WEDNESDAY, 25 MAY 2005 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

                                ____

The House met at 14:06.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

Debate on Vote No 1 – The Presidency:

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Deputy President of the Republic, hon leaders of our political parties and hon members of Parliament, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Directors-General, advisers and senior officials, distinguished guests, friends and comrades, I see that the Premier of the Western Cape is with us today. [Applause.]

The Chief Whip of the Majority Party, the hon Mbulelo Goniwe, has informed me that we have in the gallery a delegation from Cradock, the hometown of the outstanding patriot, the Rev James Calata. [Applause.] I am pleased to welcome them to the House and this debate. I hope that their presence in the National Assembly will help them gain a better understanding of the important work done by the hon members, and inspire them actively to act with our national Parliament in future.

Today, 25 May, is Africa Day, which many of the peoples of our continent have marked for over four decades as a public holiday to honour the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, and to celebrate the African dream. I am therefore pleased to take advantage of this opportunity to convey our best wishes and a message of solidarity to our fellow Africans everywhere, including those in the diaspora.

The establishment of the OAU 42 years ago constituted an important statement that the peoples of Africa share a common destiny. This inclusive intergovernmental institution was charged with the responsibility to promote the unity of our continent and lead us on the long road to the total liberation of Africa, and its successful development in conditions of peace, stability and democratic rule.

In this context, we would like to reiterate our thanks to the peoples of our continent for their unwavering support for our struggle to end the apartheid crime against humanity and achieve our liberation. Once again, we would also like to thank our fellow African heads of state and governments for giving us the honour to host the founding conference of the African Union during the year of the 90th anniversary of the oldest liberation movement on our continent, the ANC.

Africa has charged the African Union with the task to take the work of the OAU to a higher level. By linking its establishment in 2002 with the founding of the ANC nine decades earlier, Africa’s leaders made a statement that, as our continent had united to realised its total liberation, so would it use this historic achievement to unite and address the challenges of peace, democracy, development and ending Africa’s marginalisation among the community of nations.

The holding of the founding conference of the AU in our country also underlines both that we share a common feature with the rest of our continent, and that we have a responsibility to contribute whatever we can towards the realisation of the new goals that Africa has set itself, as reflected in the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

These goals constitute a directive to the contemporary African state. They underline the fact that the state is not an end in itself, but a social institution established to carry out various tasks. Our own Constitution also serves this purpose.

On the role of the Presidency and the executive, this Constitution says, and I quote: The President –

   . . . is the Head of State and head of the national executive
  . . .


  The executive authority of the Republic is vested in the President.


  The President exercises the executive authority, together with the
  other members of the Cabinet, by . . .


   . . . developing and implementing national policy . . .

Because of these constitutional provisions and the actual imperatives we face, we would like to dedicate this address on the Budget Vote of the Presidency to the issue of the role of the state in our process of reconstruction and development. We do this fully mindful of the need to maintain the necessary and dynamic balance between the state and the private sector.

Our presentation will include some reflections on what we have to do to position the state so that it contributes effectively to the realisation of the goals of building a winning nation, pushing back the frontiers of poverty and ensuring a better life for all. The efforts of the executive in this regard will be greatly enriched by such contributions as the hon members and our national legislature as a whole may make, both during the discussion of the Budget Vote of the Presidency and afterwards.

The Financial Times of 17 May 2005, published eight days ago, carried an article discussing the issue of the role of the state, drawing on recent and current developments in Latin America. Among other things, it said, and I quote:

The role of the state – which policymakers were trying to cut back for most of the 1990s – is undergoing a rethink . . . There is now pressure for the state to play a bigger role . . . There is a growing belief that the public sector should be strengthened and work in harness with the private sector. In its own study, the IMF concluded that `an improved and strategic role of the state is essential. Corruption and weak governance in Latin America have tended to undermine market activity, with the resulting burden falling heavily on the poor.’

Most interestingly, the Financial Times quoted one of the principle architects of the so-called Washington Consensus, John Williamson, which had set the stage for the reduction of the role of the state, in favour of the market, as saying:

I am not an enthusiast for the minimum state. You can’t get away from the fact that it has to play a more active role, but I don’t see an alternative ideology. Recognising the critical importance of this issue, the World Bank devoted its 1997 World Development Report to the topic ``The state in a changing world’’. After discussing various developments up to that point, leading to a reduction of the role of the state, the World Bank said:

  Many have felt that the logical end point of all these reforms was a
  minimalist state. Such a state would do no harm, but neither could it
  do much good. The Report explains why this extreme view is at odds
  with the evidence of the world’s development success stories, be it in
  the development of today’s industrial economies in the nineteenth
  century or the post-war `miracles’ of East Asia. Far from supporting a
  minimalist approach to the state, these examples have shown that
  development requires an effective state, one that plays a catalytic,
  facilitating role, encouraging and complementing the activities of
  private businesses and individuals. Certainly, state dominated
  development has failed. But so has stateless development – a message
  that comes through all too clearly in the agonies of people in
  collapsed states such as Liberia and Somalia. History has repeatedly
  shown that good government is not a luxury but a vital necessity.
  Without an effective state, sustainable development, both economic and
  social, is impossible.

From the very beginning of the democratic order, we recognised the fact emphasised by the World Bank, that our development requires an effective state and that without such a state, sustainable development, both economic and social, in our country is impossible.

Commenting on this issue on 30 June 1999, and speaking from this rostrum, we said that the poor in our country, the disempowered, require a strong state to redress the imbalance of power that derives from our history and the fact that we have a relatively well-developed capitalist system.

The Financial Times article to which we have referred said the burden arising from corruption and weak governance in Latin America has ``(fallen) heavily on the poor’’. Similarly, we argued in 1999, that a minimal state in our case would further increase the burden of poverty and marginalisation already carried by the poor of our country.

Specifically, we said:

  Behind all the words we have quoted, is the fundamental idea that
  everything must be left to the great leveller, the market, which is
  driven by the notion that `self regarding interest is predominant over
  social interest’, as Jeremy Bentham put it.

We said:

  In our own specific situation, what this means is that those who are
  fittest to survive will survive. Those who are best abled will qualify
  on the basis of merit. Those whose race defined them as sub-human must
  now have no access to state support which state must, after all,
  retreat to allow those who have the means to survive and dominate, to
  dominate.

Our developmental model therefore includes the fundamental proposition that we need a strong state to achieve the sustainable social and economic development to which the World Bank referred. This is as true of our country as it is of all other African countries and other developing nations.

Given the serious development challenges we confront, focused on ending poverty and underdevelopment and the racial and gender disparities in our country, as well as bridging the development gap between ourselves and the countries of the North, we have thought it necessary that we undertake a critical assessment of the organisation and capacity of our democratic state.

When we delivered the state of the nation address earlier this year, we announced that we had asked our Forum of Directors-General, Fosad, to carry out this work. As the hon members are aware, earlier this month, the Cabinet discussed the Fosad report at a meeting attended by Deputy Ministers, premiers and the national and provincial directors-general, and asked Fosad to do more work on this issue.

Reflecting the challenges we face, given our history and therefore the legacy that democratic South Africa inherited, our Constitution prescribes that the democratic state has to pursue such objectives as healing the divisions of the past, ensuring our unity in diversity, guaranteeing the equality of all our people across racial, gender and other divides, protecting the dignity and freeing the potential of each person, improving the quality of life of our people, and ensuring social justice for all.

Necessarily, the review of the functioning of the democratic state must assess whether it is organised and has the capacity to carry out these tasks. Success in this regard is fundamental to the very stability and viability of the democratic state and is therefore being addressed by the Fosad process as one of its most critical challenges.

Having achieved our liberation some time after the liberation of all other African countries, with the exception of Western Sahara, we have the advantage that we can learn from our continent’s experience to understand the importance of respecting the constitutional goals we have just listed to ensure the stability and viability of our democratic state.

The passage from the report of the World Bank, which we cited, mentioned the reality of failed states such as Liberia and Somalia. This must focus our attention on the failure in these countries to address the centrifugal tensions that ultimately led to the seemingly irreconcilable conflicts that caused the collapse of these states.

Nothing that is happening or has happened in our country suggests that our new democracy is threatened by such an eventuality. Indeed, many at home and abroad have noted the remarkable national cohesion we have achieved despite our past and continuing reality of deep-seated racial, gender and socioeconomic divisions.

However, this should not serve as a cause for complacency. There are various matters that arise as a part of our daily reality which indicate the fault lines that can emerge and generate conflicts that we do not need. I refer here to such issues as the few demonstrations that we have seen in some of our municipalities, apparently driven by feelings among some among the poor that so far the democratic order has failed them. I refer to the political mobilisation based on the assertion that the democratic order is focused on denying the Afrikaner people their identity and their legitimate rights, and the attempts to mobilise the Zulu-speaking people on the false basis that they share so-called national interests different from the interest of other South Africans. [Applause.]

We can say with confidence that none of these instances present any immediate danger to our democracy. But they do reflect and seek to exploit the class and nationality fault lines we inherited from our past which, if ever they took root, gaining popular support, would pose a threat to the stability of the democratic South Africa.

I mention all of these to make the point that one of the tasks of the Fosad process is to address the capacity of the democratic state to ensure our national and social cohesion, consistent with the prescriptions in our Constitution, and the fundamental task to build a democratic South Africa that belongs to all our people, united in their diversity.

In this regard, bearing in mind our involvement in the process of Africa’s renewal, we must mention that it is clear that the peace and stability that the peoples of Africa seek has to be based on the national and social cohesion we strive to guarantee for ourselves. The absence or weakness of this cohesion gives an impetus to the centrifugal tendencies to which we have referred. Understandably, these will be stronger in the national states created by colonialism and kept together in the past by the power of repression exercised by the colonial power, an experience shared by almost all of the African states.

Africa’s search for peace and stability, and therefore the creation of the necessary conditions for development, means that Africa and the AU should consciously confront this challenge. Our own support for Africa’s process of renewal means that we must develop the skill and the sensitivity to work with our sister African countries to achieve such social and national cohesion in all the countries of Africa.

The experience in many of the countries in which we are and have been involved directly confirms the correctness of these conclusions. Among others, this relates to the Comoros, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan.

We must add to all of this that it seems perfectly obvious that for the democratic state to properly discharge its responsibility to encourage the social and national cohesion we have spoken of, it is important that the state institutions should not become disconnected from the people. The people should not feel alienated from the very institutions of the democratic state, including this House, on which they have willingly placed their trust as the repositories of their aspirations.

The Fosad process is therefore evaluating the izimbizo programme that has become a permanent part of our system of governance, involving all spheres of government, to determine whether it is working effectively to ensure that no distance or disconnect takes place between the institutions of state and the people.

This evaluation includes other processes such as those led by the ward committees as well as others intended to ensure two-way communication between the government and the people. The recent demonstrations in some of our municipalities suggest that the interaction between the government and the people has not been as effective as it should be.

This relates in particular to the task to ensure that the people are mobilised to see themselves and act as an organic part of our system of governance. Experience on our continent during the last four decades and elsewhere in the world communicates the firm message that bridging the gap between the rulers and the ruled, on a daily basis, must be a defining feature of our democracy.

As indicated in the extract from our Constitution on the role of the President and the national executive that we cited earlier, one of the tasks of the national executive is to develop and implement national policy. Similarly, the provincial and local executive committees have the responsibility to develop and implement policy at their levels.

It should therefore be obvious that our review of the organisation and capacity of the state must include an assessment of the national, provincial and local executives. In this regard, we would like to draw attention to two matters in particular. These are, firstly, the commitment of the members of the executive committees to the values and objectives spelt out in our Constitution, including the socioeconomic rights listed under our Bill of Rights; and, secondly, the capacity to formulate policies to advance the objectives contained in the same Constitution.

The first of these requires that we ensure that the proper discharge of the functions of these executive structures is not undermined or compromised by corruption. In this regard, we have to take special note of the pervasiveness in our society of the drive for the accumulation of personal wealth at all costs.

In his book, The Crisis of Global Capitalism, the financier, George Soros wrote:

The promotion of self-interest to a moral principle has corrupted politics and the failure of politics has become the strongest argument in favour of giving markets an even freer rein. According to market fundamentalism, all social activities and human interaction should be looked at as a transactional contract-based relationship and valued in terms of a single common denominator, money.

We would be deluding ourselves if we believed that all members of our own executives are immune from the global phenomenon described by George Soros, the influence of a market fundamentalism that makes the personal pursuit of wealth a dominant feature of social activity.

With regard to the matters we are discussing, of particular importance, of course, is the harm that would be and is caused to the development process by the abuse of state power by members of the executive corruptly to accumulate personal wealth. It is therefore necessary that as we assess the organisation and capacity of the state to ensure that it plays its developmental role, we must make certain that we have the proper mechanism in place to deter corrupt practice and to catch the wrongdoers.

The Fosad exercise should give the necessary attention to this matter, extending beyond those occupying executive positions to cover the entirety of the state machinery, encompassing all three spheres of government, including the institution of traditional leadership.

In this context, we must mention that independent Africa has provided some of the worst global examples of the gross abuse of state power to enrich elites that control the levers of state power. This underlines the importance of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and Nepad’s African Review Mechanism, APRM. As hon members know, the APRM seeks to establish the rules and set the mechanisms to contain the corruption and poor governance that, as in Latin America, has imposed intolerable burdens on the poor.

As we strive to contribute to our continent’s renewal, consistent with our national efforts to ensure that we build a state machinery that serves the interests of the people, free of corrupt practice, we have to do everything possible to ensure the success of the APRM.

The second matter we mentioned concerns the capacity of our executive committees to formulate the correct policies consistent with the social objectives contained in our Constitution. In this regard, we must observe that our society is involved in an endogenous and rapid process of change and transformation. This is happening within the context of the process of globalisation, from which we cannot isolate ourselves and which also imposes a rapid process of change on all countries, including our own.

An essential element contributing to the capacity of our executive committees to discharge their responsibility to formulate policies that would help the democratic state to meet the objectives stated in our Constitution is as accurate and objective an understanding as possible of what is happening in our changing society. The Fosad process must therefore assess all matters relevant to this important issue. This includes the capacity of the state to gather and process information, and thus enhance the capacity of the executive to determine policy on the basis of objective reality rather than perception.

This is particularly important given the contemporary role played by the media, which is capable of and does play a critical role in determining public consciousness, thus influencing the actions of members of executive committees. Necessarily, as politicians, these members are sensitive to public opinion and may thus formulate and implement policies informed by media perceptions, which may themselves reflect an ideological standpoint rather than an objective social reality.

I believe that by now, 11 years since our liberation, we know enough to know that our capacity to gather and process information, to enhance our understanding of our reality, has been insufficient to give our executive committees the full scope of knowledge that these committees need. By now, 11 years after our liberation, we also know enough to know how information, whether false or real, and however authentic it may appear, and widely propagated through the media, is used by contending political forces to determine the national agenda.

Our review of the democratic state will therefore have to pay particular attention to the challenge to build the necessary institutions and systems to enable our executive structures to collect, process and analyse information relating to the evolution of our society, as well as the impact of national and international policies and developments on our society.

The APRM will also have to attend to this matter in sister countries that almost certainly have radically less capacity than we have to collect, process and analyse information relating to the evolution of their societies. This emphasises the central importance of the challenge to build strong African states if we are to achieve the goals of the African Union and its development programme, Nepad.

Our Constitution prescribes that our executive organs must both develop and implement policy. The capacity to implement policy is fundamentally dependent on the organisation and capacity of the Public Service in general. The Fosad process is therefore assessing this centrally important part of the public sector to make the appropriate proposals.

Our experience over the last 11 years in this context suggests that we have to attend to a number of issues that are critical to the strengthening of the developmental state we have been striving to build. As in all other countries we must proceed from the fact that the state is the largest social institution in any country. We must therefore expect that its capital, human resource, managerial, technological and organisational requirements will reflect the society from which it originates.

In addition the process of globalisation imposes obligations on modern states, which in the case of the developing world represent imperatives imposed by the developed world that in many instances they have no capacity to meet, but which they have no power to repudiate.

Unfortunately, even the involuntary failure to implement what is decreed by the most powerful in the world includes the threat and the danger of sanctions against the defaulting developing countries with negative consequences for their development efforts aimed at realising even the most basic aspirations of their peoples. Bearing all these considerations in mind, I’d like to indicate a number of other issues that the Fosad process is addressing.

It is clear that, as a developmental state, we must ensure that all three spheres of our system of government have the necessary professional, managerial and skilled personnel to enable the state machinery to discharge its developmental responsibilities. The Fosad process will therefore have to indicate the needs of the state in this regard, and propose what has to be done adequately to address this challenge. Necessarily, this must include some information of what we have in this regard, weighed against our current and future needs.

In this context it is patently obvious that our greatest shortfalls are reflected in the local government sphere. Given the critical importance of this sphere of government, it is also important that we ensure that the other spheres of government function in a manner that helps to empower local government properly to discharge its responsibilities.

In this regard, all of us must give maximum support to Project Consolidate, instituted by the Ministry and Department of Provincial and Local Government radically to improve the performance of our local governments and their capacity to achieve significantly improved local economic development and service delivery.

The challenges facing local government oblige us also to focus on managing the hierarchy of state power in a manner that ensures that our system of governance works optimally to achieve our policy objectives. We have to ensure that all our spheres of government honour the constitutional principle of co-operative governance, especially to meet our real and constitutionally defined socioeconomic imperatives.

In reality all our spheres of government share the same goals as defined by our reality, our national policies and the objectives stated in our Constitution. However, the legal, conventional and procedural processes we have put in place might have resulted in processes that make it difficult for the various institutions of state to act together in a co-ordinated fashion to achieve the common outcomes that all our spheres of government actually share.

The Fosad process therefore has to assess what we need to do with regard to the organisation and functioning of the state machinery to ensure that it operates as a seamless mechanism, capable of responding to the inclusive development and reconstruction challenges that are fundamental to the building of a new South Africa.

In this regard, while recognising the need to specialise, with reference to different government departments and the spheres of government, we have to ensure that all our departments and echelons of government are able, and actually act together in concert, to realise the common goals we all seek.

We have to ensure that we do not undermine our capacity to meet our national objectives by allowing the state institutions and personnel to remain imprisoned within unnecessary, restrictive and counterproductive silos of action, policy formation and resource allocation.

Among other things, this means that we should strengthen the cluster system in terms of the functioning of the various government departments, build a truly effective system of intergovernmental relations, and create one unified public service covering all spheres of government.

Like many countries elsewhere in Africa and the world, we operate within the context of a mixed economy, so described because it has both a private and a public sector. In our case the private sector remains the dominant part of our economy, despite the size and importance of the public sector, as represented by its ownership of productive assets, its capacity to provide economic services, and its regulatory obligations.

Nevertheless, the democratic state disposes of enough power to play what the World Bank described as a “catalytic and facilitating” role with regard to our economy. This includes creating and sustaining the conditions for the market, including private capital, to operate maximally, bearing in mind the social obligations that bear on the state.

In this regard the state has a duty continuously to address the challenge of providing a better life for all, and to address this objective it must work to ensure that our economy grows and develops, enabling this economy to create the greater wealth we need to help us accomplish the goal of improving the living standards of all our people.

These issues are critical to the achievement of the objective stated in our Constitution to “improve the quality of life of all citizens”, as well as the realisation of the socioeconomic goals contained in our Bill of Rights and the subsequent decisions of the Constitutional Court. It is therefore imperative that the Fosad process addresses the challenge of the capacity and organisation of the state in this regard, including the capacity of local government to facilitate economic activity. This review must include the impact of the regulatory activities of the democratic state, assessing whether they act as an incentive or disincentive in terms of encouraging healthy and required economic activity.

From the beginning of our democracy we recognised the importance of the concept and practice of social partnership to respond to our socioeconomic challenges. This found expression in the establishment of Nedlac.

The Job and Growth and Development Summits were organised by the social partners, giving practical expression to their determination to act together in concert. However, the follow-up to the decisions they took brought to the fore the need for us to ensure that government discharges its obligations to contribute to the effective functioning of our social partnership. The Fosad process should therefore help us to achieve this objective.

Our Constitution places the Presidency at the apex of our system of governance. Among other things, it has the responsibility to “co-ordinate the functions of state departments and administrations”. This co-ordination is central to the effective functioning of government. The Fosad process is therefore assessing whether the Presidency has the capacity and is organised in a manner that enables it to discharge its role of supervision and co-ordination.

The passage from the report of the World Bank on the state in contemporary society said, “Without an effective state, sustainable development, both economic and social, is impossible.” The many and serious developmental challenges we face make it imperative that we too ensure that we have an effective state that lives up to its responsibilities to help build the kind of South Africa required by our Constitution.

What we will do in this regard should not only be of benefit to our people, but may make a positive contribution to the efforts of other African countries as they, like us, respond to the task of building effective states dedicated to serving the masses of the peoples of Africa.

I am honoured to commend the Budget Vote of the Presidency to hon members. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Mr L N DIALE: Madam Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President of the Republic, Deputy President, Cabinet Ministers, hon members, yesterday an unfortunate incident happened in this august institution of our people. This unfortunate incident defiled the decorum of our people’s tribunal. I am referring to the senseless and groundless attack by hon Gibson of the DA against the Freedom Charter. [Applause.]

I refuse to allow the beneficiaries of apartheid to insult the moral vision of our people who, some 50 years ago, declared: ``South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white!’’ [Applause.] The unprovoked attack on the Freedom Charter represents political bankruptcy by the most reactionary political malcontents in our country who are yearning for the restoration of white supremacy. [Applause.]

The implication of this dastardly racist attack confirms a view shared by the majority of South Africans that the Freedom Charter is not on the agenda of the DA. The nefarious views of the DA compelled it to pursue parallel programmes to the national democratic objectives of the nation. By insulting the revolutionary aspirations of our people that were endorsed by the mass democratic movement, the DA reveals its proven track-record of being lacking in patriotism.

As one of the 15 000 volunteers who campaigned for the moral vision of the Freedom Charter, I am honoured to take up the cudgels and assert its moral authority. [Applause.] It was the heroic sacrifices of our people that compelled the die-hard racists to negotiate for the transfer of power to the democratic forces led by our movement, the ANC. [Applause.]

Patriot hon Van Schalkwyk, by endorsing the Freedom Charter, together with the majority of the NNP, crossed the Rubicon into a ``South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.’’ [Applause.]

An overwhelming majority of our people has accepted the programme of reconciliation that is the bedrock of our democracy. Our detractors will not succeed in erasing the Freedom Charter from the collective memory of our people. This self-evident truth is attested to by our Constitution that is underpinned by the moral vision of the Freedom Charter. [Applause.]

Phala tša mona marula, di a tloga! [Legofsi.] [Let me leave, now that I have said all I wanted to say! [Applause.]]

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, when future generations look back on the Mbeki Presidency, I believe they will find much to admire. Indeed, today is Africa Day, and I am sure history will remember the hon Mr Mbeki’s tenure in office as an era of peacemaking and institution-building across the continent.

I am sure history will remember not so kindly the denialist approach on HIV/Aids . . . [Interjections.] . . . nor the solidarity with the illegitimate regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, because those are the indelible stains on what could otherwise be a very significant Presidency.

But I am very pleased to take up the hon President’s invitation to discuss the role of the state, as he has done in great detail today. It was very interesting that the President quoted from the Financial Times, because if he read the Financial Times of yesterday, he would have seen the editorial which spoke about the challenges facing the Federal Republic of Germany, precisely because its chancellor has not introduced sufficient reforms quickly enough into the role of the state, which now incapacitates his government.

Indeed, our President lived in Britain in the 1960s and the 1970s. [Interjections.] In Britain in the 1960s and the 1970s there was a national consensus on the role of the state. And the national consensus, whether it was Labour or Conservative, was that the state should basically be everywhere. The state should set prices, the state should set wages, the state should nationalise, and the state should direct industry and economy.

The consequence of that approach, as the hon President well knows, is that Great Britain became, in a period of a generation or two, what was called “the sick man of Europe”. In fact, it was only in introducing market-based reforms; it was only in rolling back the state and its role that Britain went up, as other countries in Europe went down.

Therefore I do not underestimate the importance of the proposals contained in the latest ANC document for economic reform called “Development and Underdevelopment”. Indeed, if implemented, these reforms could break the cycle of unemployment and poverty that have trapped millions in South Africa for decades in underdevelopment.

Indeed, I would like to congratulate the ANC if that document, in fact, represents party thinking on a leadership level on a fundamental change of heart. Because in 1996, when the SA Foundation – the top 50 companies of South Africa – proposed similar reforms in a document called “Growth for all”, it was the ANC as a political party which warned, and I quote: “ . . . the policy proposals contained therein could be a recipe for disaster if they were ever to be adopted by the South African government.”

Happily, it would appear - and I don’t want to overstate the appearance – it would appear that the ANC now seems to have embraced some of the very ideas it once dismissed, ideas, I might say, that the DA and its predecessors have promoted from this very platform since 1994. [Interjections.] [Applause.] And, hon President, probably why Britain did so badly is because you were living there at the same time that it was doing so badly. [Interjections.] Hon President, I can assure you that if those reforms do in fact become the substance of government policy, you will have the full support of the DA.

We are not here to provide opposition for opposition’s sake. I believe that principles married to great purpose in a nation’s interest are the central purpose of politics and political activity. It was the Minister of Finance yesterday, Mr Manuel, who told this House that China had changed the paradigm of the developing world. And I am quite sure he is correct. But the key to China’s success in part, which has led to 9,5% GDP growth per annum for the last 20 years – an incredible figure – has been to roll back its private sector from the dead hand of state control. I’m sure we must do the same here.

I’m sure that if your Communist Party was adopting their Communist Party economic policies, our country might also have 9% economic growth. [Applause.] It will mean changing and ending, for example, some of the artificial protections that are enjoyed by employed workers so that unemployed workers can find jobs. It will mean privatising state-owned enterprises so that the hundreds of billions of rand in government’s hands can be used to create new investment and ownership, and indeed empowerment opportunities.

Now, obviously, one shouldn’t, and I would hope this government won’t, follow that or any other country’s example to the letter, because the one thing China doesn’t have which South Africa has are democratic institutions that are unique. We should make the most of them in achieving our goals, but we have to begin literally immediately.

Now the hon President spoke at great length today about the role of the state. I believe, in fact, that the contradiction here – and all our friends in the Communist Party and Cosatu have already started rubbishing the reform proposals that the governing party has come up with, so they don’t need any opposition from us; they’ve got their own opposition inside – and one of the real stumbling blocks is ironically that hunger for power within the state disables the state from fulfilling some of the very core functions that the hon President spelt out so eloquently today. This is because the government often seems unable to recognise where the role of the state should begin and where it should end.

One of the demonstrations and riots that the President drew attention to in his speech today is in the community of Khayelitsha. As I understood the demand there . . . [Interjections.] I know where it is and I know they are complaining against your councillors. You see, you’ve got all the councillors there and their big complaint is that their councillors are so rotten and useless. [Interjections.] [Applause.] One of their demands – but we’ll change that in December – is the demand after 11 years for flush toilets for the residents of Khayelitsha.

There is another demand in Mpumalanga that school textbooks be delivered on time on the first day of school. There’s a demand among our community of HIV/Aids sufferers that they have access to antiretrovirals. But a government that hasn’t done those things is now deciding who the chief executive of Anglo American should be, what the board of De Beers should look like, how much profit pharmacists should make, and who should lead the SA Rugby Board. [Interjections.] Now, surely here, there’s a collision between what might be called the business of government and the government of business?

Earlier this week the hon Minister of Finance – he’s been very busy this week – was complaining that the provincial governments are failing to spend their budgets. That isn’t just a robbery of the residents of those provinces; it’s also a robbery of the taxpayers of South Africa, because if you take the tax and you don’t spend it on the purpose for which it was budgeted, then in fact you’re cheating people twice over.

But every province, because of the design of our ruling party and their success in the last elections, is now under ANC control. So who else is there to blame now? And at this time the ANC cannot even point a finger at the past. When the DA ran the Western Cape there was no underspending of the provincial budgets. [Interjections.] There was delivery of antiretrovirals, and there were better matric pass rates.

Now we heard from the last speaker – the comedy of 10 minutes that we had – that there is a great degree of controversy about the Freedom Charter and its place in our country 50 years on. But the truth is there is a fundamental incompatibility between the socialist economics of the Freedom Charter and the latest government party, or governing party, documents on the economy. I suppose the more the government invokes the Freedom Charter, the more they intend to depart from some of its economic prescriptions.

What is quite clear is that the ANC is running the Freedom Charter as its election platform, rather than facing up to some serious problems in the performance of service delivery which even the President felt obliged to mention this afternoon. [Applause.] Surely we’ve actually got to break the bad habits of the past and not simply reintroduce them? Surely we cannot keep importing the past into our present, while we always remember it? Surely we cannot make race the basis for our continuous thinking?

In the name of transformation, the ANC is extending the reach of the state into every nook and cranny of our society beyond its capacity and often beyond the right to exercise power. The hon President drew attention to ward committees at municipal level, quite rightly. Actually, we find in Durban that ward committees are being rigged. We had to go to court to get the results changed, because nonresidents were being imported into wards that they did not have any part in, and ANC cadres are now sent to control DA wards in Cape Town where they do not even live.

In education – and that must be the fundamental building block of any national recovery to which the President has correctly drawn our attention – the ANC is restricting the power of school governing bodies to hire teachers, putting 4 000 functional public schools at risk of failure. In the judiciary, which is the absolute bulwark for any kind of state, whether it is developmental, whether it is caring, whether it is independent but certainly if it is going to be constitutional, the ANC is attempting to force legal and constitutional changes that pose a grave danger to the independence of the courts and faith in our legal system. This is all about the drive for total control, and it is that drive which is a threat to the democratic gains that we fought so hard to achieve.

They are also a threat to the national economic goals, which the President reiterated again today. Because a state that tries to do everything, will land up achieving nothing. So, indeed, I agree, hon President, we must reform the state. But the question is: How much reform and, indeed, at the end of the day, how much state?

The hon President quite correctly and, I think, bravely, took on the issue of corruption in the heart of his own executive and in executives across the country. But let us actually look at the record and the severe cases of corruption that have happened on the watch of the President.

First and foremost, there is the arms deal. In 2001 the President, with respect, misled the nation when he said he had received legal advice suggesting that he should block the Heath Special Investigating Unit from probing the matter, and that turned out not to be the case. In 2003 the nation was misled again when we were told that allegations that the executive had heavily edited the draft report of the joint investigating team were “groundless accusations”. That turned out also to be a correct allegation. Now that the Auditor-General is being compelled to release his draft report, it appears these allegations were substantially true.

There have also been a series of oil scandals, which surround the ANC leadership. First, an allocation of Nigerian oil, that was solicited by the President on behalf of the government, was allegedly diverted to a company registered in the Cayman Islands whose namesake in South Africa reportedly includes prominent ANC members as shareholders.

Mr T M MASUTHA: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Is it parliamentary for the hon Leader of the Opposition to accuse the President of having misled the House? [Interjections.]

The SPEAKER: Order! It is not unparliamentary if he does not say he deliberately misled. That is what is unparliamentary – to say he deliberately misled. But he said he misled. Proceed, hon member.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thank you very much. Now, allegations surfaced only last weekend that the ANC funded its 2004 election campaign using funds from a parastatal, Petro SA, that were allegedly diverted through a company with close connections to the ruling party. Several of the people – and the hon President, to his great credit, actually said it here today – who have been appointed to the Cabinet and other executive posts, have used their public positions as bridges to private fortunes. There are people serving in the Cabinet today who are in that position.

Here in Parliament, among many of our esteemed colleagues, there are five ANC MPs who have been convicted by the courts of our country – not by the court of public opinion, or by the DA, or by the press – the criminal courts, of fraud for their role in the Travelgate scandal. [Interjections.] Yet, instead of punishing these criminals for stealing from the public, the party of the President has protected them.

Through all these affairs, hon President, you have failed to . . .

The SPEAKER: Order! Yes, hon Chief Whip? Order, hon member, could you take your seat.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: I would like you to take a point of order, Madam Speaker, on the allegation that there are members of this House who are Cabinet Ministers who fall into the category of having enriched themselves. I think you need a substantive motion to make such an allegation.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: I suggest you . . . The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: I don’t need a reply from you, please. I’m addressing the Chair. [Applause.]

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, may I address you?

The SPEAKER: No, just hold on. Hold on.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, I would be delighted if you took that approach. I would also be grateful if you would take the hon President’s speech under advisement on the same basis, since I am sure the Chief Whip wants the President’s speech interrogated for the same . . .[Inaudible.]

The SPEAKER: Hon member, actually I’m the one who is supposed to be addressing you. Hon Leon, I’m the one who is supposed to be addressing you on the point of order. Hon member, I will look at the Hansard to check what exactly he said about members of the Cabinet. Proceed, hon member.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: In all these affairs, hon President, you have failed to appoint judicial commissions of inquiry, save for the most trivial and tangential questions. Indeed, what we have had in the same period is the crippling of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the reining in of the Scorpions. These actually call out for a different approach.

The hon President is very fond of quoting the Chinese dictator, Mao Zedong, who said: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.” But the debate that really launched a change in China was not that which launched the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. The real turning point in modern Chinese history was the speech by Deng Xiaoping at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1978, when he said: “Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it’s a good cat.”

The lesson for South Africa should surely be that if we are to take, as the hon Minister of Finance suggested, the paradigm of China, we should care less about the colour of the person who provides a service and more about the quality of the service he or she provides. [Interjections.]

All across our nation today – and the hon President drew attention to serious challenges in our Public Service – we have experienced, qualified and dedicated public servants who happen to be from racial minority groups being pushed aside for new appointees. Yet, these new appointees often lack the basic skills for the job.

The newspaper Rapport on the weekend editorialised as follows on education: “Die demografiese profiel van die onderwysers word belangriker as die bekwaamheid van die onderwysers.” I think that is true. There are apparently more than 63 000 vacancies in key posts in our Public Service, which are not being filled in part because this will upset the racial quotas within the departments. When are the racial quotas going to take second place to the service imperatives for all South Africans?

It is very interesting if you go back in documents in time, as we did. If you look at the ANC’s 1992 document “Ready to Govern” - when the ANC was where we are, temporarily, in opposition - the ANC said, and I quote: “The whole of the civil service will have to be opened up to make it a truly South African civil service and not just the administrative arm of a racial minority.” But then the ANC added a crucial qualification. It said: “We do not support giving positions to unqualified people simply on the grounds of race and gender.” They said that the civil service should be impartial in its functioning, and that it should be accountable both to Parliament and to the broad community it served.

Those prescriptions, if they had been applied in the past 11 years, would have made South Africa fundamentally a much better, a much healthier, a much more service-oriented place than it ever has been in the past 11 years. So, if we practise what we preach, if we put into practice our best intentions and the best ideas of everyone and not just of one particular party, I believe South Africa will be on the right path to a great future. I thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker, President, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, members of the diplomatic corps, distinguished guests, sadly, what remains consistent in the DA is that neoliberalism and neoconservatism are still very strong amongst them. We have been subjected to a tirade of absolute nonsense without any real suggestions of what we must do. [Applause.]

Today, on Africa Day, we recall that on 8 May 1996, on the historic occasion of the adoption of our country’s Constitution, you, Mr President, defined for all the people of our country, irrespective of their heritage and political persuasion, a claim that we are all Africans. As Africans, either by birth, choice or claim, it is incumbent on all of us as South Africans, irrespective of our heritage or political persuasion, to do all that is necessary to develop amongst ourselves a common understanding of the challenges people on our continent, to whose future our own future is bound, have to face.

Perhaps it may be necessary, and I believe especially for the DA, that before we arrive at this common understanding we would have to humble ourselves by learning about Africa’s history, geography, civilisation, culture, cuisine, music, language, arts, stories, sculpture, architecture, science and religions.

It is also necessary for us to learn and to teach our children the names of African countries and their capitals, as well as the names of African rivers and mountains, as we have done so with respect to other regions of the world. Most of all, we should humble ourselves by learning about Africa’s people and the conditions of their lives that have been shaped by centuries of slavery, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism and the lost opportunities of postindependent Africa.

All of these have shaped, in one way or another, the current challenges we face on our continent today. When we have done all this, we will give true meaning to the claim that we are indeed all

Africans whose future is bound to the future of all other Africans. Sadly, I do not believe members on my left have accepted that they are Africans. [Interjections.]

As Africans, at this historical moment with so many uncertainties and concerns, we must answer the question: What are the major challenges confronting South Africa, Africa and the world? Since the terrorist attacks against the United States, in September 2001, there has been an increasing tendency to simplistically reduce the problems of the world to the explosive combination of global terrorist organisations and the use of weapons of mass destruction. We do not accept this.

The globalisation of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and organised crime are risks and threats which we must find answers to. However, we cannot successfully meet these challenges without tackling the fundamental challenge of growing inequalities between rich and poor countries - with hunger pandemic and prevalent all over the world, with the poverty and marginalisation of millions of people.

Based on a truism that foreign policy reflects national policy, our foreign policy is driven by three interrelated challenges: Firstly, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. We seek to address this challenge in a period of unprecedented globalisation. I am sure even the DA will accept that whilst globalisation is creating immense opportunities of growth and wealth for some, it has produced an abundance of poverty for millions.

Increasingly the world is being constructed into two contrasting global villages: One in which the rich are getting richer and another where the poor of the world are getting poorer and marginalised. This everincreasing gap between the haves and the have-nots is occurring between countries, within countries; between regions, within regions; between the North and the South; within countries of the North and within countries of the South.

The world, as a direct result of globalisation, has been cast as a vast ocean of poverty in which a few islands of prosperity are to be found. Never before has the world witnessed such unprecedented alienation and marginalisation of peoples and societies from the institutions that shape and direct their lives.

In 2000, the historic Millennium Summit Declaration proclaimed:

We believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that
globalisation becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. Only
through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based
upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalisation be made
fully inclusive and equitable.

What progress have we made since the Millennium Summit? The Secretary- General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, recently said:

With the number of chronically hungry people on the rise around the
globe, and living standards in some countries diminishing, instead of
improving, the world is falling a long way short in its drive to achieve
the millennium development goals.

How can we accept the reality that out of a world population of six billion almost half have incomes of less than $2 a day? The poorest 10% of the world’s population receive only 1,6% of the income of the richest 10% of the population. The poorest 57% of the world’s population hardly receive the income of the richest 1%.

In recent decades, the poorest 5% of the world’s population have lost more than a quarter of their purchasing power, while the richest increased their real income by 12%. The national per capita income of the 20 richest countries is 37 times larger than that of the 20 poorest, a gap that has doubled in size over the last 40 years.

For Africa the debate once again brought into sharp focus the reality that Africa is a continent where poverty is on the increase. We cannot be complacent when we are faced with the reality that over 40% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa live below the international poverty line of $1 a day. More than 140 million young Africans are illiterate. The mortality rate of children under five years of age is 140 per 1 000. This, I believe, is a consequence of this free market that the DA keeps propounding. [Interjections.]

To reverse this negative trend requires a substantial worldwide commitment, preceded by sustained efforts at local, national and regional level for democracy, peace and development in Africa. These objectives must also be pursued simultaneously. The commitment to achieving them, not only in Africa, but everywhere in the world, is what binds us together in our international values.

Who can challenge the assertion that we live in a world that is richer than ever before, and that is entirely capable of eradicating hunger? However, there is simply a lack of political commitment amongst the rich to challenge the existing policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer, something I am sure that the DA is attempting to do through its policies in South Africa.

The former Director-General of the ILO noted that the poor of the world have the will to survive, but need support and possibilities to move up the ladder of opportunity. They expect that the structural failures, the ineffective economic and social systems, the inadequate political responses, the bankrupt policies of some of the international organisations and insufficient international support, which are the causes of their poverty, will be addressed.

President Mbeki, speaking to the United Nations’ General Assembly’s Fifty- Ninth Session said that to date we have not made much progress, because we have not confronted the difficult issues that relate to the users, and perhaps the abusers, of power – something I hope the DA begins to understand. [Interjections.]

HON MEMBERS: Mugabe!

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I think you have Mugabe on your brains. [Laughter.] And there is very little there. [Laugher.]

An HON MEMBER: And he has you in his pocket!

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I am not surprised, with such little brains, you can only remember one fact, and that is Mugabe. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

President Mbeki went on to say:

We must recognise that global poverty constitutes the deepest and most dangerous structural fault in the contemporary world economy and global societies. It constitutes a most challenging structural fault. Logically this means that a correction of this fault has to be at the centre of the politics, policies and programmes of progressive thinking.

Clearly, world realities lead us to conclude that the Washington Consensus and the neoliberal paradigm, which the DA propagates, are failed policies that must be consigned to the dustbins of history.

What are the alternatives? We must challenge the hegemony of the neoliberal and conservative paradigm, which slavishly worships the market and religiously argues for the weakening of the state. It wants the diminishing role of the state as a catalyst for economic transformation. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Dr M G BUTHELEZI: Your Excellency the President, Your Excellency the Deputy President, all members of the Executive and hon members of the House, on the day of the Presidency’s Vote we celebrate Africa’s Day. It is the day on which the Organisation for African Unity was created. It is inevitable that we remember the role the OAU played in the liberation of most African countries and of Southern Africa in particular.

I wish to congratulate the President on the role that he has played in the continent since the emancipation of South Africa and on the role that he has played in the development of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

As I have often said in response to the President’s state of the nation address, there is a lot that we have achieved in the development of our people in the last 11 years. And yet while we can rightly be proud of these efforts, there is a gain that the imagery keeps on referring to of whether the glass is half full or half empty.

The reactions we see in different parts of our country reflect the fact that our people can no longer tolerate lack of real delivery in respect of employment, housing, health care and protection against crime and corruption. We are very grateful that His Excellency the President referred to some of these evils.

Having repeatedly lauded what our own achievements are, I must within the limited time allotted to me now consider our underachievement so that we can concentrate on doing something about our shortcomings. We must therefore now focus exclusively on these shortcomings because they are killing our nation and are not mitigated by whatever else is achieved in any other field.

We have come from a long history of suffering and now face the price and humiliation of self-inflicted injuries. There are tight limits to what a government can do through its actions to improve on the conditions of its citizens. Yet, there seems to be almost no attention given to the damages government’s inaction and bad policies can cause to any given nation. Let us therefore look at ourselves as a nation.

In short, it goes without saying that no one in South Africa today is safe. Anyone I know has been a victim of crime or lives in terror of becoming one. In all our urban centres and residential areas alike, the state has abdicated its fundamental duty of protecting lives and property, and mostly private security companies have assumed this function. The state and the ruling government are perceived as morally bankrupt because of their failure to provide for the lives and property of its citizens.

While we are playing a very plausible role in peacekeeping operations on the continent, our own citizens on the other hand are not safe. With sufficient resources allocated to it, crime is a problem which can be easily resolved if one has the political will. But there does not seem to be any.

In each of my responses I have made to the state of the nation address I have repeatedly expressed my concern about the breakdown in our criminal justice system. On 15 February this year, in my response to the President’s state of the nation address, I mentioned that I was concerned about the activities of certain individuals in KwaZulu-Natal whom I mentioned. One of my colleagues in this House, the hon Dr Cwele, took exception to my mentioning the name of Sputla Mpungose and his companion. [Laughter.]

The hon Dr Cwele took me to task for tarnishing the names of his fellow ANC members without any justification, as he said. And yet that person, Sputla Mpungose, is appearing in court this very week facing charges ranging from rape to multiple murders. One allegation involves the shooting of a victim of the rape, her mother and another child who was in the room, ostensibly to prevent the murder case proceeding to court. And yet this man and his colleague have been hobnobbing with the Minister of Safety and Security in KwaZulu-Natal, with other members of the Executive Council and very important members of our community in the province.

I thank the President for responding to my intervention in this Parliament by writing to me. He informed me that he has asked the Premier of KwaZulu- Natal to appoint a commission and I thanked his Excellency the President but pointed out in my response, with due respect, that it did not seem right to me to delegate the appointment of a commission to the Premier since the province and the Premier do not have the line function of policing. I also expressed the hope that the commission should not be a repeat performance of the TRC and we are concerned about what is going on just now more than the past, when people are murdered and nothing happens, no arrests or prosecutions take place and to my surprise even one of the participants in the TRC has been appointed by the Premier as a commissioner. That is what concerns me.

The other issue concerns joblessness. Almost half of our population is unemployed or underemployed. As I have predicted from this podium for the past 10 years, all the ruling party’s programmes, the ANC’s employment generation programmes, have not achieved as much as we hoped. Unemployment has in fact risen. There is no worse social evil than unemployment for it is the root cause of all others. Even Cosatu has threatened mass action on unemployment, yet the ANC government has stubbornly refused to take the aggressive measures to promote and accelerate the economic growth which I and my party and other parties and many economists have constantly identified, which range from privatisation to maximum flexibility in the labour market and full deregulation of all our market forces to break existing monopolies and cartels.

Economic protectionism has failed in this country as it has in any other country which has tried it in the past. I remember as a former member of the President’s Cabinet how Cosatu and the SA Communist Party threatened rolling mass action when Cabinet decided to do something about some of our rigid labour laws. It is some of these laws that constrain would-be investors from coming here to create employment.

I also proposed concrete initiatives such as the Green Revolution to make South Africa the bread and fruit basket of the world and the development of a long-term strategy to build us an industrial basis enabling our country to bring its own products to the global markets in the decades to come.

I suggested investing in training and emerging technologies such as biotechnology, identifying now the products for which South Africa is to be known 20 years from now. Yet not only has none of this been done, but we are blindly failing to acknowledge the bankruptcy of our training efforts which are costing our country the extraordinary cost of 1% of our nation payroll with very limited results.

Policy failures of this nature should discredit the legitimacy of a government anywhere to continue to rule a country. Yet such failures grow pale before this extraordinary policy disaster of HIV and Aids and the fight against corruption, which the President said so much about today.

Hundreds of thousands of our people have died and continue to die unnecessarily because of bad government policies on this issue. I thank the Director-General and the secretary of Cabinet, the Rev Chikane, for sending me information on what is being done on behalf of the President in particular on the HIV/Aids problem.

The machinery of government covering the three tiers of government is disintegrating under endemic corruption, as the President pointed out, affecting all its spheres and branches. Let us face up to the harsh reality. We have seen throughout Africa sound administrations built during the colonial period disintegrating after liberation because of corruption and inefficiency as soon as African leaders took over. We thought that this would not happen here because we felt that we are different. However, not just by feeling different does one prevent evils of this nature.

I believe that we must act differently and demonstrate zero tolerance for each act of corruption or inefficiency irrespective of whoever is involved in this. This is not happening at the rate commensurate with the scale of corruption at all levels. This involves members of all parties.

Let us talk frankly to one another. Large scale looting and personal enrichment are taking place all around us while inefficiency is mounting. Basic functions like answering telephones are not performed in most government offices or even in our state-owned telephone company or airline, which one may verify when attempting to make a travel reservation or telephone enquiry. Yet, every year the top managers of departments perform the empty ritual of retreating for a week in luxurious seclusion to formulate strategic plans, which either all look the same or remain unfulfilled.

The fiscal picture of our state is sound. I have always said on this podium that we are fortunate because we have a very competent Minister of Finance. The vessel is seaworthy but is unfortunately moving nowhere. [Laughter.] We need more than merely balancing our state’s books when as an enterprise this government of ours has not produced enough and does not deliver enough.

We have seen our people demanding houses, which they were promised for the past 10 years. Yet, at parity of expenditure through inefficiency, waste and corruption, this government is delivering less and less houses than ever before, and some of the money is going into the pockets of thieves even in departments.

While we all admire the policies of the Minister of Housing, I must emphasise that the truth is that we have so far not been able to cope with the demands of our people for housing. It is not just I saying this to score political points as an opposition leader, but what is going on here in the Western Cape just now concerning housing, actually speaks volumes.

On the one side of the ledger, hundreds of thousands if not millions of our people are suffering increasingly. On the other side of the ledger a small number of people are becoming richer and richer, not through work but through corruption and programmes of fast enrichment. We must correct this imbalance as the President pointed out, and we would like to see the Presidency focusing more on doing so. Today we leave this House with the hope that it is going to be so since the President focuses so much on this problem.

For this reason, I remain committed to our opposition role and will continue to challenge government on these issues and praise government where it has done well. South Africa needs the hope of a democratic alternative and a better future. Every effort must be made to challenge the ANC at the forthcoming local government elections to bring our country progress and development and to save our betrayed democratic revolution. I thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Chair, hon President of the Republic, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, distinguished guests, thank you for the opportunity to share with you some of our activities in the implementation of our programme of action, especially on such an important day for our continent. The celebration of Africa Day provides an opportunity for us to reaffirm our Africanness, and to promote our African pride and identity, united in our diversity.

The importance attached by this country to promoting unity in diversity is evidenced by the fact that we have, in our Constitution, institutions such as the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Communities. We are unique in the world. In the era where other nations seek homogeneity, we are proud of our diversity.

In my meeting with the commission, yesterday, we discussed at length the importance of building this dynamic nation. And I am satisfied that the commissioners have a clear vision of how to execute their mandate.

Part of addressing our diversity and cultural heritage has included attending to the issue of traditional leadership. This institution has been undermined from the era of colonialism to that of apartheid. Since 1994, our government has worked to restore the respect and dignity of traditional leaders and the institution as a whole. I must emphasise that no government has ever worked so hard, proactively and deliberately, to protect and enhance the institution of traditional leadership, as this ANC-led government. [Applause.]

In the hurly-burly of politics, claims are often made that this government is seeking to destroy or undermine traditional leadership as an institution, and the Zulu Kingdom in particular. The challenge and difficulties we face is that there are political parties that present their views and issues in a manner that makes it difficult to distinguish whether the issues raised are those of the party or traditional leaders, for example in KwaZulu-Natal. The matter is compounded when traditional leaders are also leaders of political parties.

We believe that the track record of this government speaks for itself on this question. For the first time ever, in the history of this country, there are national and provincial houses of traditional leaders. There are also processes in place to establish local houses so as to extend representation and participation at local government level. There are various other interventions that are well known to members of this House, for example the establishment of the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims.

The promotion of social cohesion also involves strengthening the social fabric of our society. Let us not forget that we come from a past in which the state brutalised the lives of the people of our country in so many ways. This included separating families, driving people off the land of their birth, preventing them from having equal access to economic opportunities, and imprisoning, driving into exile or killing those that opposed the system. We continue to take steps to redress this. The Moral Regeneration Movement plays an important role in this regard.

We welcome the activities undertaken throughout the country by government departments, in all spheres, and by civil society organisations. These activities range from the rehabilitation of prisoners, promoting home-based care for the terminally ill, antidrug campaigns, to the building of recreational facilities. The campaign of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children remains one of the highlights each year.

While all these are important, we believe we should also emphasise the developmental aspect of moral regeneration. In our programmes and campaigns, as various sectors, we should encourage developmental programmes that can be undertaken by communities. These include activities that promote pride, confidence and respect such as establishing communal food gardens, making our residential areas places that we can be happy to live in, and encouraging the engagement in artistic forms of expressions. There are, obviously, many others.

Our challenge regarding the Moral Regeneration Movement is also to create the material conditions in which millions of South Africans can reasonably be expected to lead law-abiding and moral lives. To attack poverty is a moral struggle. To roll back poverty creates the conditions for morality to flourish better.

The Freedom Charter proclaims that, “The people shall share in the country’s wealth.” In keeping true to the wishes of our people who drafted the charter, we are continuing with interventions to deracialise the economy. This is done with a view to expand access to economic opportunities for the historically marginalised - those making a living in the second economy. Following the updates on the government’s programme of action will indicate the progress that is being made in growing the first economy, as well as in making interventions in the second economy.

Malungu ahloniphekile esishayamthetho soMkhandlu kaZwelonke, kuningi esesikwenzile ekuzameni ukunciphisa igebe phakathi kwabasemnothweni osezingeni eliphezulu, labo phela abadla izambane likapondo, kanye nalabo abasafufusa, iningi labo elisacindezelekile kulo mnotho esithi usesigabeni sesibili, phecelezi i-second economy.

Kuningi okwenziwa uhulumeni ukusiza abantu ukuze baxoshe ikati eziko. Sekwakhiwe amathuba emisebenzi evile kwayi-100 000 emisebenzini yomphakathi, njengokwakha imigwaqo nezinye izingqalazizinda. Sizoqhubeka nokugqugquzela kanye nokuqikelela ukuthi kulawa mathuba emisebenzi avelayo, abantu bayaqeqeshwa ukuze babe namakhono azobasiza ukuthola imisebenzi.

Kwezinye izinto ezenziwe uhulumeni, kwakhiwe ngokusemthethweni isikhwama sokusiza abafisa ukuvula imisebenzi yokuziphilisa esibizwa ngokuthi, phecelezi, i-SA Microfinance Apex Fund. Imininingwane yalokhu iyatholakala eMnyangweni wezoHwebo neziMboni. Kwezolimo, isigungu sikahulumeni kazwelonke, i-Cabinet, sesanquma ukuthi kwakhiwe isikhwama sokusiza abalimi abasakhula esibizwa ngokuthi i-Mafisa, phecelezi Micro Agricultural Finance Scheme for South Africa.

Kuningi okukhulu okwenzekayo ekuxosheni indlala nokuvala igebe phakathi komnotho osesigabeni sokuqala kanye nosesigabeni sesibili. Isikhathi asenele ukuba senabe ngakho konke, kodwa okubalulekile ukuthi konke lokhu kuyizenzo ezibonakalayo zokuthi uhulumeni wethu uyazibuyisa emasisweni. (Translation of Zulu paragraphs follows.)

[Hon members of the National Assembly, there is a lot that we have done in trying to minimise the gap between those in the first economy, that is, the rich ones, and those who are still emerging, most of whom are in the second economy. There is a lot that is being done by the government to fight poverty. Over 100 000 job opportunities have been created, in the building of roads and other infrastructure. We will continue making sure that we encourage the training of people in these skills so that when job opportunities come, people grab them.

Amongst the other things created by the government, there is a fund for those who are looking for jobs, called the SA Micro Finance Apex Fund. The details of this fund can be obtained from the Department of Trade and Industry.

In agriculture the Cabinet resolved that there should be a fund aimed at helping the emerging farmers, called the Micro Agricultural Finance Scheme for South Africa, Mafisa.

There is quite a lot that is being done to fight poverty and also to close the gap between the first and the second economy. We do not have enough time to talk about all that, but what is important is that these are visible signs that our government is bringing everything on track.]

Madam Chair, the promotion of national unity and social cohesion cannot be divorced from the need to promote the health of our nation. You would be aware of the many programmes in this regard, including interventions in response to problems such as HIV and Aids, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes and hypertension, amongst others.

With regard to HIV and Aids, public education remains an important part of our national programme, including the campaign to destigmatise the disease, as emphasised at the candlelight memorial events in Rustenburg on 15 May and here in Parliament on 18 May. If we succeed in destigmatising, we will have an environment in which people find it easier to take the HIV test, not for the result to be known publicly but confidentially, in order to know their status. If negative, they will then strive to stay that way. If positive, they will have to adjust their lifestyles accordingly.

Part of the management of HIV and Aids includes the need to alleviate poverty and provide nutrition for people infected with HIV in order to build the body’s defence mechanism. Let me emphasise that our position is that nutrition is not a substitute for appropriate treatment, but it prolongs good health and serves as a solid foundation that determines the success of other medical interventions.

That is why nutrition was included as an important element of our Comprehensive HIV and Aids Care, Management and Treatment Plan of November

1. The pillars of the plan include prevention, enhancing the treatment of opportunistic infections, and effective management of those HIV-positive individuals who have developed Aids-defining illnesses. This plan is widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive in the world.

Let me reiterate the seriousness with which government is treating this epidemic. This is borne out by the magnitude of government expenditure in implementing our Comprehensive HIV and Aids Care, Management and Treatment Plan. Government, however, cannot tackle this on its own. I would therefore like to commend the contribution of the various partners in the SA National Aids Council and the entire partnership against Aids, in the past year.

We are also aware of some further work that needs to be done. For example, we need to continue to work at removing the obstacles, which limit the ability of some women to protect themselves against HIV infection, namely the unequal power relations between men and women. The question of the emancipation of women in all spheres remains paramount, if we are to make a visible impact in curbing the spread of the disease.

The people of South Africa demonstrated foresight when they drafted the Freedom Charter 50 years ago, and proclaimed that, I quote:

There shall be peace and friendship. South Africa shall be a fully
independent state, which respects the rights and sovereignty of all
nations; and this nation-state, South Africa, shall strive to maintain
world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by
negotiation - not war.

In adherence to this vision, we undertook, in our election manifesto, in 2004, to dedicate more resources to ensure that we contribute more effectively to the efforts on our continent to prevent and urgently resolve conflict. We have remained true to both the provisions of the charter and our election manifesto.

The President has spent countless hours in efforts to contribute to bring about peace and stability in the continent. The progress being made in these peace efforts in the Great Lakes region demonstrates that South African efforts have not been in vain.

With regard to Burundi, the achievements scored this year have brought us closer than ever to a democratic solution. A democratic government should be in place by the end of August, in line with a timetable adopted by the Great Lakes regional heads of states at last month’s summit in Uganda.

Indeed, as we celebrate Africa Day, we do so in full realisation that things are being done differently in Africa in this new millennium. We are therefore more confident now than ever before that we will achieve the regeneration of Africa. This is the regeneration of Africa that one of our founding fathers, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, wrote about so eloquently a century ago in his famous article, entitled: “The Regeneration of Africa”.

We are encouraged by the unity of purpose and action evident during the various interactions between the Presidency, key stakeholders and communities. The meetings of the President with working groups representing various sectors, as well as our interface with decision-makers in other spheres outside of the formal working groups, demonstrate consensus among the key stakeholders with regard to taking forward the transformation and reconstruction of our country. Our interactions with the public during the izimbizo and other public interaction programmes also demonstrate the level of determination and enthusiasm to work with government to improve the quality of life. We are humbled by the faith that our people have in the Presidency in particular, and government in general. It gives us the encouragement to carry on with the task of building a better life.

Let me take this opportunity to thank President Mbeki for his untiring support and guidance. I would also like to thank our Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, and all other Ministers and Deputy Ministers for putting up with us. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

We thank our Director-General, Rev Frank Chikane, and all other directors- general for their support, dedication and commitment. We also extend our gratitude to the staff in the Presidency for their hard work and much- valued support to all of us, especially to the President who works 24 hours a day.

Madam Chair, hon members: Happy Africa Day to you all! I thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Special acknowledgement to the President, the Deputy President, Chairperson, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, I also want to say: Happy Africa Day! [Applause.] You don’t sound very happy. Happy Africa Day! [Applause.] Chairperson, Madam Speaker reminded us yesterday that we were exactly one year, one month and one day in office. Today is exactly one year, one month and two days since this House and its office-bearers were sworn in under the Third Democratic Parliament. If there were a scorecard, it would be flashing, excellent, a job well done.

We started the Third Parliament wiser and with vigour, like any other ten- year-old. The Speaker’s Forum has signed an agreement with the EU whereby an amount of €10 million for the period 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2006 has been availed to us. One of the projects for which the money is earmarked is video conferencing facilities for all eleven institutions, improving communication and reducing movements of hon members.

We will continue our efforts to build links with the African and other parliaments of the world and will direct these efforts towards the pursuit of a progressive agenda and one that strengthens African unity and progress. The work of the African Union and Nepad requires parliaments to be more efficient and responsive. The work done by Prof Turok, the chair of the Nepad Parliamentary Forum and the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs in this regard stands as a shining example.

Our contribution to bodies such as the Interparliamentary Union, the Pan African Parliament, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the SADC Parliamentary Forum will continue, as this helps to strengthen dialogue amongst elected members and promotes democracy in this continent.

Next week our Parliament will host the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in strengthening relations between parliaments. Later in the year the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Sustainable Development will be running a conference of the Parliamentarians’ Forum on energy legislation and sustainable development. Again, our Parliament has been requested to host this conference and we are glad to do so. [Applause.]

The aim of the forum is to engage parliamentarians, a key group of decision makers, around the goal of harnessing energy for sustainable development. It will be held here in Cape Town from 5 – 7 October. We hosted the parliamentary segment of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 under the leadership of the former Speaker, Dr Ginwala, and the then Chairperson of the NCOP. We were requested to do so by the Interparliamentary Union because despite our young democracy, we have a different collective approach to issues.

Many countries enjoy working with us because there is always something new to learn from South Africa, they say. We also learn from these engagements so that we do not commit mistakes that others committed. In the co- ordinating committee of women parliamentarians in the Interparliamentary Union we continuously raised concerns about parliaments that still do not have female representation, because women may not vote in those countries.

Two days ago I received an e-mail that congratulated the Kuwaiti government that for the first time women will participate in the politics of that country and be members of parliament. [Applause.] I think that is an achievement. The achievement in Kuwait comes shortly after the Beijing Plus 10 conference, where the leadership of the South African Parliament, ably led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, demonstrated leadership to the world. Mr President, we also attempted to work 24 hours in New York, because we were forever consulted by other delegations. We cannot actually compete with you, because I don’t know how you get an extra hour to make it 25 hours.

Mr President, the people of the world are very proud of this country and equally proud of this Parliament. As Madam Speaker said yesterday, recently the Secretary-General of the Interparliamentary Union told her that he is going to continue to call on our Parliament to be ready to receive parliaments from around the globe to come and see how we do things. I must admit, the invitations are many and I am not very sure that we will be able to cope. We will try.

Hon Njikelana, a member of this House, has been nominated by the IPU as a rapporteur for the 113th Assembly. [Applause.] He has forwarded his final draft paper dealing with the importance of civil society and its interplay with parliaments and other democratically elected assemblies for the maturing and development of democracy. We are proud of this achievement. This achievement and many more that the Parliament and our government has alluded to, portray a story of an irrevocable and powerful transformation, like Diop of Senegal’s young tree at the edge of the ancestral savannah. At the dawn of our continent’s independence, he said:

Ours is a story of patience and obstinacy, of determination and hope, of
activism and of choice not fate. We have sought to remove the thorns of
neglect and inhumanity to restore pride and dignity, to lift the
crushing weight of scars caused by those who are ignorant and
counterrevolutionary. We have sought to heal the scars and nurture the
tree.

President Fidel Castro, when he visited our Parliament in 1989, said:

The system of conquest, colonialism, slavery, extermination of the
indigenous populations and looting their natural resources in the last
centuries has had dreadful consequences for the overwhelming majority of
the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

He went further to say:

There are many nations with similar social and economic problems that
are the result of the conquests, the colonisation and an unbearable
disparity in the distribution of wealth; but in no place other than here
has the struggle for respect for human dignity kindled so much hope. The
contradiction between hopes, possibilities and priorities is not only a
South African domestic affair, but something that is being debated, and
that will still continue to be debated, amongst the honest theoreticians
of many countries.


We are moving and the dog will bark at the moving bus. Once the bus
stops, the dog will lower its tail and lash us with its tongue.

Let’s continue to move and move at a pace that the dog cannot even think of chasing our bus or barks instead to be taken in, in order to enjoy the ride on the bus. [Applause.] We will do this unapologetically.

The sole essential memory, our fervent and sincere wishes, responsibility and duty, are to support the enormous efforts that you are making in order to heal the deep wounds, that for many centuries have remained open. There are still today two South Africas that the Deputy President spoke about so well and I don’t intend to go into that. He made his point so well.

The hon President of India extended a cordial invitation to this Parliament. So did Slovakia, Israel, Canada, the Republic of China, Kenya, Namibia – the list is endless. Surely, we must be doing right. Those that are not ignorant, are widely saying that, albeit some South Africans so clearly ignore it and directionless.

This Parliament has always co-operated with other parliaments. We have acceded to and ratified protocols and conventions to improve, not only the status of our country and our people, but also the lives of other people for a better world. We recently ratified the Cedaw optional protocol, which improves and makes their lives better for other women in other countries, because in our country the emancipation of women is central to the policies of the ruling party. That says much about our selfless nature.

About four years ago when parliaments of the world visited the US congress on the Kyoto Protocol and we were almost on our knees begging the United States to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, I want to single out one participant and I want to quote her:

With or without the United States ba rata ba sa rate,[whether they like
it or not], the Kyoto Protocol will come into force.

That member is Ma Rita Ndzanga seated over there. She is proud today that through the assistance of the Russian Federation, the Kyoto Protocol is in force.

Today the Parliament of Rwanda occupies the first position in terms of women representation in the parliaments of the world. And that also comes as assistance from South African women as they played an important role to that end. The women of Burundi are all excited about the role our First Lady has played in making sure that pride is restored and dignity is restored to their nation. [Applause.]

Lastly, before I am reminded that my time has expired, I want to remind us all that tomorrow is the day on which we take the girl child to work. I want to imagine how it would be for the girl child who will spend time with the Deputy President and the President tomorrow. Let us go forward as brave defenders of noble ideas. Our people expect that we have never betrayed them. We shall never betray them. I thank you.

Mr B H HOLOMISA: Chairperson, hon President, Deputy President and hon members, South African policy and budget processes at national level would impress even a developed country. Much of what is done complies with or even exceeds the highest international standards. In many respects these are the things that one would expect any country to do.

Naturally there are policies and budgets that reflect our own unique circumstances. What we do not see, however, is an indication of special and extraordinary measures to address the major challenges that face the nation. Perhaps, Mr President, the commitment by your executive to stated intervention policies would go a long way towards addressing some of the major challenges facing our country. Indeed we agree that the government must do more.

We also take note of the noises emanating from the ruling party’s latest policy discussion document. If the suggestions contained therein were to be translated into government policy, there is no doubt that many of the concerns raised by various stakeholders, including opposition parties, would be accommodated.

It is pleasing that concrete proposals are being made to combat the high levels of unemployment. Although the comments reported in the media last week, attributed to the President, would leave the impression that there is no crisis as far as he is concerned, this discussion document seems to create an opportunity for a vital national debate on growing the economy.

However, at the same we have taken note of the threats to derail the debate even before it has started. These threats emanate from the ruling party’s alliance partners, namely the SACP and Cosatu. At long last the ruling party is conceding that economic policy should be debated.

This is once again an answer to the call by many that we need a Codesa-type discussion on the economy. We should all welcome the opportunity to lay on the table our various proposals. We appeal to the ANC not to leave this matter confined to the inner sanctums of the ruling party, later to present it as government policy cast in stone.

The error was made with Gear, and should not be made again. It is necessary this time to throw the discussion open, to include everybody. Once the ANC’s council has accepted the need to explore these policy proposals, we believe that the hon President should delegate a Minister to convene a national indaba on the economy. Such an indaba must include all stakeholders in society, most definitely not only Nedlac.

The experience of Nedlac in the past 10 years has been that it is just a glorified bargaining chamber. Because those in Nedlac have focused on defending their territories, many economic role-players have been locked out of those processes. By opening up this debate and considering all proposals, the government will be able to say without fear of contradiction that the economic policy of the country is a product of and for the people of South Africa.

Hopefully then, government policy can be defined on its merits and popular support instead of whether it is for or against the SACP and Cosatu. Cosatu and the SACP must naturally also get the opportunity to express the views of their constituency, namely the employed. But everybody must get an opportunity to join the debate so that we can find ways of drawing the economic cake to include the millions of unemployed. If left perpetually on the margins, these millions hold the potential for a second revolution.

It is a pity that the ANC’s alliance partners have already threatened mass action to derail this vital economic debate. I think the time has come to recognise that mass action by the unemployed would plunge this country into chaos. A balancing act, therefore, is required that accommodates all. [Interjections.]

Well, if you want me to lecture you, I can do that. You are welcome. The Minister of Defence is inviting me, so I’m accepting the invitation. [Laughter.]

This economic debate comes at the right time, because countrywide we are seeing some signs of civil disobedience. Whether these protests are meant to topple fellow comrades or the truly incompetent, the danger is that they could easily spiral out of control.

The main complaint amongst disgruntled communities is about the allocation of resources. Although perhaps the ones behind the protests are more concerned about getting into power so as to access those resources for themselves, the fact remains that there are valid frustrations among many communities about the allocation of resources and the fast-tracking of national economic debate.

Obviously this would prevent their disgruntlement spilling over into widespread protests and violence. A ripple here and a ripple there could easily become a wave of national uprising if valid frustrations are not addressed.

Another important policy event has been the latest announcement regarding education policy. Cultural and language diversity is a feature of our country. Recent announcements by government, that schools will have a choice on the national language they can use, aim to contribute to the protection and promotion of that diversity. The proposal that mathematics and other technical subjects must get greater attention is welcome. This, combined with various other education policy initiatives, will help to create the skills that our economy requires.

But where are the tools to implement this policy? It will mean an even bigger education budget to ensure that we train the teachers, build the classrooms and provide the facilities to elevate our education to new levels. This is a necessary and wise investment for the future. It is for this reason, among other things, that we need a faster-growing economy so that we can finance important investments such as in education.

Finally, Mr President, you tasked the directors-general to evaluate the structure and functioning of the government and the Public Service, with a view to improving Public Service delivery. However, their report has not been shared with the nation, and we would not be surprised if they are scared of shifting from their comfort zones and avoiding change. They have their own vested interest in the status quo.

However, it remains indisputable that service delivery is not what it should be. Every year massive budgets are allocated towards important programmes, but implementation on the ground does not occur. Take HIV/Aids, for instance. We are told that South Africa has one of the most comprehensive strategies in the world.[Time expired.]

Mr L P M NZIMANDE: Madam Chairperson, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, hon members and members of Cabinet, fellow South Africans, we rise as the ANC to support this Budget Vote. We are doing so not because it is just common sense that we are from the ruling party and that we need to do that. We are convinced that by its value, in the whole value chain of the national budgets that we have been passing for the past 11 years, this budget has never depended on figures but on the qualitative impact it seeks to make in the transformation agenda of the government and its service delivery at large.

We are in support of it because through it, the strategic leadership provides for the utmost critical role of co-ordination and policy work within government, creating a strategic focus on the vulnerable of our communities, which are children, and youth who are central in our endeavours to improve service delivery and access to services. Indeed, the expansionary nature of this Budget Vote allocation indicates the commitment to resolve many questions that government had to deal with, namely the enhancement of service delivery mechanisms, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the progress that is being made in facing particularly the issues and the needs of the second economy, that is poverty and underdevelopment.

We are convinced that as we enter the second decade of democracy, the tide has turned for the better. The government’s readiness to respond to the needs of the poorest of the poor through many programmes and strategies, is in line with the directives given 50 years ago by the Congress of the People through the Freedom Charter - which is as relevant today as it was then, on its launch. It is no wonder the Leader of the Opposition is attacking it. It scares him because today it is even more relevant.

Through this Budget Vote we see participatory democracy in practice, in conformity with the notion contained in the Freedom Charter, that the people shall govern, citing for instance the structures that are enacted by government like the Youth Commission, South African Youth Council which is a counterpart of Civil Society Youth Movement, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and youth focal points in various departments that create and provide opportunities for young people to champion their own course of development within the administration of their own country.

The Office on the Rights of the Child continuously develops mechanisms of participation of children in matters concerning their own needs, through celebration of important days and events meant for children, and a continuous honouring of the commitment we have undertaken through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We remain consistent in our belief that through this Budget the Presidency is better poised to undertake responsibilities that would ensure and guarantee enjoyment of rights and opportunities for children and youth as it forges ahead in the quest for solutions to those questions that pose challenges in the realisation of a better life.

As we stay conscious of the fact that the gap between the haves and the have-nots, has not closed, numbers of children and young people remain trapped in conditions and circumstances adverse to the spirit and letter of the Freedom Charter and the People’s Contract we entered with the majority of our people. We committed ourselves to fight poverty and create jobs, protect children from vulnerability and neglect, believing that through this Budget Vote we will equal the task and the Presidency will equal the task in co-ordinating and developing new strategies of intervention within these vulnerable sectors of our community.

We remain aware of the challenges of streamlining the allocations equitably through the subprogrammes in the Presidency, particularly that more work relating to the expenditure on the vulnerable groups, women, children and people with disabilities needs to be given serious attention for the rest of the MTEF period. Furthermore, the mechanisms for dealing with issues and challenges from the 10-year review report should be taken into account for future strategic planning and allocation as they pose challenges for intervention.

Despite the challenges highlighted herein, progress continues to be reported on all fronts of our strategies and programmes as the ANC, going ahead particularly with regard to youth development issues led by the Youth Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and South African Youth Council, turning 2005 into a positive year for young people. A highlight of what will happen in trying to engage and make the youth participate in their own development, is that the activities informing the strategies include the celebrations and dedications that will be made in the month of June, on youth issues, starting with a launch in Plattefontein and the launch of a computer programme, the handover of the houses constructed by young people, which all demonstrate the endeavours of our young people to participate in and heed the call of Vukuzenzele and taking a role in the Letsema campaign.

We continue to register important strategies with regard to access to financial aid schemes for young people and students, and the creation of economic opportunities through the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, despite the debates regarding the effectiveness of the Youth Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the Youth Council. We also take note of the fact that in June Parliament will be celebrating International Children’s Day, making a highlight of the needs and rights of the children of Africa and the commitment of the ANC in fighting for the liberation of the African child who is still trapped in poverty, who faces violence from those adults of ours who suffered moral degeneration.

We as the ANC are therefore treating this issue of the protection of children and their rights as a priority, and say that any of those amongst us who abuse children, who disregard their rights, and government officials who don’t live up to the Batho Pele principles in delivering services to children deserve our contempt. The challenge is indeed greater than the moral imperatives and the ethics that our government has been espousing, informed by the policies and the resolutions of the ANC.

In conclusion, we recognise and salute those people who are participating in Africa Day and request that the anthem of the AU be popularised in South Africa, as the AU was found in South Africa. Thank you, Madam Chair. [Applause.]

Mrs P DE LILLE: Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, we have come to the last week of the Budget Votes and we have heard the government outline its specific plans of action for each of the departments. The overriding theme on the part of the ANC has been the Freedom Charter. The DA on the other hand predictably dismisses the Freedom Charter and the sentiments that are expressed within it.

We have come to expect the DA to reject anything that has a hint of progressiveness in it, and I would be very surprised if they agree with the sentiment that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. [Interjections.]

The ID feels that the sentiments expressed in the Freedom Charter do express many of the hopes of present-day South Africans. We would however, seriously challenge the government as to whether it is living up to the letter and spirit of the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter states . . . [Interjections.] Shut up! [Applause.]

The Freedom Charter states that food shall be plentiful and no one shall go hungry. And yet recent studies tell us that the levels of malnutrition are on the rise. The ID believes that no one in South Africa should go hungry, especially not our children. This is a direct result of poverty. We have to do more to combat this scourge in our society.

The ID would like to thank the hon President for his letter dated 28 April, on issues we raised on the state of the nation address in which he provided us with some answers. Today I will address the two key issues, the judiciary . . . [Interjections.] . . .Empty vessels make the most noise, just ignore them. [Interjections.] . . . the judiciary and Zimbabwe. The judiciary must be totally transparent and independent if we are to protect . . .

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs C-S Botha): Hon De Lille, would you just please give me a moment. Would you please allow the hon De Lille to be heard and hon De Lille I will see that order is kept, you don’t have to do it from there. Thank you. Please continue.

Mrs P DE LILLE: The judiciary must be totally transparent and independent if we are to protect all our citizens and ensure that every man on the street has access to justice. We believe in an independent judiciary as enshrined in Chapter 8, section 165(2) of our Constitution. And this section states categorically that the courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour and prejudice.

We are equally aware of the challenges facing the Department of Justice, such as reducing the case backlogs and extending justice to the poor. The Justice department has had numerous successes in transforming many key areas of the judiciary since 1994. However, a lot more still needs to be done. It would be naïve, however, for anyone to expect that racism in our courts and within the department itself would automatically vanish overnight.

There are those who have accepted and embrace transformation without reservation. There are those who have been hesitant to do so and those who have refused and still are refusing to do so. But all of this does not give the executive or any person for that matter a licence to interfere with the judicial system. Instead we should work together to find solutions that would be in the best interests of our country. I would like to congratulate the President on the appointment of Chief Justice Pius Langa and on nominating Dikgang Moseneke as Deputy Chief Justice. Although most judges support the transformation of the judiciary, the establishment of training institutions for judges, legislation dealing with complaints against the judiciary, there are certain clauses in the Bills that are objectionable. As a matter of principle, legislation passed by the government must be in keeping with the Constitution. One cannot amend the Constitution to accommodate the proposed Bills. It should be the other way round. The Bills must be in keeping with the Constitution.

On Zimbabwe: Because it’s Africa Day today, I want to raise the issue of Zimbabwe as an issue of concern and not only as a matter of criticism. South Africa’s engagement with African countries since the demise of apartheid has been characterised relatively by successes. In parts of the continent we have managed to achieve the desired results, restoration of the law, peace and democratic reforms and in others we have not.

The current situation is that in Zimbabwe there is zero trust between Zanu PF and the opposition MDC. South Africa and the rest of the world who want to help the people of Zimbabwe must work hard to rebuild that trust. There must be a process of building trust by all the external role-players. At the moment the major concern is that President Thabo Mbeki is speaking more to Zanu PF and the MDC than President Robert Mugabe is speaking to Morgan Tsvangirai. President Mbeki, you have overplayed your role as an interlocutor, and as a result you are perceived to have capitulated to Zanu PF at the expense of the MDC.

The question that now arises is what is quiet diplomacy all about? The socioeconomic crisis in Zimbabwe impacts heavily on its neighbouring countries. Zimbabwe needs an urgent economic reform programme. The popularity of the constitutional order has been eroded over the past 25 years and Zimbabwe needs a new negotiated constitutional order. What we recommend is that solutions to the Zimbabwe problem must be internal: Africa first. Because of the lack of trust at home, the people of Zimbabwe will continue to look to their brothers and sisters in the continent for help. On one side the Africans are pushing for quiet diplomacy, on the other the West is pushing for punitive measures.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs C-S BOTHA): Hon De Lille, your time has expired.

Mrs P DE LILLE: On the one side there are those pushing for a regime change, whereas the other side is pushing for restoration. The only way out is a negotiated settlement, where Zanu PF and MDC are the key players. A basis of consensus is needed for a peaceful transitional trust. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Chair, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President and hon members, before I make use of my prepared text, I would like to respond to some of the things that hon Tony Leon has said. I would like to advise him that if he attended this House more often, he would not have said what he said, but since this is Africa Day, I am in a good mood to help him understand some things.

The hon Tony Leon says that the President misled the nation in 2001, on legal advice about the Heath Special Investigating Unit. What is the truth? The Special Investigating Unit acts in terms of the law. The law that provides this unit is not self-activating. It acts on the basis of allegations followed by Presidential proclamation. The allegation must relate to misuse of state funds, or maladministration.

The complaint in 2001 did not fall within the scope of operation of the Special Investigating Unit, hence the matter was not referred to them. The complaint was that contracts had been given outside the existing rules. The hon member also says that the President misled the nation in 2003, when he said that allegations that the executive had heavily edited the draft report of the joint investigating team were groundless accusations.

What is the truth? Whenever the Auditor-General reports on expenditure from the special defence account, as well as the intelligence account, he is required by law to submit his draft to the executive. If the executive has information that they want to send to the Auditor-General on some of the issues he reports on, the executive would be able do so. The executive can also inform the Auditor-General of their disagreement on some issues in the draft.

The Auditor-General then decides on whether it is correct or not. He will amend his report accordingly. It is not the executive that edits the Auditor-General’s report. Some of the expenditure in this case - the arms procurement - comes from the special defence account, so this procedure was followed. The executive made submissions, and the Auditor-General decided on it.

If the hon Tony Leon, would only bother to actually go and read the report . . .

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: I have read it.

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: You did not. You will find that any fair assessment shows that no major changes were in fact made. Tony it is about time you both read and listen. Try to do both at the same time.

Madam Chair, the year 2005 is imbued with deep national and international significance. This is the year in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the South African Freedom Charter in 1955, the year of the destruction of Sophiatown, and the accompanying forced removals. This year is also the year in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Asian African Conference, which was held in Bandung, Indonesia.

As we enter our second decade of freedom, this is the moment to focus strongly on the basics of our statehood. The Freedom Charter was adopted at the Congress of the People held in Kliptown, Johannesburg, on 26 June 1955. It laid out a compelling vision of a nonracist, nonsexist South Africa that belongs to all who live in it. It was a vision that threatened the very core of apartheid, and all other forms of racial tyranny. Of course, at that time the white political parties did not come to Kliptown and I suspect they won’t come to Kliptown on 26 June either.

Between 18 and 24 April 1955, the Asian African Conference was held in Bandung, Indonesia. All independent states of Asia and Africa attended. A delegation from South Africa composed of Moses Kotane of the ANC and Molve Cachalia of the South African Indian Congress attended as observers, and met with many of the delegates.

The Bandung declaration deplored the policies and practises of racial segregation and discrimination, not only in South Africa, but everywhere. Indeed the declaration extended the global hand of solidarity to the people of South Africa in the struggle against colonialism, racism and apartheid.

The rights and freedoms articulated in the Freedom Charter, now form the bedrock of our Constitution, which places an obligation on government to protect and advance the rights of citizens. Opposition parties in this house are many, and the leading one is being led astray, even when judged by his own avowed philosophy.

Listen now Tony, listen very carefully. In a speech in April this year, entitled, “Liberalism and its Discontents” – of course, a more apt title would have been, “Diatribe by an Illiberal Liberal” - the hon Tony Leon was highly disingenuous when he said:

Liberalism in postapartheid South Africa faces many of the same challenges it faced under apartheid.

That is what the hon Tony Leon says. Now to equate apartheid South Africa with postapartheid, free and democratic South Africa is a sham and a calumny. It echoes the most destructive thinking in present-day South Africa. The speech has all the hallmarks of a person who fails to understand liberalism and who is aimlessly wandering in an ideological fog. He promotes some vague notion of unfettered individual rights.

He attacks transformation, yet notes that the very survival of his party depends on embracing diversity and that it fundamentally thus needs transformation. He complains that transformation does not appear once in the Constitution, and misses the point that the whole Constitution is about transformation. [Applause.]

Apartheid ensured that the overwhelming majority of our people were excluded from enjoying rights and freedoms, not as individuals, but as members of so-called “racial groups”’. The history of apartheid is the history of a white minority, using state power to oppress and suppress the masses based on racial categorisation. [Interjections.] Yes, yes you keep on talking, mate. [Interjections.] Now listen, Tony, I am teaching you something. When he sanctifies the rights of the possessive individual he seeks to protect the rights and privileges of those who reaped tremendous benefits under apartheid.

For black South Africa, poverty was not a choice; it was an imposed way of life. These historical, racially enforced inequalities and opportunities and outcomes are incompatible with democracy. Not doing anything about the legacy of apartheid is absolutely incompatible with democracy. Racism is undemocratic and you know where you come from. It robs individuals from historically disadvantaged communities of their rights, freedom, dignity and self-worth.

That is why the Preamble to our Constitution notes that we ”believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”. We must strive to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.

Democracy in South Africa is inseparable, not from unfettered markets, but from the struggle against racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. In a different place and time it could be refreshing to assist the hon Leader of the Opposition, better to understand liberalism, which is far from unified on the place of private property, individual liberty and the market order. [Interjections.]

Markets are inherently stable; they generate inequalities of power and wealth, and an ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor. So a market- based economy, which does not balance rights with responsibilities, is an inadequate foundation for a stable and free democratic South Africa.

In this context a fixation on individual rights, to the exclusion of the redress of social justice claims, is nothing more than an attempt at ossifying the pre-1994 status quo.

Promoting equality of opportunity, creating a better life for all our citizens, and promoting diversity and social inclusion, means engaging in transformation structurally and with resolve. It means implementing public policies directly aimed at eradicating poverty and underdevelopment. And this requires decisive intervention by a strong developmental state. It is with respect to our understanding of the need for a strong, not a weak state, that we see some of the critical elements of the strategic, political and ideological divides between us and you lot. [Interjections.]

Madam Chair, the people of South Africa recognised and therefore voted for the ANC in ever-increasing numbers from 1994 and will once more do so in the forthcoming local government elections. [Applause.] Now, Mr Leon, you not a temporary opposition, you are a permanent loser. And you should now do what your friend in London did after he lost the elections. Do the honourable thing and resign as the leader of the Democratic Alliance. [Applause.] And maybe Gibson can take over. [Laughter.] . . . for example. Well you won’t find a black; you will have to find another white one.

It was because of the advent of the democratic South Africa and our government’s initiatives, that there has been a significance structural shift in the concentrated patterns of ownership. The result is that the holdings of the five big groups slipped, from control of companies accounting for 85,7% of the market capitalisation of the JSE in 1992 to 59,8% by 2002. This is what transformation and wealth redistribution should be about.

Mr C M LOWE: Eight million unemployed!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Well, you will be unemployed after the next elections. [Applause.] In this regard ownership equity is only one part of a much broader project. Skills development, employment equity and medium and small business development, are at the beating heart of this process. Transformation, like justice, has to be seen to be done. So in other spheres of information we have made our public institutions far more representative than ever before in history.

Our track record speak volumes about our commitment to gender equality, representivity and transformation. For emphasis in this regard let me say what I said last year on this occasion. And this is what I said last year: This House should seriously consider and debate the possibility of legislation, so as to ensure one-third representation for women in elected legislatures. I believe we can no longer delay the start of this debate.

Our government realises that large numbers of women and persons with disabilities still live within the second economy. They are adversely affected by poverty, unemployment, lack of financial and capital resources and technical and professional skills. Their household incomes are still low on average and their participation in the broader economy, contributes a smaller percentage to GDP.

In the past decade South Africa has been able to respond appropriately to international instruments that deal with gender, disability and children’s issues. Currently we are part of propriety processes of providing input to the United Nations Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. We hope that the process will reach a conclusion by no later than the end of 2006.

We participated in the 49th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The Office on the Status of Women and the entire gender machinery was extremely busy in preparing our country’s report for this session. [Interjections.] Well you can’t read English, so I cannot help you. [Interjections.] Well, since she left the SABC it is a much better institution.

The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons continues to co-ordinate and monitor the implementation of the integrated national disability strategy. South Africa is host to the Secretariat for the African Decade for Disabled People. Preparations are underway for the 7th Disabled People’s International World Assembly, which South Africa will host in December

1. It is the first such meeting on the continent and enormously important for the development of the disability rights movement in Africa, and if you had treated your disabled person - the person responsible for disability – properly, he would not have left and joined Patricia de Lille.

The Office on the Rights of the Child was established with a mandate to ensure that our government structures advance the interests of our children, and to monitor the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are currently completing our second country report on the UN committee.

With respect to gender, children and youth, and persons with disabilities, we have exceptional policy frameworks in place. We have good programmes, but now we are more mindful than ever, of the need for effective implementation.

The capacity of our government to monitor and report on progress on critical indicators of transformation is well developed. Our challenge in the years to come is to build on the capacity of local government to deliver programmes and services to those who are the most marginalised and excluded in our society.

Our government continues to work tirelessly for a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world. Within our continent there are growing expectations on South Africa to contribute constructively to peace, stability and development. This is a task which both our President and Deputy President are deeply committed to.

On Africa Day, let us say with pride that over the past year President Mbeki has been called upon by fellow Africans to help resolve various conflicts and crises on the continent. The instability in the Ivory Cost, late last year, prompted the AU to urgently request the President to act as its mediator so as to expedite the Ivory Coast peace process, which had by then largely stalled. In April the President hosted a full Ivorian political leadership in South Africa, at which time they signed the Pretoria agreement, reaffirming their commitment to the peace process, to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, and to national reconciliation. This will pave the way for elections to be held later this year.

The same spirit was demonstrated in the DRC, where in the presence of Presidents Kabila and Mbeki, the Congolese people opened an historic new chapter in the country’s history, with the adoption of their new constitution. The President continues to encourage and engage all parties in the DRC to ensure that the peace process is consolidated, postconflict risk reconstruction is prioritised and the first democratic elections in over 40 years take place.

South Africa strongly supports the peace and postconflict reconstruction processes in Sudan. The President observed the historic signing of the permanent ceasefire agreement and the protocol and implementation modalities in Nivasha in December 2004. South Africa will step up efforts to ensure that the reconstruction, development and growth of this important country are prioritised.

The President will continue to engage all the relevant political and economic forces, including the MDC, in Zimbabwe. Our Deputy President has been widely praised for his constructive role as a facilitator and guarantor of the peace process in Burundi. He hosted various meetings of the Burundi parties within the framework of the 2000 Arusha accord.

In the past year various key milestones have been achieved. This includes the power-sharing agreement, signed last August, and most importantly there is an announcement of a timetable for elections. Hon members, I think Comrade President and Comrade Deputy President need a big round of applause. [Applause.] Can you imagine if this lot was in power? [Laughter.]

In October this year, the progressive governance heads of states and governance summit will, for the first time, meet in Africa. The President has invited his counterparts of progressive political parties in their respective countries to join him for these discussions, further to build international consensus and share experiences ensuring that a progressive developmental state as a viable alternative becomes a permanent fixture on the international political landscape.

We are making transformation real, while others quibble about the meaning of the word, and its place in the Constitution. Striving to create a nonracist, nonsexist, inclusive South Africa, constitutes as our President has said, ”the central architecture of our polices and our programmes, intended to ensure that South Africa truly belong to all who live in it, black and white”.

Let us all be seized by the immense possibilities in this wonderful land of ours. You cannot go to China and say the Communist Party of China is wonderful, and come to South Africa and say you hate the South African Communist Party. That is what you call confusion compounded by contradictions. So if you like the Communist Party of China, you better like the South African Communist Party as well.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Do you like the South African Communist Party?

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Oh yes I do, and for many years I served on the leadership structures of the South African Communist Party. While I was in the South African Communist Party Tony Leon was praising the South African Army that was killing our people. So let us not play games, right. The truth of the matter is that whilst you pretended . . . As Tony Leon once said, “You know, Essop, I studied Marxism at University.”

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mrs C-S Botha): Hon member . . . [Interjections.]

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Where did you study liberalism?

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Tony, I am saying to you again, and I have said it to you before, I am ready to help you, but I can’t help you if you don’t ask for help. [Laughter.] Come and ask for help and I will offer it to you. [Laughter.][Interjections.]

Chairperson, a special word of appreciation goes to the Presidency Internal Audit Committee for their commitment to ensuring accountability. I’d also like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for the work and commitment of the Director-General and Cabinet Secretary, Rev Frank Chikane, the advisors and the members of our staff at all levels in the Presidency for the hard work that they will continue to do. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Business suspended at 16:56 and resumed at 17:09.

Ms P BHENGU: Chairperson, hon President, Deputy President, Ministers, Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, an image the world will remember of the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994 is that of thousands of people with disabilities queuing at voting stations across the country under the African sun.

They came to exercise their right to vote under difficult circumstances as they came on wheelchairs, on crutches, navigating their way by means of white canes, on wheelbarrows and even physically carried on the backs of their relatives and friends. So you can ask why they came? They came because they knew that the policy and the practise of apartheid had only served to compound their experience of discrimination, indignity and poverty as a result of being different. They came to participate in one of the most empowering experiences that ever happened. They came because they had a vision of a better dispensation under new conditions of liberation and democracy.

We acknowledge the inclusion of the disabled in the Constitution and in a new democratic South Africa. The Constitution has impacted either directly or indirectly on the lives of people with disabilities in South Africa. It has created opportunities to address the inequalities experienced in the past.

The new framework is also an important milestone in the struggle of people with disabilities so as to overcome their exclusion from mainstream society. As disability tends to be couched between medical and welfare frameworks, people with disabilities are seen as ill, different from their nondisabled peers and in need of care. Because the emphasis is on medical needs therefore there is corresponding neglect of their social needs and this has resulted in severe isolation for people with disabilities and their families.

Therefore the people with disabilities came together to be involved in the process of transformation. The Integrated National Disability Strategy, INDS, proposed by the White Paper was established with the aim of the integration of disability issues in all government development strategies, planning and programmes. There must be an integrated and co-ordinated management system for planning, implementation and monitoring in all spheres of government.

The key areas were identified in the INDS. These included prevention, health care, rehabilitation, public awareness, barriers to free access, transport, communication, data collection and research, education, employment, human resource development, social welfare and community development, social security, housing, sport and recreation. The White Paper has also developed policy objectives, strategies and mechanisms for each of these areas. Where necessary different components have been identified and recommendations highlight specific areas for action.

The rights of people with disabilities are protected by the Constitution. The government departments and state bodies have a responsibility to ensure that in each line function concrete steps are taken to ensure that people with disabilities are able to access the same fundamental rights and responsibilities as any South African.

To co-ordinate this activity the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons, OSDP, was established in the office of the Deputy President, directed by Sebenzile Mathebula, in order to work together with and parallel to various states bodies and departments to further develop a disability friendly environment and maintain working links with the NGO sector. Finally, in order to ensure that legislation is effective and policy is implemented, research and monitoring are essential to transformation, which involves practical change at every level of our society.

I would like to acknowledge the work done by the Presidency in ensuring that this INDS has been considered as the main document for disability issues. I commend the role of the African Union for adopting the African decade as a major programme of the AU and organisations of people with disabilities in motivating and ensuring development in African countries.

We agree that the ongoing commitment of all sectors of society is fundamental to the further successful implementation of the African decade. I agree that there is a need to ensure linkages between activities of the African decade and Nepad, based on the aims, objectives and expected outcomes. We agree on the need to establish an African decade secretariat that will be hosted by South Africa.

I would also like to congratulate the President on his assistance when South Africa was hosting the World Blind Union Congress, as well as the assistance we are getting from the office of the President in organising the DPI congress, which will be held here in South Africa. I would also like to thank the Presidency for the existence of the OSDP and the South African Federal Council on Disability.

Although there are many challenges so much has been done since 1994, according to the Ten-Year Review Report based on the information submitted by the national and provincial administrations. About 207 000 persons with disabilities have been employed in the Public Service and this represents an average of 0,25%, which is nearer to the 2% that needs to be achieved this year. This is not an accurate figure as it has been taken from those departments that responded to the research.

According to the Department of Education, available research indicates that there is a long way to go in terms of creating an environment that is suitable for children with disabilities. But progress has been made and there have been a number of achievements, for example guidelines have been developed through consultation. And the department established the national co-ordinating committee for inclusive education in July 2001, which consists of representatives of teachers’ unions, the OSDP in provinces, districts and local level support teams for disability issues.

Guidelines for further education, the transformation of special schools as resource centres and appropriate identification of schools for this purpose have been completed. The full service schools will be mainstreamed and will be equipped to address the full range of barriers to learning, especially for children with disabilities and the deaf.

To mention some of the progress made according to the Department of Health, there is the provision of assisting devices to people with disabilities, accessibility of health facilities programmes, re-orientation of rehabilitation, access to primary health care, sign language development, and inclusion in the immunisation campaign. It has also made resources available to engage the disability sector in HIV and Aids counselling since 2001 through capacity-building, and has also had disability forums established in consultation with the DPOs.

With regard to the Department of Social Development, the transformation of protective workshops has been completed and the management of the Thabo Mbeki Development Trust to eradicate poverty has been launched. With regard to social security grants, such as disability grants, the total number of disabled people eligible for a disability grant under the current system is estimated at 809 550 or 2,1% of the population, and this includes care dependency grants and grants in aid for severely disabled adults who require full or part time assistance which puts constraints on our families.

The Department of Justice has played an important role in the affirmation and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly children, and the department has developed specific policies. In the Department of Transport the significant achievement was the formulation of a disability strategy to address the needs of disabled passengers in the public transport system. The strategy to highlight the user impact benefit and cost effectiveness of this service has been completed.

As I have mentioned, more has been done to ensure that the issues based on the INDS are implemented and addressed by various departments and the OSDP in the Presidency. I would also like to acknowledge the good work done by the DPSA or Disabled People South Africa, as the largest cross disability organisation in the country, controlled and led by the people with disabilities themselves. It has played a central role in shaping the nature of the struggle fought by disabled people in South Africa over the last 20 years since 1984.

DICAG, which is the Disabled Children Action Group, DYSA or the Disabled Youth South Africa and DWDP or the Disabled Women Development Programme, are the programmes of the DPSA that have played an important role in recognising additional experience in various sectors.

Let me not forget to acknowledge the ANC on what has been done according to the resolutions taken at the 51st conference in Stellenbosch, namely that the number of members with disabilities will be increased in Parliament – this has been done. Therefore, the ANC-led government has among the highest number of MPs with disabilities in the world. [Applause.] They are also members of the ANC. I can also emphasise that we are still faced with the challenge of ensuring great representation and participation of people with disabilities at provincial and local government level.

We acknowledge the progress made in ensuring the accessibility of buildings, especially government and public buildings, for the disabled. I would also like to thank the hon Deputy President for the launch of the computer skills training centre at Richards Bay, as this facility will help those people with disabilities to get access to computer skills.

The issue of unemployment is very crucial as people with disabilities have been empowered and have skills. I am urging all the departments and the open labour market to employ these people so as to play an important role in the economic development of South Africa. This has been done by the departments and it needs to be taken seriously and to be monitored to see whether the target has been met. The slogan says, “nothing about us without us”.

Okusho ukuthi; “akukho okuyokwenzelwa abantu abakhubazekile ngaphandle kwabo.” [Which means: “There will be nothing done for the physically challenged without them taking part in it.”]

It was created in such a way that . . .[Time expired.] [Applause.]

Ms C B JOHNSON: Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members, recently the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Development had the privilege to host Chief Justice Chaskalson. He said in the life of a nation 10 years is but a tiny part and he also reminded us of what we have actually achieved in changing our society over this relatively short period.

This past weekend we have seen public debate in newspapers and on radio over the question whether it is the Afrikaans-speaking community or the English-speaking community which has, with greater ease, adapted to the new dispensation. Surely the real question that we should be asking ourselves is: What are the reasons why certain people have not fully adapted to and not yet embraced our changing society?

In my view one of the most primary reasons for this is that national issues are not being debated on fact but on perceptions. These perceptions exist in the minds of people, perceptions that are often based on stereotyping, ignorance, fear, prejudice and even old style afro-pessimism. When we debate national issues with intellectual honesty - and that is on fact rather than on perceptions - we often find that the very things we fear are unfounded.

Let me explain. If we think back to 1994, despite the mood of celebration that there was in the country, in many predominantly white households, people were actually stockpiling groceries and that may seem amusing to us now, 11 years down the line, but there were many fears, despite the Constitution, that government would nationalise the banks and the mines, wealth tax would be imposed and property rights would be ignored.

Let us be honest, Mr President, 11 years down the line none of those fears have materialised. [Applause.] Yet today amongst certain sections of certain communities that same element of unwarranted mistrust still exists. And certain opposition parties are very opportunistically using and instigating this very perception and this very mistrust for their own short- term political gain. There are plenty of examples of this. If we look at education, only last week that very same opposition party - who I shall not name because I don’t want to give them extra publicity – said on radio that the new education policy attacked the English language.

I am sorry, Mr President, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with my English and my reading of the policy. There is no attack on English or on any another language. [Applause.]

. . . but what I do see is an attempt to promote multilingualism and parity of languages in accordance with the Constitution. [Applause.]

The same argument applies to justice, when that same opposition party recently accused the Justice committee and this government of attacking the judiciary. But if one looks at the facts, of the 108 Bills that have gone before the Justice committee over the past 10 years only one has not passed the constitutional test. That is one out of 108; it is less than 1%. So what does this tell us on the facts? It should tell us that this government has absolutely no intention of passing unconstitutional legislation. That is what it tells us. [Applause.]

The other often-used fallacy is the one of the one-party state. Surely the test for any democracy is threefold: Can all political parties participate freely in the political system, can they canvass freely for votes and are our elections free and fair? Those are the three criteria and our political system meets those three criteria. Then when 70% of those voters in a free and fair election come out in support of a particular party, people say we are building a one party state. I don’t see that as building a one party state. I see that as democracy in action and the will of the people manifesting it. [Applause.] To portray this as an attempt by this government to build a one party state is blatant opportunism; it is nothing else.

The question is: How do we break down these perceptions that are in the minds of certain people? Here the Presidency has a fundamental role to play, in that it has to facilitate public debate and dialogue between government and the people. And that is why discussions with various interest groups, such as the Afrikanerbond recently, religious groupings and big business are fundamental.

We as a nation are not yet taking enough credit for our successes, not that we should sit back, complacent and self satisfied because there are indeed many challenges that remain and by all means let us debate these challenges and these issues. In fact our constitutional dispensation requires us to debate these issues. But my plea is: When we debate these issues let us do so honestly and within the intellectual honesty. [Interjections.] No, the problem is coming from your side, that is where the lack of honesty is.

The Chief Justice is indeed correct: We have changed our society dramatically over the past 10 years. But I believe that we haven’t yet changed the hearts and the mindset and the perceptions of all our people and only once that has changed will we truly have fulfilled the vision of the Freedom Charter. Let us do this not just for the sake of reconciliation but to be a nation of reconcilers and build a South Africa that is loved by all and that inspires the world. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr V G SMITH: Chairperson, President, Deputy President, comrades, fellow South Africans, in 1955 the Congress of the People declared that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people. The Congress pledged to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until a truly democratic South Africa was realised. This desire that the people shall govern was informed by amongst other considerations the fact that as far back as 1652, Africans fought against colonial rule that sought to conquer the indigenous people of our country and usurp the land of its riches.

From 1652 through to 1994, our people were subjected to the most inhumane forms of oppression and marginalisation. Women were reduced to minors and the majority to second-class citizens and foreigners in our land. After more than three centuries of oppression South Africans decided in Kliptown in 1955 that the people should govern. On 27 April 1994 we went to the polls for the first time and the result of that election was that South Africa had a government not only formally based on the will of the people, but one that was open and transparent and that consulted and continually involved people in policy formulation and implementation.

Chairperson, allow us to focus briefly on the administration of government departments. The apartheid state was set up and it operated precisely in a manner that entrenched racial and social disparities. Its bloated, repressive and corrupt bureaucracy was tasked to serve the interests of the minority. Its fiscal expenditure and the operations of its parastatals were structured along apartheid lines resulting in a dual economy, one rich and predominantly white, the other poor and predominantly black. It incurred huge debt in pursuit of these objectives, together with attempts at creating a buffer from among the ranks of the oppressed between the white minority and the revolutionary masses. Because it was illegitimate and illegal the apartheid state’s practice eroded the moral fibre of South African society.

In this second decade of democracy we must guard against creating the false impression amongst our people that the struggle is over. Whilst we might have attained political freedom, the demon of corruption and mismanagement of scarce resources is a real threat to our democracy and it hinders the struggle to push back the frontiers of poverty in South Africa and indeed in Africa as a whole.

To concentrate on improving the capacity of civil servants to do their work is important. However, there is an urgent need for an ideology change in the value system and mindset of some civil servants so that these values are aligned and in tune with the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. Civil servants, to quote the President, that come to work as late as possible, do as little as possible, leave the office as early as possible, must be identified and rooted out of the system. Those that steal moneys meant for social grants and aid to the poorest of the poor must be subjected to the full might of the law, regardless of their political affiliation or political connections. [Applause.]

We must succeed in ensuring that the state machinery, including all the state-owned enterprises, functions in a manner that maximises the utilisation of resources and assets in creating a better South Africa. To bring this machinery closer to the people and improve its responsiveness to the needs of the people, we will have to develop a cadre of civil servants who work with the masses directly at grassroots level as community development workers on a daily basis.

Together with our comrades in organised labour we have a duty to ensure that the culture of Batho Pele is practised in every corner of our country. Comrade President, to achieve this better life for all we dare not relax our offensive against corruption and ill discipline in the public sector in particular and in South Africa in general.

Parliament as another and separate arm of the state is tasked on behalf of the people with oversight over the executive. We have a multiparty system in Parliament and the legislatures. Let us remind this House that it is the ANC government that agreed to have political parties represented here with electoral support of less than five percent, another sign of our commitment to transparency and inclusiveness.

We want to suggest that all portfolio committees in exercising their oversight must interrogate departments on both government policy implementation as well as financial management and value for money considerations. We believe that this new approach will contribute to ensuring that the trend of the reduction of adverse or qualified auditor- general reports and financial management and agencies is maintained.

The ANC must lead in probing and question the competency of management in those departments that are weak or have no good governance policies in place. We will go as far as recommending to the executive through our resolutions that urgent corrective action be taken as legislated and provided for in the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Act and any other legislation that is relevant.

Touching on the judiciary, President, we believe that today the courts are free to exercise their duties without fear of interference. Notwithstanding this independence, President, we believe that this arm of the state must also commit to transformation. Transformation that is not limited just to the demographics or changing the ratio of the genders. The belief that equates independence with being antigovernment, the belief of being watchdogs rather than co-builders of democracy are some of the sensitive issues that we much touch on. It can’t be business as usual in the judiciary as from today.

When we go to the Chapter 9 institutions, the ANC will defend all Chapter 9 institutions because we understand and appreciate their role in entrenching democracy. For too long institutions like the Public Protector, the Auditor- General and the Human Rights Commission have had their competencies questioned because they are too close to the ruling party, whatever that means, or sometimes just because they are black.

Some people present in this House believe that the only way to confirm your independence is to be antigovernment or to belong to the opposition. We want to re-emphasise that the responsibility of holding the executive accountable is not the exclusive domain of the DA or the media. [Applause.]

Let us deal with the few issues that were raised by the hon Leon. He states that the President misled the House and that can’t go unchallenged. Firstly, it is the members of Scopa that took the decision to exclude the Heath Commission from the hearing, not the President. It is Scopa that took that decision. [Applause.]

The second thing that we want to say is that the ANC doesn’t believe that removing the hon Gavin Woods as chairperson of Scopa, removing Andrew Feinstein from Scopa, can be equated to removing the teeth of Scopa. Scopa contributed and continues to contribute in the absence of Andrew Feinstein and in the absence of Gavin Woods as chairperson. [Applause.]

The third thing we want to talk about is that the hon Leon says that the executive changed the arms deal report. As Scopa we interrogated the Auditor-General. We were satisfied that the changes made to the report were such that they did not fundamentally change the findings. The ANC in Parliament did that and because of democracy we are entitled to do that. Gavin Woods didn’t agree with it. Tony Leon didn’t agree with it. It doesn’t make it wrong because the DA doesn’t agree with it.

Finally, we believe that a regular review of the transformation of the state is necessary. Viewed through the eyes of sober-minded South Africans, we believe that in this short space of time since 1994 much has been done to ensure that the people shall govern. However, we hasten to acknowledge that much still needs to be done. Many challenges await all South Africans.

Comrade President nobody said that this struggle will be easy, but we have come a long way since 1994. Aluta continua! Victory is certain!

Rev K R J MESHOE: Chairperson, hon President, Deputy President, Ministers and members, on this Africa Day I want to highlight three things that hinder productivity on our continent and that were raised by an African preacher who shared fellowship with us on Sunday. The first one is gross irresponsibility. The habit of always blaming others will not help anyone to acknowledge their failures in order to take corrective action. We must ask the question: For how long are Africans going to blame colonialists for their blunders and economies that have collapsed?

We have countries on this continent, which got their independence more than 40 years ago and they still blame colonialists for their economic woes. Everybody knows that apartheid was repressive, it was wicked, it was an evil system that denied black people opportunities to improve themselves. But after a decade of freedom are we forever going to shift the blame rather than take responsibility for our failures? We need to move on, Mr President, and teach our children how to seize countless opportunities they have in this country. They must be helped not to act like victims of the past.

My children are doing well because their able parents always remind them that they are victors in life and not victims of the past. We must address the victim mentality that many of our Africans still have and encourage them to press on to greater heights, productivity and prosperity.

I read a very interesting success story published in the Sowetan newspaper of 12 May 2005. The article was about a certain Mr Johannes Motshegoa Rakgalakane who went through some tough times to become the first student to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Court Interpreting from Unisa.

This court interpreter paid for his own tuition and studied on the train travelling to work. He said:

I used to wake up at 3am to get ready to depart an hour later from the
railway station in Mamelodi to catch the 4:30am train bound for
Johannesburg to work. The noise in the peak hour trains is deafening,
but I persevered and studied hard in those packed coaches and in those
unbearable conditions.

Mr President, our children must be challenged and encouraged to overcome all obstacles like Mr Rakgalakane did and not be allowed to be victims of the past. For Africans to become more productive they must change their attitude and start behaving and speaking like victors and not victims. Dwelling too much on apartheid and the injustices of the past will not help us rise to our fullest potential and fulfil our God-given purpose and destiny on Earth. Such people will always see their failures as somebody’s fault and we need to move away from that.

Violence also affects productivity negatively. Africa has too much violence and wars. The ACDP greatly appreciates what the President and his Deputy have done on the continent to bring about peace. But, Mr President, much more still needs to be done to change the attitude of our people.

Almost on a daily basis we hear complaints about the poor service many of our public hospitals and clinics are giving our people. We hear about nurses who neglect patients because their value for human life is sadly too low. We hear about those who take the lives of innocent unborn children because they don’t value life. Rapists and murderers have constitutional protection and the right to life, but these innocent unborn babies have no rights whatsoever.

Mr President, I believe you should lead this Parliament in enhancing and improving the value of life by initiating a constitutional amendment that will give the most basic right that even the worst criminals in South Africa have, namely the right to life, also to unborn children in our nation. The increase in productivity in this country will be proportional to the value South Africans have for life. If there is no value for life then violence will continue to be with us and when violence remains with us then productivity will suffer and there will be fewer investments that we desperately need. Consequently the economy will also suffer and unemployment will keep on rising.

We need more productivity on the continent for the African Renaissance to become a reality. On this Africa Day Africans must speak more about how we can be more productive and speak less about blaming others. We need to move on to maturity and like responsible grown-ups take responsibility for the development, productivity and economic growth of our continent. Thank you. [Applause.]

Ms I W DIREKO: The hon Chairperson, our hon President and Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members of this House, ladies and gentlemen, the South African people have a long history of fighting against immoral behaviour. When our people were subjected to the most heinous and immoral form of discrimination, namely apartheid, we came together as a people to fight it.

When we were deprived of our basic human rights, many different people from all over our land came together in the People’s Congress at Kliptown, to draw up a set of rights in the Freedom Charter. I am sorry, I see your leader is not here, and neither is the hon Gibson. Their facts are always so twisted that perhaps I should volunteer to run ABET classes to sharpen their comprehension skills.

The directives from the Freedom Charter subsequently formed the fundamental basis for the ANC submissions to the Constitutional Assembly. The ANC as an old liberation movement concerned with the problems faced by the people of South Africa - and I mean all the people of South Africa and Africa - committed itself to partner with the people in an effort to rid this country of the social ills that we have inherited from the likes of you and those who came before you.

The rationale, therefore, behind the moral regeneration initiative in South Africa is grounded in the incidence of violence, crime, corruption and discrimination, directly and indirectly orchestrated by a system of government that had no respect for family values and concepts like ubuntu, which brought about the virtual collapse of a system of social behaviour informed by the precepts of humanism which historically inform African culture.

The Budget provides resources for the strategic leadership in the regeneration initiative, as has been led by the President and the Deputy President in their efforts to assist in developing strategies of intervention, and to create platforms for the participation of civil society, as the notion of the Freedom Charter directs,” the People shall govern”.

It further co-ordinates government response to the moral degeneration that destroys the moral fibre of our society. The ANC believes that through the budget allocations the President has strategies to monitor government performance and actions in the area of promoting moral renewal. The ANC is committed, through the social contract it entered into with the majority of the people of South Africa, particularly the poor, to attempting to push back the frontiers of poverty and unemployment, all of which are associated with moral degeneration.

The ANC is also committed to continue to introduce legislation and programmes conducive to moral renewal, and to put in place systems and structures that can assist with moral renewal. A case in point is the moral regeneration movement established at national level, provincial level, and also local government level. It is only this poor party on my left that does not recognise the progress that is being made in this area.

The ANC is further committed to building a caring society that is responsible to the vulnerable amongst us.[Interjections.]

Ek sal nie eers antwoord nie, jy’s nie ‘n antwoord werd nie. [I won’t dignify that with an answer, you’re not worthy of an answer.]

We must therefore celebrate the many advances made by the ANC-led government to support the family, eg the notion of a primary caregiver, who is not necessarily a blood relation. Recognition of family responsibility leave is necessary, especially leave for parents when they are about to have a new baby, leave long enough to give a mother the opportunity to nurture that baby. I mean mothers regardless of colour, because all mothers are human. You are the only people in your time who did not recognise the humanity of individuals in this country.

This lays a strong foundation that cares for those less fortunate, a society that is guided by respect and values, human life and all the values enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

In our society, we need to address the problem of HIV and Aids. Firstly, we need to appeal to our people not to behave in a manner that endangers their lives. That means lifestyle is of utmost importance. Secondly, do not stigmatise those living with HIV and Aids. Thirdly, provide care and support to those who are infected and affected by this dreadful pandemic. It is especially important that we give care and support to the children living in child-headed households, and help them access the services that are available.

Another aspect of moral regeneration is to make sure that we as public representatives continue to act as role models for our society, especially our youth.

Jaanong ke ratile go raya batlotlegi, ba ba mo letsogong lame la mo ja, gore fa ba nale dinala a ba di kgaole gore re tle re tsholetse ketapele ya rona, re se ka ra ba tsenya mo mathatheng. Ga ke batle gore dira di nkutlwe. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)

[I would like to inform hon members on my right that we should support our leaders and not lead them into trouble. I do not want enemies to understand what I am saying.]

We must also extend our campaign against corruption and moral decay to include the corporate sector. Business also has social and ethical responsibilities.

Hulle kan nie net vat en niks teruggee nie. [They cannot only take and not give anything back.]

This must sometimes triumph over the pursuit of profit. Business must understand that profit is not the name of the game, but what profit can do to improve the quality of life of people who are less fortunate. We are aware that there are corporations that have done much towards the social upliftment of the people of this country. But it is also a reality that there are many companies which are still lagging behind in this area.

In addition, all of Africa is going through similar processes of renewal. As the Deputy President said in 2002: “We view the moral regeneration process as being intertwined with the fundamental Nepad principles of good economic and political governance, entrenchment of democracy and respect for human rights, and ensuring peace and stability.”

Let me take this opportunity to commend the President and the Deputy President for what they have done in Africa. They will have to contend with the whole of the continent and not just Zimbabwe. There will be more of the African leaders to run this continent. [Time expired.][Applause.]

Dr P W A MULDER: Mr Chairman, President, today is Africa Day. To be an African is not to have a second address. These were President Mbeki’s words in March this year at a Conference of African Intellectuals. He was reacting to some African academics with French second addresses.

According to this definition, Jan Van Riebeeck, was not an African. I agree with that. Van Riebeeck came to Africa to start a refreshment station, and he left a few years later. Van Riebeeck had a second address. But in 1657 some of the Dutch settlers asked to become Vryburgers. They cut their European ties and committed themselves to Africa. They did not have a second address any longer and became Africans.

You find the same debate among English-speaking South Africans. In 1912 General Hertzog wrote a letter explaining his slogan of South Africa first: “People in South Africa loyal to Britain are like summer’s swallows. They must not have any say in South African affairs.”

Ferdie Greyling skryf in Beeld vanoggend dat ons nog altyd Afrikane was, ons harte was nog altyd hier waar ons voorgeslagte se grafte is, én waar die vertellings en mites van ons families die vlaktes in trek. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Ferdie Greyling wrote in Beeld this morning that we have always been Africans, our hearts have always been here where our forefathers’ graves are, and where the folklore and myths of our families stretch across the plains.]

Whether Afrikaners are South Africans is an old debate settled centuries ago amongst Afrikaners, but for some Anglo-African intellectuals this seems to be a new debate. Listening to their arguments I find most of them to be pure racism. The majority of Afrikaners and I will not allow someone else to decide whether we are African or not.

Yet in this House, according to most of the ANC speeches, you are a good Afrikaner, an African, only if you join the ANC. [Laughter.] If you don’t join, then you are an enemy of the people; you are opposed to transformation, and probably a racist. If this is the ANC’s answer to the national problem, then we are in trouble. It is exactly this type of thinking that created all one-party states in Africa. It is exactly this type of thinking that tried to kill diversity in Africa and caused many of the civil wars in Africa.

TV news on Saturday evening reported on two gatherings in South Africa; the imbizo in Durban, and the protest march in Pretoria. The last time such gatherings took place was before 1994. These gatherings are significant in the sense of something happening out there that the government has to take note of. The ANC reacted by belittling the people who attended these gatherings, and discounted the gatherings as unimportant. That is your choice, you can do that.

Before 1994, serious negotiations took place, and accords were signed between the FF and the ANC. Similar discussions took place and accords were signed between the IFP and ANC. We seriously sought solutions at a time when more than 15 acts of sabotage had occurred and people were murdered.

The ANC’s discussion document on the national question on page 2 states, “Tactics adopted to appease some or other narrow ethnic interest during the transition”. And then it mentions the FF and IFP issues, “ . . . for the sake of making an overall advance should not be automatically elevated to being elements of our strategic approach to the national question”.

Sir, do we understand the seriousness of this message? I need to know whether or not you are busy with “tactics adopted to appease” during negotiations, because I must tell my people, since it makes a difference. Mr Pahad was there as well.

South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. What does this “belongs” mean? Do we have a say in those issues that affect us? At present, no; only appeasement. We pay taxes and have no say over what happens to our money. We have no say in how names are changed and Afrikaner heroes are insulted.

The Freedom Charter continues, “and that no government can justly claim authority, unless it is based on the will of all the people”. Not all of the majority, but all of the people. Do minorities in South Africa have a say? Sir, all your Ministers started their budget speeches as Luthuli House instructed them to, quoting from the Freedom Charter. But one part of the Charter was never quoted. Surely, the ANC upholds the entire Freedom Charter.

No one quoted from the important third part of the Charter, namely; “All national groups shall have equal rights. There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts, in the schools, for all national groups and races. All people shall have equal rights to use their own languages. All national groups shall be protected by law against insults to the race and national pride.”

Changing the names of places named after my heroes is an insult to my pride. Kofi Anan said in Durban at the African Union meeting in 2002: “In Africa the rulers listen to the ruled, and the majority to the minority. Our traditions teach us to respect each other, to share power, to give every man his say, and every woman hers. Consent and consensus achieved through long and patient discussions are at the heart of many of these traditions. Let us keep that in mind and resist the temptations of short cuts or solutions imposed by force.”

Sir, does this apply to the ANC in South Africa at present? Or is it tactics of appeasement? The answer to these questions will determine the national question in the future. Thank you. [Time expired.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Chairperson, President, Deputy President, and hon members, the Presidency is the highest office around which the will and the whole of the country revolve. The aim of having such an office is summed up well in that it has to provide leadership in the development and management strategic agenda. To this end we in the United Christian Democratic Party are at ease that the office fulfils the mandate. A cursory look at the President’s state of the nation address in February this year shows the outstanding tasks that the Presidency undertook to ensure that within three months after the speech was delivered these tasks would be attended to.

From the whole list we in the UCDP would like be enlightened on the progress of three tasks, namely the completion of the strategy on the better utilisation of the Isibaya Fund of the public investment commission, the improvement of the effectiveness of skills development structures in government for the implementation of the human resources development strategy and the completion of the register for graduates.

We know that efforts are being made to assist those in the second economy with the provision of information on how to access funds. Our plea is that the roll-out of Expanded Public Works Programme jobs should benefit even those in the remotest parts of the country. When the President filed questions in this House last term, he promised that government would be going out to educate people on how they can help themselves to get funds. And we are glad to report as follows that a fortnight ago, the small village of Motswedi in the North West province was a hive of activity when the Minister of Trade and Industry went to reach out to the people and informed them as to how they may gain access economic opportunities.

We have also seen some funds being given out in the farmer support programme. We have also noted with appreciation that the Bojanala district municipality has had some life breathed into it through Project Consolidate as promised in February. While we know that funds are limited, our experience is that the one stop government hubs are a real blessing to the communities where they are established. We plead that the one and only multipurpose community centre in Lebotlwane in the Bojanala district is as good as not being there for some citizens in that district, which extends from the Botswana border in the west up to the Limpopo and Mpumalanga boundaries in the east.

There is surely a need for some funds and not at the end of the decade as planned by the Presidency. The efforts to bring the President and the Deputy President closer to the public through imbizos are noble, but they tend to be tarnished by those who organise them on the ground. Such organisers project such occasions as being party specific and the colours of the ANC dominate on the day, the result being that other people feel inhibited.

On the occasion of the first inauguration of the President in 1999, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the President said that our democracy was at the “mahube a naka tsa kgomo” stage (the dawn stage). Surely by now it has gone past the sunrise stage, and maybe is at the “ditlwaela mafulo” stage (the stage past sunrise), if not the “sethoboloko” stage (midday stage). People delegated to organise such events of significance should be prevailed upon “bavule amasango” (they should open the doors) as these occasions are really meant to foster nation-building and not to be hoarded and personalised.

While I am still on the issue of nation-building to which the President alluded earlier on, I have always been irked by the many nations we seem to have in this country instead of just one nation in South Africa. There are those who call themselves the Afrikaner nation, the Zulu nation and even the Bafokeng nation. Perhaps, Your Excellency, the time is ripe for our democracy to state clearly that the national flag, the national anthem, and all other national symbols are meant to unite us, and that is why we also passed the Intergovernmental Relations Bill yesterday. We commend the President and the Deputy President on the commitment in peacekeeping efforts on the mother continent, Africa.

We pray a lot for your strength, and that your efforts are rewarded. We all know that even if you live in a castle, because of affluence, and your neighbours live in abject poverty and persistent fighting against poverty, you and your family will not be at ease as they may rise against you. Therefore there has to be peace in the neighbouring states, before we can hope to live in peace ourselves.

We deplore the deaths of our soldiers in the countries where they are deployed. We know that almost all such deaths do not have a direct bearing on what they have been sent there for. Nonetheless one death of a South African soldier beyond our borders is one death too many. We in the UCDP have no doubt that this nation will achieve excellence, on condition that we work hard and have discipline. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr S J NJIKELANA: Chairperson, hon President and Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members of this Parliament and the public at large, the context in which this ANC-led government has been providing leadership on social investment is according to the ideas and values as espoused in the Freedom Charter, particularly that of houses, security, and comfort for all.

In keeping with the ANC’s drive for a closer interministerial direction of interdepartmental planning, programming and implementation, the Presidency has been providing strategic leadership and policy co-ordination by constantly identifying and driving programmes that are of strategic significance at national level, programmes whose long-term objectives are social advancement for all in our country.

I am of the strong view that there is mutual interdependence and reciprocation between social and economic aspects of development in any society, and therefore economic advancement must be reflected in social gains in any of our programmes. On social investments the government’s endeavours in service delivery have to be viewed, inter alia, as an investment as well. Such features cannot only be ascribed to the private sector and viewed in monetary terms only. Through social investment the government seeks to organise and reorganise this capital investment to improve its delivery performance, and subsequently attain greater impact on the target beneficiaries. This is evidenced in the key programmes, which are driven by the Presidency and strongly characterise social investment.

Through the past ten years the ANC has mobilised for economic growth, development and redistribution in such a way as to improve the people’s quality of life. Hence the strategic focus on the second economy has been due, amongst other things, to the minimal impact of previous attempts to reduce poverty and reverse hunger.

Co-ordination of youth development programmes has been keenly attended to by increasing the budget allocation by 24% for the current financial year.

Oku Mongameli, Mphathisihlalo kwenziwa ngenxa yokuba kusatyelwa ikhwelo likaKhongolozi elithi amandla e-National Youth Commission makabengathi ayaqiniswa, athi kratya, ukwenzela ukuba iwenze umsebenzi wayo, ngokomthetho we-National Youth Commission Act. (Translation of Xhosa paragraph follows.)

[Hon President, hon Chairperson, this is made possible because we heed the call made by the ANC that the National Youth Commission must be stronger and do its work according to the law stipulated in the National Youth Commission Act.]

Advancing the campaign for moral regeneration has the potential to reduce corruption on a sustainable basis, thus creating space and opportunity for various components of government to concentrate on more productive issues. Our government, having initiated this campaign, is definitely keen to spearhead moral cleansing of morally degenerate practices in the economy of our country.

The ANC has consistently pursued a developmental approach in dealing with HIV and Aids, which sees success as being linked to general efforts against poverty, underdevelopment, and access to health care for all. It therefore becomes necessary for a comprehensive approach that will ensure that all departments and other government agencies provide adequate resources in fighting this scourge.

The ANC has committed itself to work with progressive forces throughout the world to promote and defend our transformation, advance Africa’s Renaissance, and build a new world order. It is therefore logical that nurturing the African Renaissance as a means of social stability throughout Africa is an acknowledgement that sustained stability, and prosperity in South Africa also depends on a socially stable African continent. The Presidency has provided and will continue to provide leadership on Nepad as well as providing a home for the Pan-African Parliament in South Africa.

Campaigning for peace and stability in various countries in Africa is a task, which definitely brings tremendous social gains once refugees return to their countries of origin, and are reunited with their roots. It is logical therefore to ensure that social benefits must go beyond Band-Aid short-term charity to longer-term sustainable social effects under the strategic leadership of the Presidency.

However poor or minimal an effort on social investment will result in huge social costs whereby the eradication of the poverty trap and the reversal of social inequities would, in the long run, require more resources and be more painful.

However, Comrade President, there are challenges ahead as well, particularly the quantification of certain social targets. This refers for example, to the public disagreements on the definition of unemployment, the extent of bridging the social inequities - the social world gap in particular has the potential to complicate consensus on the determination of such social targets - setting up and meeting national targets, including Millennium Development Goals - especially having poverty and unemployment halved by 2015.

With regard to the role of civil society and the private sector, they would on their own initiative enhance their contribution on social investment. We still need to see how such social partnerships are built and also how they enhance the people’s contract. As we enter a season of hope it must also be noted that, amongst other things, the expansionary nature of the Budget clearly illustrates the resolute approach by the Presidency to enhance its leadership and policy co-ordinating role to ascertain that social investment is one of the priorities.

One can confidently attest that political consistency by an ANC-led government confirms the ANC’s position that changing South African society in a manner that decisively improves people’s quality of life requires boldness and thinking that chiefs are in convenient comfort zones, hence they need to mobilise the people to take an active part in changing their lives for the better. I can only add that the ANC supports this Budget. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Dr S E M PHEKO: Chairperson, Mr President, Deputy President, long live Africa Day. Long live the invincible forces of Pan-Africanism! [Laughter.]

The PAC supports this Budget Vote. I must, however, make the following observation: This Budget debate takes place not far from a town called Citrusdal here in the Western Cape. When darkness falls tonight and, as predicted, rain and bitterly cold snow begin to fall on the rugged Cedar Mountains, fifteen men and women, including seven children – the youngest of whom is one-year old, will have nowhere to sleep. They were evicted from land by a local farmer in Middelpos. They have lived there for five to six years. The two houses were burnt to the ground and they were forcefully removed from their houses on the farm.

In Delmas, Mpumalanga, residents have been arrested for protesting against the lack of service delivery and corrupt practices of the local council around the RDP housing. The loyal citizens of ward 25 were arrested for protesting against living in substandard and informal housing and expressing betrayal of promises of land, which have not been forthcoming.

In Gugulethu in Cape Town police opened fire with rubber bullets in running battles with the landless residents who had occupied an open land. Khayalitsha is also angry at having not received houses after 11 years of waiting. The citizens of our country are neither criminals nor terrorists, yet in recent weeks and days legitimate protest by communities across this country has been criminalised. Should those expressing their pain because of poverty be treated as criminals?

The PAC posed a critical question when the interception and monitoring Bill was passed. It gives the state the right to tap any telephone conversation or intercept any e-mail message and is intended to prohibit terrorism. Is it in reality intended to clamp down on legitimate protests by communities who have waited 10 years for service delivery?

South Africa will remain a skewed country economically because it continues to allow asymmetric investments. The recent approval of the merger of Absa and Barclays Bank will be of no beneficial effect to the economic lives of the poor. It will not bring more employment, nor will it spread prosperity. In respect of Nepad, this deal counters any semblance of African states seriously trading with one another. It allows Barclays to have a gateway through South Africa to buy out banks in Africa, where a few shareholders will get a windfall. Weaker African states will potentially lose control over their financial institutions. The noble stance we can take as a nation is to demand full and unconditional cancellation of Africa’s debt.

Chairperson, our country needs labour intensive industries that are labour absorbing. Equitable redistribution linked to a development strategy and poverty eradication is imperative. We can no longer run away from it. We need free education in this country. The argument that keeps thousands of African children out of universities is the dangerous route that will perpetuate mental chains. [Time expired.]

Dr R H DAVIES: Chairperson, President, Deputy President and colleagues, the ANC has long identified economic emancipation as central in taking forward the vision of the Freedom Charter of creating a South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it. This challenge of economic emancipation is at its sharpest in what the President has called the “second economy”. In coining this phrase, the President has called our attention to the reality that there are large numbers of people in this country who are compelled, through no fault of their own, to eke out a living in low income and low quality survivalist economic activities.

The President has also pointed out that there is no mechanism through which growth and development of the formal, first economy automatically translates into improved incomes and living standards for those trapped in the second economy. The dualism in the South African economy to which the President has drawn our attention is, of course, nothing new. The accumulation models that emerged under colonialism and apartheid in this country, were rooted in economic dualism.

The growth and development of the mining industry and to some extent of capitalist agriculture and early manufacturing depended on drawing large numbers of low paid unskilled migrant workers from among African populations hitherto involved in household production in rural areas. To ensure a flow of cheap unskilled labour power, it was necessary for the system to ensure the systematic underdevelopment of productive activities in the 13% of South Africa designated by colonialism and apartheid for settlement by the majority African population. However, it was also important for the system to sustain these activities in a subordinated form. Family production agriculture under this system provided a subsidy to the mining industry though creating the possibility of driving wages paid to migrant workers to levels lower than what would otherwise have been the case.

What happened during the last quarter century of apartheid rule was that the relationship between the former first economy and the underdeveloped rural economy changed from one of exploitation and extraction of the subsidy, to one of marginalisation and exclusion. This was captured in a number of descriptive analyses that began to emerge in the late 1960’s onwards that spoke of a shift in the function of what were variously called homelands and Bantustans from labour reserves to dumping grounds for surplus people.

The later apartheid period also saw marginalised people voting with their feet and migrating from so-called homelands to informal settlements in urban areas – a trend that of course continued when apartheid barriers were removed in the 1990’s. As a result of these historical processes we have, in this country, a second economy recognisable in socioeconomic terms as peripheral to and marginal to the activities of the first, formal economy.

Geographically this economy is located in urban townships and former homeland areas. It embraces, according to one estimate, perhaps as many as 6,2 million people involved in, as its central defining characteristics, low income, low quality, mainly survivalist trade and petty commodity production.

The President has identified ending this dualism as a key challenge for the second decade of freedom. An important part of our efforts to confront this challenge must be to ensure involvement in taking steps to increase labour absorption in the first economy and to build ladders for the people from the second economy to the opportunities that were created thereby.

This will require creating conditions that encourage job creating activities and taking steps to address the skills mismatch, among other things. Another part of the challenge is to create more opportunities for sustainable livelihoods among many who, even if we succeed in improving labour absorption and creating many jobs in the formal sector, are likely to need to continue in creating sustainable livelihoods through their own economic activity. The struggle to create sustainable livelihoods for such persons is essentially a struggle to raise income earning potential and the quality of what are now largely survivalist activities.

What we need to recognise in what we are doing, is a massive market failure. What Mr Leon’s puerile and passé neo-liberalism, which we heard earlier hear this afternoon, fails to recognise, is that market mechanisms, although in certain historical periods associated with the development of productive forces also work to the benefit of those with skills and resources who are able to effectively participate in them. They regularly fail and marginalise those who do not have such capacities and tend therefore to reproduce existing patterns of inequality.

The President is therefore quite correct, in my view, to focus our quest to transform deep-seated structural realities inherited from our past, on the role of the state. We will not overcome dualism without political leadership and the interventions of a developmental state seeking to transform the lives of those who are marginalised and excluded.

A number of elements have been identified in the programme to address ending this dualism and some of them were mentioned in the speech of the Deputy President. They would include finding mechanisms to provide people who lack assets with access to resources. This year is, after all, the United Nations’ Year of Micro-Credit. We need to be clear; this is not the year of the matshonisas [loans sharks].

The microlending industry that emerged in the 1990s with the relaxation of the Usury Act has largely provided high cost credit to waged and salaried people for consumption purposes. Developmental microcredit, by contrast, seeks to make affordable credit available largely for productive activities. Government has taken an important lead in this regard with the establishment and budgeting in this year’s Budget of funds for the Apex funds and the Mafisa Agricultural Credit Scheme.

However, we need to do more and move beyond the efforts of the government and in the spirit of partnership, I believe, to encourage and facilitate the emergence of nonprofit and noncommercial developmental microcredit institutions as well as to work on the transformation of the existing microlending industry. The first lady, in her work for the Women’s Development Bank, has emerged as a champion and shining example of what we need to do in this regard. At this stage I think she has merited: Malibongwe! [Applause.]

Land and agrarian reform can also be identified as a critical way of assisting people who are poor. I believe that many of us in this Parliament are looking to the government to lead, facilitate and accelerate the process of land reform and to ensure that poor people have a stake as beneficiaries in the process.

Together with the Agricultural Credit Scheme, this could be an important way of promoting sustainable livelihoods. Promoting sustainable livelihoods also requires the promotion of the appropriate institutional models and structures to facilitate improving the quality of informal sector activities. The collective energies of communities can find expression in the emergence of co-operatives and a thriving co-operative movement. Part of the challenge to facilitate this would be to pass legislation that will be before us in this Parliament very soon. But another important part will be for government departments to interact with the co-operative movement and develop appropriate supportive programmes.

Industrial policies and sector strategies also need to be realised better to contribute to the struggle to promote sustainable livelihoods, and there is a need to work more generally to transform the inherited pattern of articulation of the first and the second economies from one of marginalisation and exclusion to one of supportive energy. Again this is something that won’t happen without political leadership and intervention and it was exactly this that prompted the sector charter processes; some of which when appropriately structured can contribute significantly in this regard.

But, President, you speak of the need to see greater coherence and coordination of state interventions and have identified the Fosad process as critical in this regard. Promoting greater coherence and coordination, in my view, will be needed in respect of the interventions to promote sustainable livelihoods and overcome dualism.

Among the programmes that will need to be better aligned with the strategy of promoting sustainable livelihoods are the Expanded Public Works Programmes, social grants programmes and skill transfer programmes. The Integrated Development Programmes of municipalities also, in my view, offer an important potential mechanism to develop strategies as well as to coordinate various interventions at local level. But to be sure, if the IDPs are to play this role, they will have to develop into something much bigger than they are at the moment. Perhaps, this is something that the Fosad process could be looking at as well.

The Deputy President has been given the responsibility for this important task, which I understand seeks the coordination and improvement of government’s programme in the second economy. This is both a daunting task and a challenge, but is an important assumption of leadership by the highest institution of the country and it is something which I believe we need to appreciate and support.

I am sure that we look forward in due time to receive reports of this important work and the important tasks of the Presidency in this area and in many others. It is my pleasure to support the Budget Vote of the Presidency.

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE: Chairperson, hon President of the Republic of SA, and hon Deputy President, a democratic capitalist society will keep searching for better ways of drawing the boundary lines between the domains of workers’ rights and interests and those of the capitalist class that owns the means of production. To be sure, the struggle to find the boundary lines can never be resolved, for the conflict between equality and capitalist greed is inescapable.

In a sense, capitalism and democracy are really the most improbable mixture. That is why Azapo welcomes the recent public debate on what is an appropriate and inappropriate direction we should take for our country’s prosperity. That is also why Azapo has always said that in the absence of a socialist mode of production, government interventions are necessary to put some humanity into capitalist production.

After being appointed as a member of Parliament, and therefore being able to enjoy the privilege of air travel to any part of our country, I have experienced the reality of seeing wealth distribution, by merely observing the who’s who of the air travel industry. Today, on Africa Day, I can testify that the state of the art passenger planes, owned by the people this country, through South African Airways, are mostly frequented by whites and foreign visitors.

Azapo believes that until this form of transport can be enjoyed by the majority of black South Africans, our country has a long way to go. The few blacks that are able to find themselves in this form of transport are either the new black economic empowerment beneficiaries or sponsored passengers like all of us, members of Parliament. [Applause.]

Most of the time when we talk about the eradication of poverty, we do not, at the same time, define clearly the ways and means of doing so, except that we have indeed, time and again, budgeted resources for this purpose. Allow me to put some suggestions forward, although some have already been mentioned, so that Azapo’s beliefs can be incorporated into present programmes geared towards eradicating poverty.

For the Deputy President of the country, who has been given the responsibility to look after the second economy, these are the suggestions we want to make: Firstly, we believe that the cornerstone of eradicating poverty should be by raising the income levels of the poor and increasing the employment opportunities for South Africans, especially the poor; and secondly, the acceleration of the process of restructuring the entire South African society in particular to correct economic imbalances, so as to reduce and eventually eliminate race as a function of economic prosperity.

It is a well-known fact that poverty is predominant within the black population. Given that we know that this is so and Statistics South Africa has confirmed this time and again, government should be bold enough to engage its vigorous programmes that uplift the poor in the townships and rural areas. In our view, these programmes should be geared and directed at boosting rural economies, as well as township economic activities.

This direct investment by us in economic activities of the second economy will, in our view, benefit blacks who are poor, both by direct benefits and through wealth-spreading effects. The racial and geographical aspects of the distribution of poverty should help to determine policy approaches to this problem. The programme of targeted interventions should include a range of policies whereby greater returns should accrue to producers and be retained by them, rather than accruing to middlemen in the agricultural system.

Presently, the rural economy is essentially static, and is accompanied by poor education and ignorance, which hampers training and the utilisation of modern techniques, poor medical facilities and knowledge, which often results in a poor state of health, an absence of capital that can allow the use of efficient machinery and other productivity-enhancing inputs, all combine to keep productivity at low levels.

Government should be resolute in combating each of these factors. Economic activities must be built and improved for rural areas and townships. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs B M NTULI: Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon Ministers, colleagues and friends, let me start by supporting the Budget Vote. As this year has been declared the year of the popular mobilisation to advance the vision of the Freedom Charter by the ANC, allow me to quote it:

All shall be equal before the law. All shall enjoy equal human rights.
All nation groups shall have equal rights.

I-Freedom Charter le ngiyo phela ezala UMthetho-sisekelo. [This Freedom Charter is the one that gave birth to the Constitution.]

Our Constitution also guarantees the rights of all South Africans. The Constitution protects the right to human dignity, the right to freedom and the right to life.

Allow me to look at programme 4.5 of the Budget, namely policy co- ordination. Policy co-ordination provides policy advice, monitoring and evaluating services to enable the Presidency, Cabinet and government to plan and co-ordinate government programmes and ensure that they are implemented. This is in line with the 1954 Women’s Charter, which informed the Freedom Charter, pointing to the vision of future South African women’s issues. The 1994 Charter for Gender Equality also informs the government and departments on the issues affecting women and children, and the policies that the government would pass.

We are grateful for all the achievements made in the last ten years. There are considerable achievements, like the establishment of the Commission on Gender Equality, the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women, and the national Office on the Status of Women, as well as the provincial offices. These offices have played an important role in advocating laws that will benefit women and children in this country; progressive Acts like the Maintenance Act of 1998, the Domestic Violence Act, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act and many more.

Siyabonga Mhlalingaphambili. [We thank you, Chairperson.]

Having said that, there are many challenges that women are faced with.

Ikinga ekulu ke yindlala, nomtlhago emakhaya. In rural areas and Africa in general. Kungakho sithi iSewula Afrika kufanele ikhambe phambili ukuqala bonyana indaba yePawu ikhanjiswe ngokurhabako, iPan African Womens Movement. Ukuze abomma bazithuthukise, abomma be Afrika yokana. (Translation of Ndebele paragraph follows.)

[The major problems are hunger and poverty in our families. That is why we are saying South Africa must lead so as to ensure that the issue of hunger moves quickly, with regard to the Pan-African Women’s Movement. This is so that women can empower themselves, women of Africa as a whole.]

Human beings are born with certain capabilities. The purpose of development is to create an environment which can expand these capabilities, especially for women in rural areas. Women have certain needs without which life is impossible. Let us meet life-sustaining basic needs, including food security, shelter, health and protection, so that they can have a sense of wealth and self-respect, and are not used as a tool by others to meet their needs. Especially black women must be free from servitude.

Bakwazi ukuzikhethela ukuthi bayafuna na ukusebenzela umesisi nanyana bafuna ukuzisebenzela bona ngokwabo babe namabhizinisi wabo. [They must be able to choose whether they want to work for white women or whether they want to be self-employed in their own businesses.]

Let us make available basic life-sustaining goods like land and infrastructure and expand the range of economic and social choices in rural areas.

Black women in South Africa have been at the lowest end of business opportunities. Actually, they were totally excluded, but thanks to the ANC- led government, women now own land. In the Mineral and Energy Charter, women can also be involved in the energy and oil industry.

One way in which women can become self-sufficient citizens is through owning their own businesses. Therefore, we urge the Office on the Status of Women in the Presidency to assist women entrepreneurs to establish and run small, medium and micro enterprises.

Basebenze no DTI. [They should work with the DTI.]

Women must also benefit from black economic empowerment projects – BEE - and get involved in the building industry. We need to address the issue of microfinance for poverty alleviation and work towards a pro-poor financial sector. The youth have the Umsobomvu Youth Fund.

Sicela ke kuMongameli ukuthi nabomma kufanele babe ne-women economic development fund. Ukurhelebha abomma bona bazithuthukise emakhaya nasemalokitjhini. (Translation of Ndebele paragraph follows.)

[We therefore request the President that women should also have a women’s economic development fund. This would assist women to develop themselves in rural areas and townships.]

As the ANC we would like to thank the government for introducing the SA Micro Finance Apex Fund and the creation of the co-operatives in the financial sector. The people shall share in the wealth of the country.

Kutjho i-Freedom Charter. Sithokoza khulu ngeMafisa kwezolimo, kukhona ke izinselela. [That is what the Freedom Charter says. We thank you very much for the Mafisa in agriculture; there are challenges.]

There are challenges as well. Violence against women is another challenge. Gender-based violence perpetrated against women is widespread and cuts across geographic, racial, cultural and class boundaries. Violence against women is an area of serious concern for us, especially with regard to the current cases of women shot by their male partners. Recently in Tshiawelo, in Soweto, their father – someone that they trust - killed a woman, her mother and her children. Intimate femicide is the most extreme form of domestic violence. Worldwide, about 40% to 70% of female murder victims are killed by intimate partners. This is according to the study by the MRC gender and health unit.

In South Africa, a woman is killed every six hours. A third of these women are killed by someone with a firearm. Owners of legal firearms are the perpetrators. Some are employed as public servants. We need to launch a constructive male involvement movement to advance gender equality. Real men do not abuse and kill women. We need to increase male involvement in the women empowerment and gender equality programmes and take forward the debates and dialogue between men and women on the understanding of what masculinity is; because there is an understanding that femicide is related to power relations. We must debate this.

The apartheid government has destroyed the family values of our people by creating immoral policies. This was done through the separating of husbands from their wives and the creation of the male hostels, which created a huge social burden for the state.

Ubaba ophathakuhle umuzi wakhe uyahlonipheka. Siyabadinga abobaba kanti nabo bayasidinga. Litjho njalo ilizwi leKosi kubaKorinte 7:4 kusahluko 5 kuba-Efesu 25 lithi, Madoda thandani omkenu. UZimu makadala umuntu wabona ukuthi akukuhle bonyana umuntu ahlele yedwa, wathi ngizakumenzela umsizi onjengaye kuGenesisi 2. Yingakho ke no-Adam wathi uma u-Eva alethwa kuye wathi lo ulithambo lamathambo wami nenyama yenyama yami. Madoda phathani kahle omkenu, nibathande nibahloniphe. Akukho owakhe wazonda owakhe umzimba. Sikwenze lokhu bonyana isitjhaba siphile. Ake kulungiswe kukhulunywe nabobaba baphumele epepeneneni batjho ukuthi badliwa yini epeleni. Le engenza baze babulale ngitjho nabantwana. Bobaba khuzani umhlolo i-Freedom Charter ithi. (Translation of Ndebele paragraph follows.)

[A father who looks after his family is respected. We need men, and they also need us. That is what the word says in 1 Corinthians 7:4, and in verse 5 of Ephesians 25 it says, “Husbands love your wives”. When Lord created man he realised that it was not good for him to live alone. He said in Genesis 2: “I will make a helper suitable for him.” That is why, when Eve was brought to Adam, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”. Husbands, take good care of your wives, love them and respect them. There is no one who hates his own body. We do this so that the nation can be alive. Let us rectify this and communicate with husbands so that they can come forward to say exactly what is haunting them in their lives. That can even make them put children to death. Men, express your condemnation of this evil omen, in line with what the Freedom Charter says.]

The Freedom Charter says that there shall be peace and friendship. We also need to beef up the awareness of women’s reproductive rights that impact on poverty in rural areas. The issue of women and children trafficking should be seriously looked at by the OSW. Speeding up the investigation processes and also the processing of DNA tests in rape cases is very important. The OSW and the office of the Presidency should look into this.

It is also time for the religious leaders to assist the government by joining the anti-women abuse campaign. This will be done through seminars and also spreading it through the word of God and refraining from calling for the death penalty because Jesus said that He came to give people life and life abundantly.

Kuzi Kronike uthi uZimu bazi thobe abantu bami ababizwa ngegama lami, bakhuleke bafune ubuso bami, baphenduke ezindleleni zabo ezimbi, ngiyakuzwa ngisezulwini ngithethelele isono sabo ngiphilise izwe labo.

KuLuka 9:10 uthi uJesu ngize ukufuna nokusindisa okulahlekileko. Ngiyamangala uma kukhona abantu abatjhumayela izwi kodwa bathi akubulawe abantu. UZimu ufuna bonyana abantu baphenduke. Mhlonipheki Meshoe uZimu ufuna abantu baphenduke ezonweni babuyele kuye. Uthi uZimu uyathaba ngesoni esisodwa esiphendukako kodwa kukhona la abathi akubuye isigwebo sentambo, akubulawe abantu.

Ngithanda ukutjho ukuthi thina siyi ANC sifuna ukuthi abantu laba abazizoni baphenduke, baphendukele kuZimu. Ngombana kuhle begodu kuyathandeka emehlweni kaZimu ukuthi laba bantu nabo bawu bone umbuso wezulu. Ngiyamema kuba tjhumayeli bakwalizwi ukuthi asisukumeni silise ukukhohlisa abantu ukuthi ngokubuyisa isigwebo sentambo kuzalunga eSewula Afrika, kodwa baphenduke babuyele kuZimu. Ukuze sakhe imizi ephilileko, sakhe isizwe esiphilileko, sakhe ingomuso eliphilileko labantwana bethu. Ngithanda ukuthi uZimu asirhelebhe, anisize nani bafundisi abakhona la ngeNdlini ukuthi niyenze intando kaZimu. Ningakhulumi kwaphela ngelizwi likaZimu kodwana niyenze intando yakhe.

Thina siyi ANC sithi umnyango we-OSW ekhona e-ofisini kaMongameli ayinakekele ukuthuthukiswa kabomma emakhaya, icale godu nabantwana abathola ukwethuka ngokubulawa kwabazali babo ngomunye umzali, bese kuba usizi olumangalisako ekhaya. Ngebanga lesikhathi ngizophela la. Kodwa bantu bakalizwi kunye nabarholi bezendabuko abasukume nabo badlale indima kwakhiwe isitjhaba khona sizokwazi ukuphila, nokuragela phambili sithuthukise ingomuso labantu abasemakhaya ne-Afrika yokana. Ngiyathokoza Mhlali ngaphambili. [Iwahlo.] (Translation of Ndebele paragraphs follows.)

[In 2 Chronicles God says that if those who are called by His name will humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. In Luke 9:10 Jesus says that He came to seek and save what was lost. I am surprised that there are people who preach the Word but who say that people must be killed. God wants people to repent. Honourable Meshoe, God wants people to repent from their sins and turn unto Him. God says He becomes happy when one sinner repents, but there are those who are calling for the bringing back of the death sentence, so that people must be killed.

I want to say that we, the ANC, want all the people who are sinners to repent, to turn unto the Lord. Because it is good and divine in the eyes of the Lord that those people must also see the Kingdom of God. I am calling upon all those who preach the Word: Let us stand up and leave behind us the wrongful preaching to people that by bring back the death sentence South Africa will be saved, but let them turn unto the Lord. Let us build lively families, let us build a lively nation, let us build a brighter future for our own children. I would like God to help us, and help all the pastors in this House, so that they can do the will of God. They must not only invoke and preach the word of God, but they must also fulfil His will.

We, as the ANC, say that the OSW in the Office of the President should give effect to the development of women in the rural areas, and look after the children who are traumatised by the murder of one parent by the other parent; let there be remarkable assistance to the family. Because of the time factor, I will end here. However, let those people who invoke the Word and traditional leaders stand up and play a role in building the nation so that we can be alive, and can carry on building a future for people in the rural areas and Africa as a whole. I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]

Mr R B BHOOLA: Chairperson and hon President, the MF takes this opportunity to applaud South Africa’s astounding hon President, Thabo Mbeki, his competent hon Deputy President and the superb national executive that strives towards a better life for all.

Our hon President, through his charisma, intellect and beliefs globally has established magnificent friendships and relations to the advantage, development and progress of South Africa.

We take this opportunity to also applaud our President’s wise pronouncements, such as at the opening of the general assembly of the African Ombudsman Association in Muldersdrift, where he acknowledged the ombud system to be a cheaper avenue than the normal justice system and that it should therefore be available to all.

The MF also appreciates and values the President’s participation and attendance at such auspicious occasions as the launch of the Department of Home Affairs’ national immigration branch in Cape Town last month. This shows the South African citizenry that our President cares and takes the South African situation seriously.

It also delivers a message to countries globally that though South Africa offers political asylum, it shall not tolerate illegal immigration into our country.

The MF applauds our President and all South Africans in being earmarked as “champions of the earth” by the United Nations Environmental Programme. According to UNEP, we are instrumental in giving recommendations of the 2002 WSSD, especially in terms of the WSSD meeting in Johannesburg.

In view of our President’s promises and execution of promises regarding the provision of water and sanitation targets laid out in his state of the nation address, we are proud that delivery is being noted even by the United Nations.

Hon President, you are a true humanitarian. The MF agrees with the stance you have taken regarding Mozambicans. Acknowledging the poverty of that country and that many Mozambicans come to South Africa just to purchase basic necessities that are not readily available in their own country, we agree that the need for such Mozambicans to pay for their visas in US dollars to come into South Africa is harsh and should be done away with. However, we feel methods need to be instituted to avoid the illegal residency of such Mozambicans, noting that the majority of illegal migrants in South Africa are from Zimbabwe and Mozambique - even though the new agreement for no visa rests on a visit of no longer than 30 days.

The MF admires and applauds you, hon President, for all you are, for all you have done and for all you have striven to attain for all people in South Africa. We hope and pray that whoever shall follow as President will exercise his or her duties with the same zeal and determination as the example set by you and former President Nelson Mandela.

The MF takes this opportunity to seek our hon President’s assurance to the minorities of South Africa who so humbly seek representation within South Africa and a sincere acknowledgement of their existence through their incorporation into all spheres and avenues of South Africa.

In view of the President’s budget, the MF supports its nominal increase of 23% and further supports the division of funds for the various programmes facilitated under this Budget. The MF supports the Budget. I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms L JACOBUS: Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and members, I rise on behalf of the ANC to support Budget Vote No 1, that of the Presidency. As the ANC, we committed ourselves in our 2004 election manifesto to create a safe and secure environment for all South Africans.

In just about a month from now, South Africa will be celebrating the adoption of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, signed in Kliptown, which coincidentally is where my constituency is situated. In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, I think it is also fitting to pay tribute to all those brave and unsung heroes and heroines who made it all possible.

If it wasn’t for these women and men, of course led by the volunteer-in- chief, our former President, Comrade Nelson Mandela, South Africa would not be where we are today. We salute them for their vision and foresight that guides us today, and hopefully will continue to guide generations after us.

The Freedom Charter declares, amongst other things, the following:

There shall be peace and friendship. South Africa belongs to all who
live in it.

My humble contribution to this debate therefore will focus on these themes.

As we are aware, there can be no peace, friendship and stability in an insecure political, social and economic environment, both locally, in the region, the continent and beyond. Therefore, there can be no political or socioeconomic development without peace and stability.

South Africa’s efforts are therefore directed at creating a peaceful and stable environment so that we, the region and the continent, can achieve our full potential. I therefore want to draw the attention of the House to the important role played by the Presidency, led by the President, hon Thabo Mbeki, and the Deputy President, hon Jacob Zuma, in the promotion of peace, stability and democracy here at home, in the continent and the world.

Government, as the chief custodian of our Constitution, has the responsibility of ensuring that indeed the people of South Africa can live in peace and friendship and that their security, including their human security, is not threatened or compromised in any way.

This responsibility also stretches beyond the borders of the Republic of South Africa. We should therefore commend the President and the Deputy President for placing the debate on poverty and underdevelopment at the centre of the debate on peace and stability. There can be no peace and stability if sections of our population and the continent live in conditions of poverty and squalor.

To this end, I want to quote from the ANC Today of 17 September 2004, with reference to the people of Africa: They know the realities of civil wars, genocide, the conflicts that brought untold suffering to the innocent, the economic decay, social disintegration and cultural alienation that have defined the lives of many Africans. They know what others have done, which imposed on them the curse of poverty, hunger, famine, disease and underdevelopment.

Conflict and war breed poverty and poverty creates the necessary conditions for instability and conflict. Again quoting from the ANC Today of 18-24 June 2004:

The national vision of a united, nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous society is also relevant to our vision for Africa. Coupled with this is an understanding that socioeconomic development cannot take place without peace and stability. South Africa’s efforts are therefore directed at creating an environment in which all states in the continent will achieve their full potential.

The importance of the role of South Africa in the promotion of peace, stability and democracy in Africa and the world is therefore re-emphasised.

Looking at peace in the region and the continent, it is very significant that we have this debate on the Presidency’s Budget Vote on the day that we celebrate Africa and its rebirth. Nepad and the AU have placed added capacity demands on the Presidency due to our prominent role in these and other international bodies.

Our understanding as the ANC has always been that there can never be peace and stability if there is hunger, famine, poverty and inequality.

On peaceful resolution on conflicts, as the ANC we have always believed in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. In order words, that might is not always right. When you want to obtain sustainable peace and stability you have to utilise what is called soft power, the power of negotiation and dialogue, instead of the power of might, to obtain lasting and sustainable peace, stability and development.

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals also hinges on the achievement of political peace and stability on the continent. It is in this vein that I want to commend the Presidency again on its efforts in the promotion of negotiations and dialogue as a means of obtaining peace in the troubled and war-torn areas of our continent. [Applause.]

Following on this, one cannot ignore or undermine the role of women in the maintenance of lasting peace and stability. In this regard, I have to recognise and commend the role played by our First Lady, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, in the establishment of SAWID, South African Women in Dialogue, where we as women of South Africa share our experiences with women of the continent on, amongst others, conflict resolution, democratisation and power-sharing. [Applause.]

I personally have been privileged to have been party to some of these conventions and not only have I imparted some of our South African women’s experiences, but I have also learnt a lot from our fellow African mothers and sisters.

The forging of partnerships for peace and stability can never be overemphasised. I think it is even more significant in the year that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, in which the majority of South Africans declared that there shall be peace and friendship, and that South Africa shall belong to all who live in it. It is, therefore, the duty and responsibility of each and every South African to build a safe and secure South Africa for all who live in it.

To conclude, I want to borrow from the words of one of the founding members of the ANC, Comrade Pixley ka Sene, who, as early as 1906 said:

The brighter day is rising on Africa. Already I seem to see her chains dissolved, her desert plain red with harvest, her Abyssinia and her Zululand the seats of science and religion, reflecting the glory of the rising son from the spires their churches and universities. Her Congo and her Gambia whitened with commerce, her crowded cities sending forth the hum of business, and all her sons employed in advancing the victories of peace - greater and more abiding than the spoils of war.

This is an illustration of our consistent history as the ANC of peaceful resolution of conflict in our struggle to achieve a better life for all, free from poverty and want. The Congress of the People echoed these words in 1955 at Kliptown when they declared:

There shall be peace and friendship and South Africa belongs to all who
live in it.

I thank you. [Applause.]

Mnr T D LEE: Voorsitter, mnr die President, u en die ANC se tema op Vryheidsdag was: Suid-Afrika behoort aan almal wat daarin woon. As dit waar is, behoort almal ’n gelyke kans te hê om geleenthede in hierdie land van ons te benut. En as dit so is, mnr die President, waarom moet die mense van Bokmakierie, wat al jare lank op die waglys vir behuising is, nou terugstaan terwyl voorrang gegee word aan mense van buite die provinsie, wat baie later op die waglys geplaas is?

As dit so is, waarom is daar in ’n koerantadvertensie vir ’n paar honderd poste in die Polisiediens in die Wes-Kaap, onomwonde gesê dat bruinmense nie aansoek moes doen nie. As dit so is, mnr die President, waarom word die Afrikaanse taal wat deur die meerderheid van ons mense gepraat word, so onder druk geplaas deur die ANC? Hoekom probeer hulle om ons te laat skuldig voel oor die gebruik van Afrikaans? En dan het u nog die vermetelheid om te sê dat dit die taal van die onderdrukker is. Vergeet u of ignoreer u die feit dat ons mense ook ’n groot bydrae tot die ontwikkeling van Afrikaans gemaak het. Kaapse Afrikaans, mnr Manuel, is tog ons Afrikaans. Terloops, ek het soos baie van ons, Afrikaans aan ons moedersknie geleer. Was ons moeders dus onderdrukkers?

Waarom is daar so ’n fel aanslag teen mnr Brian van Rooyen, die President van die SA Rugbyraad, soveel so, dat die Minister van Sport hom probeer forseer om opsy te staan? Hoekom laat die Minister nie die besluit oor aan die sportlui en die rugbymense nie? Rugby moet besluit wie dit moet wees en nie die politici nie.

Ons vra, mnr die President, waarom? Ons kan nie help om te voel dat hierdie dinge met ons gebeur omdat ons bruin is nie. In die ou Suid-Afrika was ons nie wit genoeg nie, terwyl ons in die nuwe Suid-Afrika nie swart genoeg is nie. Ons voel nog net soos in die ou Suid-Afrika . . . (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr T D LEE: Chairperson, Mr President, your theme and that of the ANC on Freedom Day was: South Africa belongs to all who live in it. If that is the case, then all of us should have an equal chance to utilise opportunities presented to us in this country of ours. And if that is the case, Mr President, why do the inhabitants of Bokmakierie, who have for years been on the housing waiting list, have to take a back seat whilst priority is given to people from outside the province, who were placed on the waiting list much later? If that is the case, why was it unequivocally stated in a newspaper advertisement for a few hundred vacant posts in the Police Service in the Western Cape that coloured people should not apply?

If that is the case, Mr President, why is the Afrikaans language, which is spoken by the majority of our people, being placed under so much pressure by the ANC? Why do they try to make us feel guilty about the use of Afrikaans? And then you still have the audacity to state that it is the language of the oppressor. Have you forgotten, or are you ignoring the fact, that our people have also made a huge contribution to the development of Afrikaans? Cape Afrikaans, Mr Manuel, is surely our Afrikaans. By the way, like many of us, I learnt Afrikaans at my mother’s knee. Were our mothers therefore oppressors?

Why is there such a fierce attack on Mr Brian van Rooyen, the President of the South African Rugby Board, so much so that the Minister of Sport is trying to force him to step down? Why does the Minister not allow the sportsmen and the rugby people to decide on this matter? Rugby must decide who it should be, and not the politicians.

We are asking the question, Mr President, why? We cannot help but feel that this is happening to us because we are coloured. In the old South Africa we were not white enough, whilst in the new South Africa we are not black enough. We feel just like we did in the old South Africa.]

. . . that the colour of my skin is a crime.

Ons voel nog altyd om te sing: Senzenina. Wat het ons gedoen? Ons gun almal ’n plek in die Suid-Afrikaanse son. Maar so wragtig, ons wil ook ons deel van daardie sonskyn hê. Ons wil ook met ’n lied in ons hart oor die nuwe Suid-Afrika rondloop. ’n Vry mens is ’n bly mens. Ons wat het en u mnr Manuel, ons wat het en ons wie se omstandighede beter is, moet ook nie vergeet waarvandaan ons kom nie. Ons moet saam voel met die mense van Bokmakierie. Ons moet voel vir die werkloses.

Mnr D V BLOEM: Voorsitter, kan hy net ’n bietjie sagter praat. Hy praat te hard. [Gelag.]

Mnr T D LEE: Ons moet saam voel met die mense van Bokmakierie. Ons moet voel vir die werkloses. Ons moet vir hulle in die bresse tree en opkom. Net soos in die ou Suid-Afrika: “An injury to one is nog altyd ’n injury to all.” Geen mens, of hy nou wit, bruin of swart of Indiër is, hoef vir iemand asseblief te vra of te smeek om sy of haar grondwetlike regte te mag uitleef nie. Die gebruik van Afrikaans, die beskerming van jou kultuurregte, die voorliefde vir jou geskiedenis, is alles regte en nie voorregte nie. Niemand se regte mag van hom af weggeneem word nie.

Daar is kulturele ikone in elke kultuurgroep in Suid-Afrika en elkeen verdien erkenning. Hugh Masekela en Miriam Makeba se invloed op Suid- Afrikaanse musiek is onmeetbaar groot. Maar net soos mense soos Adam Small en P J Philander se invloed op die digkuns en dié van mense soos Danny Williams, Lionel Petersen en Richard John Smith op musiek – iets wat ons altyd sal en moet onthou en eer.

As die ANC enigsins glo in die gesegde dat Suid-Afrika aan al ons mense behoort, dan moet hulle dit begin uitleef in die praktyk. Niemand word deur hulle lippediens geflous nie. Elke Suid-Afrikaner verdien om 100% Suid- Afrikaner te wees. Die dae van tweedeklas- en derdeklaslandsburgers is lank reeds iets van die verlede – of so het ons gedink.

U weet ek wil nie graag tyd aan die NP, oud of nuut, bestee nie, maar terwyl sy hier was, het die agb Johnson ’n paar woorde gebruik. Sy het gepraat van “opportunisme”, van “eerlikheid”, van “integriteit” – waar kom sy aan daardie woordeskat? Hulle het die grootste verraad in die politieke geskiedenis van hierdie land gepleeg deur mense te kry om teen die ANC te stem en nou sit hulle ook in die ANC. Dit is absolute verraad. Ek vind u optrede hier walglik, verfoeilik en afstootlik. Ek dank u. [Tyd verstreke.][Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[We still feel like singing: Senzenina. What have we done? We do not begrudge others a place in the South African sun. But to be sure, we also want our place in that sunshine! We also want to walk about with a song in our hearts about the new South Africa. To be free is to be happy. We, the haves, and you, Mr Manuel, we the ones who have and whose circumstances are better, should not forget where we come from. We have to empathise with the people of Bokmakierie. We should empathise with the unemployed.

Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, could he lower his voice a bit. He is speaking too loudly. [Laughter.]

Mr T P LEE: We have to empathise with the people of Bokmakierie. We should empathise with the unemployed. We have to take up the cudgels for them and stand up for them. As in the old South Africa, an injury to one is still an injury to all. No one, white, brown, black or Indian, needs to plead or beg to exercise his or her constitutional rights. The use of Afrikaans, the protection of cultural rights, the special preference for one’s history, are all rights and not privileges. Nobody may be deprived of his rights.

There are cultural icons in every cultural group in South Africa and each deserves recognition. Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba’s influence on South African music is immeasurably great. But, similarly, one has people like Adam Small and P J Philander’s influence on poetry, and that of people such as Danny Williams, Lionel Petersen and Richard John Smith on music – something we should and must always remember and honour.

If the ANC really believes in the saying that South Africa belongs to all our people, then they must start giving effect to that in practice. No one is fooled by their lip service. All South Africans deserve to be 100% South African. The days of second-class and third-class citizens have long been a thing of the past – or that is what we thought. You know, I would not like to devote time to the NP, old or new, but whilst she was here, the hon Johnson had a few words to say. She spoke of “opportunism”, of “honesty”, of “integrity” – where does she get that vocabulary from? They have committed the greatest form of treason in the political history of this country by getting people to vote against the ANC and now they are also in the ANC. This is absolute treason. I find your conduct here revolting, abhorrent and repulsive. I thank you. [Time expired.][Applause.]]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Mnr Donald Lee, ek dink dis genoeg om net te sê: Foei tog, arme ding! [Gelag.] [Hon Donald Lee, I think it would suffice simply to say to you: Shame, poor thing! [Laughter.]]

Hon Chairperson, President, Deputy President, hon members, I think it is a fitting tribute, Mr President, to your sterling leadership of the African Renaissance that this august institution should debate your Budget Vote today on Africa Day.

Today the entire African continent and indeed our brothers in the diaspora pay tribute to the founders of the OAU who, 42 years ago, forged a powerful instrument of national liberation. The OAU fulfilled this historical obligation and made enormous sacrifices to achieve our own freedom.

Equally significant as we engage in the President’s Budget Vote is the sense of historical importance occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. Yesterday, the DA made a very important policy speech of historical significance, when they said that the Freedom Charter is a mere piece of paper.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: I said it was a political pamphlet.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: A mere piece of paper. [Interjections.] It is not difficult to fathom why the DA has chosen a people’s tribunal to desecrate a revolutionary memory and vision of the African people. [Interjections.]

This racist posture of the DA has unmasked its real essence as the most backward and reactionary defender of racist capital in South Africa. [Applause.] As it were, the remnants of Verwoedian apartheid have found reincarnation in the DA. [Interjections.] [Applause.] One thing that you forget is that you are here because of the magnanimity of the ANC. If we had chosen the path of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, all of you would be languishing in jail for the crime of apartheid that you committed. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr G Q M Doidge): Order!

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Many of the people that voted for the DA respect the Freedom Charter. [Interjections.] Because of the statement you made yesterday, Mr Douglas Gibson, today they know your true colours.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: [Inaudible.]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Freedom means much more than casting a vote every five years. The Freedom Charter whose 50th anniversary we are celebrating this year correctly asserts that ``The people shall share in the country’s wealth.’’ Necessarily, economic emancipation of the historically oppressed majority is inseparable from national liberation. Indeed, freedom that is not consummated by economic emancipation is a mirage and an empty slogan.

Underscoring the significance of economic emancipation, the ANC in its strategy and tactics adopted at Morogoro in 1969 said:

Our drive towards national emancipation is therefore in a very real way bound up with economic emancipation. We have suffered more than just national humiliation. Our people are deprived of their due in the country’s wealth; their skills have been suppressed, and poverty and starvation have been their life experience. The correction of these centuries-old economic injustices lies at the very core of our national aspirations.

This perspective of economic emancipation deposited in the Freedom Charter is the touchstone of black economic empowerment. A false understanding is being deliberately propagated. How can the ANC or the government force Amalgamated Banks of SA to decide whom to choose for its black economic empowerment? If Absa chooses Mr Tokyo Sexwale, what does the ANC have to do with that? If Anglo-American, in its boardroom, takes a decision to take Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, what does the ANC have to do with that? [Interjections.]

The 51st conference of the ANC in 2002 reiterated the necessity of eliminating apartheid economic property relations as a prerequisite to building a nonracial society. Furthermore, the Reconstruction and Development Programme elaborates on the political economy of a people- centred society.

It is perfectly correct, Mr President, when you go abroad on these missions, to take businesspeople from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is correct to use whatever amount of influence you have to give business opportunities to these historically disadvantaged people. [Applause.] If those people, because of their appreciation, come back and make donations to the ANC that is perfectly correct. [Applause.] That is perfectly correct, and we must actually encourage more of them to make donations to the ANC, precisely, Mr President, because this agenda of starving the ANC of resources because it is felt it is too powerful and therefore a threat to multipartyism must be defeated.

It is the African businesspeople whom this democratic dispensation opens opportunities to, who must come forward with confidence to donate to the ANC. [Applause.] The ANC is not going to put people in court and ask ``Where did you get the money?’’ They have economic opportunities, which they are entitled to exploit. It’s only people who move from the premise that to be corrupt is inherently African. [Interjections.] It’s only certain people like yourselves who always treat our people with suspicion and disdain.

The challenge in the second decade of freedom is to consolidate our gains and accelerate socioeconomic transformation. Among the critical challenges that face us is for us to implement decisive measures to curb violence against women. Increasingly, men should be involved in programmes that protect women against all forms of abuse. The achievement of a caring society is inseparable from the emancipation of women.

It is critical to capacitate the state in a manner that galvanises domestic and international capital for development efforts. The continuous assessment of the capacity of the state to deliver developmental objectives is of critical importance. In this regard, the Forum of South African Directors-General, Fosad, process is a welcome development.

The expansionary Budget piloted by the Minister of Finance, the hon Trevor Manuel, is an important step towards economic emancipation. Envisaged milestones include the following: R2 billion for the new comprehensive housing strategy, and R1,7 billion for the municipal and sanitation infrastructure. The people of Cradock are benefiting from that. [Applause.] The bucket system is being erased in Cradock because of this expansionary Budget.

An amount of R6 billion has been allocated to complete the land restitution programme. It is a very important programme. R3 billion has been set aside for transport infrastructure and services. There is R1 billion for improved buildings and equipment for further education colleges, and R776 million for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

An amount of R6,9 billion will contribute to improved salaries for teachers, and R4,4 billion goes for pay progression in the SA Police Service. R1,4 billion has been allocated to support our African development agenda, including peacekeeping operations, institutions of the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament.

The roll-out of infrastructure should be effected in a manner that enhances broad-based black economic empowerment. The people’s contract to create work and fight poverty is a critical instrument in achieving economic emancipation. All able-bodied persons should be given the opportunity to be gainfully employed.

I would be failing in my duty, Mr President, if I did not engage with some of the things that ubab‘uShenge raised in his intervention here. He invites us when he says, Let us talk frankly with one another.’’ He goes on further to say,There is grand-scale looting and personal enrichment taking place all around us.’’ [Interjections.] You’ve alluded to that. There are such elements. But I think that it is stretching it too far when you say, ``No one in South Africa is safe.’’

Into etheth’ukuthi bonke abantu obaziyo. [Meaning everybody you know.]

“Anyone I know has been a victim of crime.’’ You know me, I have not been a victim of crime . . . It can’t be true.

Uyandazi, bawo. [You know me, sir.]

“ . . . or lives in terror of becoming one.” [Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr G Q M Doidge): Order! Hon member, please take your seat.

Prince M G BUTHELEZI: [Inaudible.] . . . have been victims or live in fear. I didn’t say everyone.

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: That is correct. [Laughter.] I don’t live in fear. I don’t live in fear at all. [Laughter.] Give credit to our security forces, please. You go about your business peacefully in this institution. You are well-guarded when you come in. You have breakfast; you have lunch. You are going to go to a cocktail party, and you will enjoy yourself.

``In all our urban centres and residential areas alike, the state has abdicated its fundamental duty of protecting lives and property, and mostly private security companies have assumed this function. That is obviously . . .

Uyazibaxa izinto, bawo. Sukuzibaxa izinto. [Kwahlekwa.] [You are exaggerating, sir. Please do not exaggerate. [Applause.]]

We accept criticism . . .

. . . Kodwa sukuzibaxa izinto. [. . . but do not exaggerate, please.]

The ANC is in a very mean mood. [Laughter.] We take advice from one wise African intellectual who said that. . .

. . .ukuba ufuna ukukhupha imazi yehagu esitiyeni, kufuneka ukhuph’amntshontsho kuqala. Nje ukuba uwakhuphe ngaphandle amantshontsho, iza kulandela imazi yehagu ibe ngephandle kwesitiya, ze ke wena utshixe iheke. Lumka kwavalwa, bawo. Usenalo ithuba, Shenge, siyakuthanda. [Kwahlekwa.] Siyakuhlonipha. Simele abantu abanye. Siziiforosi ezikhokela utshintsho. Utshintsho kweli lizwe aluna kuqhubeka kuba sithi abangazuza lukhulu kulo. Umbonile lo nomgogwana wesivumelwano sentsebenziswano ongabheke ndawo ebenikhe nanawo ukubeke phi? Sikhona. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[ . . . if you want to take the swine out of the garden, you must take the piglets out first. As soon as you do that, the swine will follow and you can then lock the gate. Be careful, sir, you might be left out.

There is still time for you to join us, Shenge; we love you. [Laughter.] We respect you. We represent one nation, one people. We are the leaders and we are leading the process of change. Transformation cannot happen if we expect to be the ones who benefit from it. Can you see where this stupid coalition you had has placed you? We are here.]

Our doors are open. Let’s work together to liberate the African people. [Applause.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr G Q M Doidge): Order!

Prince M G BUTHELEZI: I hope that the whole of South Africa has noted your threats. [Interjections.]

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Those are not threats. They are not threats about violence. I am saying through a democratic process . . .

. . .kunyulo, bawo. Siqalile ukukubetha eNatala, kwaye siza kukuphinda. Ukuba awujiki, bawo, siza kukuphinda. Uya kuphela ungasekho kwiincwadi zezembali, Shenge. Siyakucela, bawo. Siyakucela, mhlekazi, ngalo nyaka woMqulu weNkululeko. Wawukhona ngexa wawusamkelwa ngokusesikweni uMqulu weNkululeko, bawo. Siyakucela ke ngoku ukuba ubuyele ekhaya. Khawubeth’ibuyambo. [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of Xhosa paragraph follows.)

[ . . .through an election process, sir. We have made inroads in KwaZulu- Natal and we are still going to beat you. If you do not change, we are going to do it again. You run the risk of perishing and completely disappearing from our history books, Shenge. We are pleading with you, sir. We are asking you as we are celebrating the anniversary of the Freedom Charter this year. You were present when the Freedom Charter was launched, sir. We are asking you to come back home. Come back home. [Applause.]]

These demonstrations are correct. Yes, there are pains that our people experience. There are councillors who are very dishonest with our people. There are councillors who employ their friends and so on – it’s nepotism. But, there is a hidden hand of counter-revolution. There is.

Here in Gugulethu, a councillor of the DA was encouraging that kind of behaviour. When a policeman was killed in the Free State, in that demonstration, one of the members of the DA said, ``Thank God that policeman has been killed.’’ He was never repudiated by anybody. [Interjections.]

I am saying that whilst you must be sympathetic and listen carefully to the voice of our people, as it is our tradition, and do all that we can to address the problems that they face, we shall at a certain stage have to deal with this issue. [Interjections.]

The issue about Zimbabwe is not about democracy. The issue is about the fact that many of their friends lost land in Zimbabwe’s land reform programmes. I suspect that some of them even ventured to invest there. That is why they have this venom about Zimbabwe. It’s got nothing to do with the way Robert Mugabe is running Zimbabwe. [Interjections.] There are challenges in Zimbabwe. We recommend that that nation must come together, and resolve its problems. However, this attitude is not contributing anything in resolving the question of Zimbabwe. It is making it worse. [Interjections.]

Regarding HIV/Aids, Mr Leon stood here and said there is underspending. That is true. In many provinces, there is underspending. We don’t like this. This army is going to go to those provinces and actually call those MECs to account on why they are underspending. He said that when they were in government in the Western Cape, they did not underspend. He claims that they bought antiretrovirals for the people here. They bought the antiretrovirals, but forgot to give them houses. [Interjections.] They did not give them houses. They could not underspent because they paid themselves very huge salaries, so a lot of the money went into their own salaries.

Lastly, President, the ANC has come of age. It has reclaimed again its position as a liberation movement in this country. They had never lost it. [Interjections.]

You see: everybody is quoting our documents - the MGC documents. Hon Holomisa misses the vibrant debates in the organisation, and starts them at the very wrong place. Also, because he has a very erroneous understanding of some of these concepts that he is speaking about, he exposes his ignorance of the kind of economics that that document is speaking about. If he doesn’t understand the significance of the charter after 11 years, he will take 50 years to understand it. [Laughter.] Next time, before you give your wrong interpretation, please be careful. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 19:26. ____

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Translation of Bills submitted

 (1)    The Minister for Provincial and Local Government


        i) Wetsontwerp op die Herbepaling van Grense van
           Oorgrensmunisipaliteite [W 12 – 2005] (National Assembly –
           sec 75)


 This is the official translation into Afrikaans of the Re-determination
 of the Boundaries of Cross-Boundary Municipalities Bill [B 12 – 2005]
 (National Assembly – sec 75).

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson

   General Report of the Auditor-General on Provincial Audit Outcomes for 2003-2004 [RP 42-2005].

2. The Minister of Transport

   (a) Accession to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf, tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996 (Act No 108 of 1996).

   (b) Explanatory Memorandum to the Accession to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf.

   (c) Bilateral Air Service Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for Scheduled Air Services Between their Territories and Beyond, tabled in terms of section 231(3) of the Constitution, 1996.

3. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development

   (a) Report on the provisional suspension from office of senior magistrate Mr M J S Nhleko.

   (b) Report on the provisional suspension from office of magistrate Mr R Ameer.

   (c) Report on the provisional suspension from office of magistrate Mr M K Chauke.

 (d)    Report on the provisional suspension from office of magistrate
     Mr M S Makamu.