I have observed in my time as a member of this House that some members have finetuned the Judas approach: Kiss him and betray him. These members heap praises on the ANC’s achievements and on the President, and at the very next turn they betray the ANC and the President, insult what it represents and distort its policies.

When hon Seremane spoke, he tried to do this. Sir, we know you. You are fooling no one but yourself. When you spoke, I remembered the recitation we were forced to recite when we were very young. It was entitled “Waghondjies” [Watchdogs]. It went:

Ek is hier en ma is hier. Ons twee lê op baas se baadjie.

Mother and I are here. We are both lying on the master’s jacket. Sir, never allow your Africanness to be used, because it is the most precious thing you have. When your master says to you, as they prepare your speeches, that it would be appropriate for a black face to make certain unfounded allegations, like the one that the President is a divisive person and so on, please be man enough and refuse for the sake of your soul. [Applause.]

Now let me dwell a little bit on the so-called new alternative. Typically of hon Tony Leon, he has said nothing new. It is still the old narrow divisive message of despair. We have heard the same message for the last 10 years. He had a unique opportunity to account to the nation and the voters about the chaos their short spell of governance visited upon the people of this province, the Western Cape. When voters went to sleep the Premier was Marais but when they woke up the Premier was Morkel. When voters when to lunch, the mayor was Morkel. When they reported for work the mayor was Marais. He still has the audacity to proclaim himself as the alternative.

People do not want an alternative of instability and chaos. They will never forget that the DA’s short spell of illegitimate governance reduced this great province to a circus. No, sir, they do not want an alternative, but they want the continuity of the caring and stable governance of the ANC. They have not forgotten the ever-increasing evictions, discontinuation of services and related miseries they have experienced - and now you think you can call on them to vote for you.

No, sir, they will vote for the better lives that they have enjoyed under the ANC-led Government. They know the alternative you are talking about is nothing new but the same promise you made to unite the opposition. According to you the opposition needed to unite in order to effectively fight the monster which is the black Government. In essence you undertook to mobilise those who cared to listen to your misleading, tired message of despair. Needless to say, you failed dismally and your attempt to organise our country into hostile camps fell flat, not because people did not listen, not because the message did not appeal to some, but mainly because of your weak leadership. Weak leadership, spineless, not even able to lead a street committee. [Laughter.]

South Africans want a serious, respectable and humble leader with integrity to lead this country out of the misery of poverty, hunger, underdevelopment, and that is none other than Thabo Mbeki, the President of the ANC. He is a statesman par excellence. We speak of things we know. We bear testimony to things we have seen. We have in our country a presidency which has positioned itself on the will of the people, as the operational centre of the fight against poverty and underdevelopment. Yes, when the black child travels the world, putting issues of poverty, jobs and underdevelopment on the agenda of world bodies like the G8, the World Economic Forum and other distinguished bodies, we say: This is the leader. When the black child traverses Africa with a message of hope, peace and good governance, we proclaim: Proudly South African. When the black child goes to the most remote areas of our country in humility, asking the masses of our country to listen and act on their tribulations and demands, we exclaim: Behold the leader, the compatriot, a true African. Because of these things, and many others, we must say: Viva ANC! Long live, the President. Amandla. [Interjections.][Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! That concludes the speakers’ list and the business for the day. The President will reply tomorrow.

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 19:03. _____ ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Assent by President in respect of Bills

 (1)    National Environmental Management Amendment Bill [B 29 - 2003] -
     Act No 46 of 2003  (assented  to  and  signed  by  President  on  9
     February 2004); and


 (2)    Local Government: Municipal Finance  Management  Bill  [B  1D  -
     2002] - Act No 56 of 2003 (assented to and signed by  President  on
     9 February 2004).

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (a) Report and Financial Statements of the National Advisory Council on Innovation for 2002-2003.

 (b)    Report and Financial Statements of the Nelson Mandela Museum for
     2001-2002, including the  Report  of  the  Auditor-General  on  the
     Financial Statements for 2001-2002.

1. The Minister of Public Enterprises

 Report and Financial Statements of DENEL (Pty) Limited  for  2002-2003,
 including the Report of  the  Independent  Auditors  on  the  Financial
 Statements for 2002-2003.

National Assembly

1. The Speaker

 Annual Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence for 2002-
 2003, tabled in terms of section  6(1)  of  the  Intelligence  Services
 Control Act, 1994 (Act No 40 of 1994).
 Copies of the Report is available at the Office of the Clerk of Papers.