National Assembly - 15 March 2007
THURSDAY, 15 MARCH 2007 __
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
____
The House met at 14:03.
The Deputy Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.
NOTICES OF MOTION
Mr S J F MARAIS: Deputy Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move:
That the House debates Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment.
Mrs C DUDLEY: Deputy Speaker, on behalf of ACDP I give notice that I shall move on the next sitting day of the House:
That the House –
(1) expresses its sadness and anger at the murder of another two innocent children; 11-year-old Annastacia Wiese of Woodridge, Mitchells Plain, who was found in the ceiling of her home, and Naledi Ndabeli, whose body was discovered under the bush 800m from where she went missing at a neighbour’s house in Brantford, Bloemfontein.
2) we extend our heartfelt condolences to their parents, family members
and friends, and pray that the Lord comfort and heal their broken
hearts;
3) commends the police and all who worked tirelessly to find Annastacia
and Naledi;
4) condemns these brutal, senseless killings; and
5) calls on the relevant departments to ensure that the perpetrators
are speedily brought to justice.
Thank you. [Applause.]
APPOINTMENT OF DR MIGIRO AS DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
(Draft Resolution)
The ACTING CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Madam Deputy Speaker, I move without notice:
That the House - (1) notes that on Friday, 5 January 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, announced the appointment of Dr Asha-Rose Migiro as UN Deputy Secretary-General with effect from 1 February 2007;
(2) further notes that Dr Migiro became the first African woman, and the second woman ever, to hold this position since its inception in 1997;
(3) recognises that Dr Migiro has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation from 2006 to 2007, and before that also as Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children for five years in the United Republic of Tanzania;
(4) further recognises that Dr Migiro was Chairperson of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and also President of the United Nations Security Council during its open debate on peace, security and development in the Great Lakes region;
(5) recalls that prior to government service Dr Migiro was a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam and a Senior Lecturer, and headed the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law from 1992 to 1994 and the Department of Civil and Criminal Law from 1994 to 1997;
(6) believes that, through her distinguished service in diverse areas, Dr Migiro has displayed outstanding management ability to contribute to the progress of all humanity; and
7) congratulates Dr Asha-Rose Migiro on her appointment as UN Deputy
Secretary-General and wishes her success in her assignment.
Agreed to.
SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE
(Member’s Statement)
Mr D J SITHOLE (ANC): Madam Deputy Speaker, the ANC notes with concern the current situation in Zimbabwe, including reports of the alleged assault of opposition leaders while in police custody. We urge all stakeholders in Zimbabwe to respect and uphold the constitution and the laws of the land to work to safeguard the rights of all citizens and to continue to seek a peaceful and inclusive solution.
The ANC trusts that a thorough investigation will be conducted into these allegations and that any necessary action will be taken in accordance with the law. The ANC supports the South African government’s initiative to assist the people and leaders of Zimbabwe to address the challenges facing the country, in line with the spirit and position of the African Union and SADC. Thank you. [Applause.]
PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED IN DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
(Member’s Statement)
Mrs S M CAMERER (DA): Madam Deputy Speaker, when the Department of Justice appeared before Scopa this year to explain certain problems identified by the Auditor-General with the department’s financial statements, the hearing, scheduled for 31 January, had to be postponed because Mr Alan McKenzie, who, five years ago, was seconded to the Department of Justice as acting CFO to help sort out the department’s finances by Business against Crime, was shot five times by intruders at his sister’s home in Cape Town the night before.
Happily, Mr McKenzie has now fully recovered. That he did was a medical miracle attributed to the swift action of his sister, who is a retired hospital matron. It’s now become fairly clear that the shooting of Mr McKenzie was probably a hit and the police are investigating it as such.
As Mr McKenzie relates the incident, two intruders stormed into the room where he and his family were sitting. The first gunman made straight for Mr McKenzie, a large man, who proceeded to try and wrestle the gun out of his assailant’s hand. This proved to be impossible as it was strapped to the assailant’s hand in typical assassin fashion.
He was shot in the leg, while the second gunman shot him four times in the back, stomach and chest. The bullets were of the kind normally used for hits. The gunmen then fled. They ignored other members of the family and took nothing although the home was filled with valuable objects.
Now that he is back at work, Mr McKenzie is required to wear a bullet-proof vest when he goes out. One can only speculate as to the motive of the attempted hit. While South Africa is rapidly getting an international reputation as the Dodge City of the world, it is a sorry comment on the state of our society and our standards of governance that a top justice official who is doing his job without fear or favour should be subject to criminal victimisation such as that suffered by Mr McKenzie.
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and her colleague, the Minister for Safety and Security, should pull out all the stops to ensure that these criminals are tracked down and brought to book. Thank you. [Applause.]
JOB CREATION AND PROMOTION OF SMMEs
(Member’s Statement)
Prof E S CHANG (IFP): Deputy Speaker, job creation and the promotion of small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, are urgent challenges that we are faced with in South Africa.
The government does have several institutions in place to assist SMMEs, including Khula Enterprise Finance Limited, which is mandated to facilitate loan and equity capital to SMMEs through intermediaries. Although Khula guarantees interest rates of 2% under prime to the intermediaries, these intermediaries charge SMMEs anything between 19% and 38% interest. This is stifling the development of SMMEs and is the main reason why we believe that Khula should do away with the “middlemen” and provide financing directly to SMMEs.
Another concern is the lack of risk shown by Khula in their lending practice. This is evidenced by the fact that they have only 4% bad debt at the moment, which is far too low. We believe that Khula should be more aggressive in their lending approach if they want to really promote the interest of small businesses.
The IFP, therefore, calls on Khula to cut out the agents and lend directly to SMMEs at low interest rates, and to do so aggressively, even if it means taking on more risk. SMMEs need all the help that they can get and immediate implementation of these steps will go a long way towards achieving this goal. I thank you.
OPENING THE DOORS OF LEARNING
(Member’s Statement)
Mr S B NTULI (ANC): The Leeufontein Primary School is a primary school for farmworkers’ children. It has no proper ablution facilities, no recreation facilities, is poorly constructed and has inadequate learning and teaching facilities. During bad weather teaching and learning at this school come to a standstill, whereas just a kilometre away there is the Kameelfontein Primary School, which has good teaching and learning facilities, sufficient ablution facilities, recreation and adequate teaching facilities. This is a school for farm owners’ children and property owners’ children in the area of Leeufontein and Kameelfontein in Roodeplaat. Thus, as we are in March, human rights month, equality before the law should prevail. The doors of learning should further be opened for all, including children of Leeufontein Primary School, by integrating the learners to enjoy the existing Kameelfontein Primary School facilities. These disparities between the two schools are not compatible with the spirit of South Africa in its 13th year of democracy and freedom. These social ills must be eradicated.
Hence we, in the ANC, urge the governing body of Kameelfontein Primary School to open their school for admission of Leeufontein Primary School learners so that the children of the same community could attend the same school and share the available resources. I thank you. [Applause.]
LACK OF SABC COVERAGE OF UDM EVENT; GUNNING DOWN OF UDM COUNCILLOR
(Member’s Statement)
Ms S N SIGCAU (UDM): The UDM President was at an event to welcome more than 200 new members into the UDM fold in Khayelitsha on 3 March 2007. Many more have since joined and many, many more are still joining.
We, in the UDM, were certainly disappointed by the non-coverage of the above occasion by the SABC, despite having been formally and timeously requested to do so. The UDM will not rest until it has received a satisfactory explanation in this regard.
In the same breath, the UDM has received with shock the news that Mr Ngombane, a former ANC and independent councillor, who had publicly joined the UDM Western Cape structures on 24 February, was gunned down on 7 March 2007.
It would be a sad event if his killing were politically motivated because the country, and certainly the UDM, does not want that. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]
SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE
(Member’s Statement)
Dr P W A MULDER (FF Plus): Agb Voorsitter, ’n belangrike deel van president Mbeki se bydrae tot op datum in Afrika was die inisiatiewe wat hy geneem het om die negatiewe en stereotiepe beeld van korrupte en swak demokrasie in Afrika in die oë van die wêreld af te breek. Hy het dit gedoen deur die stigting van die Afrika-unie, deur Nepad en met die instel van instrumente soos die Afrika-portuuroorsigmeganisme.
Al hierdie goeie werk word op die oomblik deur pres Mugabe tot niet gemaak. Pres Mugabe se uitlatings en wat tans in Zimbabwe gebeur, is ’n verleentheid vir Afrika en vir Suid-Afrika, en dit behoort ook ’n verleentheid te wees vir president Mbeki. Pres Mugabe se optredes asook die magsmisbruik van sy polisiemag teenoor die opposisie in Zimbabwe versterk en bevestig al die stereotipes wat oor Afrika en demokrasie in Afrika in die oë van die wêreld bestaan.
Waar die Oscar-bekroonde rolprent oor Idi Amin, The Last King of Scotland, nou weer die aandag op Afrika en demokrasie en diktatorskap vestig, kom mnr Mugabe en sy boelie-agtige polisie en bevestig dat niks in Afrika nog verander het nie.
Suid-Afrika kan nie bekostig dat president Mbeki in hierdie tye in die Midde-Ooste betrokke is by oplossings van die Israel-Palestynse krisis, maar nie ’n woord sê oor Zimbabwe en pres Mugabe se vergrype nie. Hierdie Zimbabwe-vergrype het niks met grond of met die koloniale tydperk te doen nie, maar gaan oor demokrasie en die regte van opposisiepartye om normale politiek in Afrika te kan bedryf. President Mbeki moet sy siening hieroor nou openbaar maak. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans member’s statement follows.)
[Dr P W A MULDER: Hon Chairperson, to date an important part of President Mbeki’s contribution in Africa has been the initiatives that he took to break down the negative and stereotypical image of corrupt and poor democracy in Africa in the eyes of the world. He did this by establishing the African Union, through Nepad, and by establishing instruments such as the African Peer Review Mechanism. All this good work is being destroyed at the moment by President Mugabe. President Mugabe’s utterances and what is currently happening in Zimbabwe is an embarrassment for Africa and for South Africa, and it should also be an embarrassment for President Mbeki. President Mugabe’s actions, as well as the abuse of power by his police force against the opposition in Zimbabwe, reinforce and confirm all the stereotypes that exist about Africa and democracy in Africa in the eyes of the world.
Now that the Oscar-awarded film about Idi Amin, The Last King of Scotland, is once again focusing attention on Africa and democracy and dictatorship, Mr Mugabe and his bully-like police are now confirming that nothing has changed in Africa yet.
During times such as these, South Africa cannot afford to have President Mbeki involved with solutions to the Israel-Palestine crisis in the Middle East, while he does not utter a word about Zimbabwe and President Mugabe’s transgressions. These transgressions in Zimbabwe have nothing to do with land or the colonial era, but deals with democracy and the rights of opposition parties to practice normal politics in Africa. President Mbeki must now publicly state his view on this. Thank you.]
TWO PRIVATE COMPANIES BUILD IMFEZI PRIMARY SCHOOL
(Member’s Statement) Mr M P SIBANDE (ANC): Chairperson, the democratic government has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that our human resources are developed to the full. Fundamental to the development of our human resources is the creation of the environment that is conducive to learning.
The success in the implementation and realisation of the above-stated goals lies in the partnership between government, the private sector and the general public.
The ANC applauds the initiative taken by two private companies that have decided on their own, seeing the needs of the children and community of Schagen in the Mpumalanga province, to build a school to serve the community.
I-ANC ihalalisela imizamo leyentiwe nguletinkampani letimbili, iBundu Inn inikele ngekwakha indzawo yekuphakelela, yaphindze yatinikela kutsi itawufaka tinsimbi letitawuvimbela kwebiwa kuso sonkhe lesikolwa. Inkampani, iGolden Merc, ifake sandla ngekwakha emagumbi ekufundzela, yafulela lihhovisi, yalungisa nesilingi. Ichubekile lenkampani yatinikela kutsi isetawufaka nemakhabethe kulesikolwa sasepulazini, lesibitwa ngekutsi yiMfezi Primary School. Simema bonkhe bantfu kutsi balandzele lesibonelo lesihle. Ngiyabonga. [Tandla.] (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[The ANC applauds the efforts of the two companies, the Bundu Inn, who had committed itself to building a dining hall and erecting a security fence around the whole school to prevent the stealing of school property; and the Golden Merc, for lending a hand in building the classrooms, roofing the office and fixing the ceiling. This company has also committed itself to installing built-in cupboards in the whole farm school called the Mfezi Primary school.
We call on all people to emulate these good deeds. I thank you. [Applause.]]
KHUTSONG SITUATION
(Member’s Statement)
Mr I S MFUNDISI (UCDP): Chairperson, in 16 days from today the boundaries of some provinces will have changed, some for the good of the residents, but others not, and all this is as a result of the disestablishment of cross-boundary municipalities, which were unnecessary in the first place.
Provincial authorities in Gauteng gleefully made countless visits to parts that will cease to be in the North West come 31 March 2007. Those in the North West visit Khutsong, their only new entrants, with great trepidation as they are not welcome.
The unfortunate situation playing itself out in Khutsong is the result of the proverbial cutting of one’s nose to spite one’s face. Some people within the ANC had made it their business to label any part in the North West as a place of poverty, backwardness and hardship. It is for that reason that to the people of Khutsong it has come to be known as the province of little hope.
This is the time for leadership to prevail and to rise to the occasion and be seen to be attempting to resolve the impasse. There may be substance in arguing that the problems in the neighbouring Zimbabwe should be left to those people to resolve, but it does not go down well to read between the lines that the problems of Khutsong are left to the residents of Khutsong to resolve. The national government and the North West provincial government have to do all to quell the situation.
It is unfortunate to have the situation in Khutsong where councillors call themselves “leadership in exile”, because they have sought refuge elsewhere and do not live in their homes, let alone their wards.
The people out there say that according to the ruling party they are in the North West, but according to the community they are still in Gauteng. That calls for all concerned to work together in the quest for a solution. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
(Member’s Statement)
Mr S SIMMONS (UPSA): Chairperson, I have over the past year on numerous occasions attempted to bring to the government’s attention that affirmative action is doing South Africa more harm than good. And I want to repeat it here again.
I have no problem with the replies from various Ministers of the executive who say affirmative action is a policy of the government and that it is here to stay until the imbalances of the past have been addressed. John Kane-Berman in his article in the Business Day of today says:
Given the manner in which affirmative action is being applied, it is likely that imbalances will be with us indefinitely. This is because the objective of redressing them has been largely superseded by the ideology of racial representivity.
In practice, this means quotas and numerical targets.
Mr Kane-Berman points out that racial representivity and redressing of the imbalances of the past are not the same thing. He says that representivity and the elimination of the disadvantaged can come together only if it is assumed that once the former has been achieved, all imbalances will ipso facto have been eliminated and all previous disadvantages redressed. This is something that, he says, is false.
Mr Kane-Berman says that apartheid serves as a scapegoat and the continuing focus on race allows too many current ills to be traced to apartheid and previous disadvantage and that in the process the extent to which disadvantage arises from current policies is ignored. [Time expired.]
CRISIS INTERVENTION MANAGEMENT IN HOME AFFAIRS
(Member’s Statement)
Mrs S V KALYAN (DA): Chairperson, the very fact that the Minister of Home Affairs had to call on the assistance of a task team to haul her department out of the mess it is in, is confirmation that the citizens of South Africa have lost confidence in the Department of Home Affairs.
The Auditor-General’s report perhaps also served as the main catalyst to resort to crisis management intervention. It was interesting to hear that the Minister tried to absolve herself from her responsibilities, saying that she laid the blame for her dysfunctional department at the door of her senior management and that they had let her down. The reality, Minister, is that you were a Deputy Minister for three years and have been a full Minister in your department since 2004. You must therefore accept the observation made in the report that ``leadership was lacking’’ includes lack of leadership by the political head of the department - lack of leadership in this case is you.
The report found that the management of human resources was the weakest link. It is unconscionable that at least 11 persons were appointed to senior positions despite not meeting the advertised criteria and that financial control is virtually nil.
The DA welcomes the findings of the task team, however the soft stance of the ``corrective measures approach’’ by the Minster is akin to band-aid therapy and we urge the Minister to take decisive action if she is serious about changing the image and service delivery of her department. [Applause.]
HOUSING IN SEA POINT
(Member’s Statement)
Ms A VAN WYK (ANC): Chairperson, Sea Point in Cape Town reflects much of the inner city suburbs in many of South Africa’s biggest cities. Many people work there on a daily basis, travel long distances in order to reach their workplaces simply because they cannot afford to buy or rent in the area. Some of them have done so for decades and others for generations.
Sea Point has one aspect that differentiates it from other suburbs in our biggest cities. A substantial number of properties in Sea Point are owned by people who use them as holiday accommodation, many of them foreign citizens. As a result thereof many properties are standing empty for extended periods during the year.
Sea Point is a prime example of an area that can benefit from the ANC’s policy of integrated housing. There is a clear need and justification for affordable housing to many people who work in that area. The absence and vacancy of much of the accommodation for the greater part of the year result in Sea Point becoming a target for criminal activity. This is especially true on the Main Road, which also forms the major business district.
Developing integrated housing in a suburb such as Sea Point will ensure that people and families who actually live and work in that area can create a vibrant community that can care for that area. Provincially, locally, and even nationally owned land is available, and the ANC government is urged to look at this land and establish whether it is possible to develop it into affordable housing for those many Capetonians from all walks of life working in Sea Point and surrounding areas. [Applause.]
ZIMBABWE
(Member’s Statement)
Mr M B SKOSANA (IFP): Chairperson, the IFP is deeply concerned that Zimbabwe is fast becoming a repressive state. The recent violence involving the Zimbabwean police and members of the MDC is indicative of an administration facing a serious breakdown of law and order compounded by massive economic deprivation, high unemployment and extreme poverty.
It is generally an unacceptable political rationale, led by South Africa and others, that the people of Zimbabwe must find a solution to their problems, but it should be borne in mind that no country or people, including South Africa, have ever delivered themselves from repression solely through their own efforts, without any form of external assistance. For this reason, the IFP believes that the defence of the fundamental rights of man must prevail over sovereignty and legal documents.
The IFP therefore appeals to President Thabo Mbeki to insist that Zimbabwe is immediately put permanently on the agenda of SADC, the AU, PAP the EU and the United Nations. Thank you. [Applause.]
MURDERS OF YOUNG CHILDREN
(Member’s Statement)
Dr G W KOORNHOF (ANC): Chairperson, the recent spate of murders of young children, including Sheldean Human, Annastacia Wiese, Thato Radebe, Marissa Naidoo, Michaela Ganchi, Stephen Sibert, the grand-child of Judge Ngoepe, and many others have shocked our country and all its people.
In many instances these murders were committed by people known to these innocent children. We, as a society, need to question what has happened to the morality and values of members in the communities who commit such atrocious crimes.
The solidarity of our communities is seen in the widespread demonstrations and outrage against this growing evil in our midst. The importance of family life and respect for all human life in our society are the cornerstones of our young democracy, and should be protected at all costs.
Now is the time to stand together as a nation and rid our society of such brutal and senseless killings of our children. We need to support our police service to successfully arrest the guilty persons and to allow our courts to punish those found guilty of such heinous crimes with the harsh sentences they deserve. I thank you.
VIOLENT CRIME
(Member’s Statement)
Me A M DREYER (DA): Mnr die Voorsitter, binne ’n week het daar drie geweldsmisdade naby my gebeur. Op Sondag, 4 Maart, terwyl my 23-jarige seun Emile buite Stellenbosch fietsry, beroof twee welgeklede jong mans hom en steek hom met ’n mes. Op Donderdag, 8 Maart, slaan die tuinwerker van die 70-jarige mev Pop Marais van Krugersdorp in my kiesafdeling, Mogale City, haar met ’n byl oor die kop en laat haar vir dood agter. Op Vrydag, 9 Maart, oorval twee mans van ’n buurland die 53-jarige mev Cheryl Miekle van Lanseria, ook in my kiesafdeling, en skiet haar dood.
Die tragedie is dat duisende burgers daagliks sulke traumatiese ervarings beleef. Omdat mense besef hulle kan nie langer op die staat vir beskerming staatmaak nie, mobiliseer die burgerlike samelewing nou teen misdaad, maar as die regering nie sy kant ook bring nie, kan die land in anargie verval. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans member’s statement follows.)
[Ms A M DREYER (DA): Mr Chair, within a week three violent crimes took place close to me. On Sunday, 4 March, while my 23-year-old son Emile was cycling outside Stellenbosch, he was robbed and stabbed with a knife by two well-dressed young men. On Thursday, 8 March, the garden worker of the 70- year-old Mrs Pop Marais from Krugersdorp in my constituency, Mogale City, hit her over the head with an axe and left her for dead. On Friday, 9 March, two men from a neighbouring country attacked 53-year-old Mrs Cheryl Miekle of Lanseria, also in my constituency, and shot and killed her.
The tragedy is that thousands of citizens experience traumatic incidents such as these on a daily basis. Because people realise that they can no longer rely on the state for protection, civil society is now mobilising against crime, but if the government does not also do its part, the country could be reduced to anarchy. [Applause.]
WATER SUPPLY IN UMZUMBE
(Member’s Statement)
Mr M E MBILI (ANC): Chairperson, in keeping with the promise the government of the ANC made to our people in the statement of 8 January 2007, we promised that we would intensify the struggle against poverty.
I am delighted to report to this House that Umzumbe Municipality in Kwazulu- Natal has sourced the funding through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to build a massive dam which will provide water to more than 20 000 households. The work has already begun, and I am told that by December, or Christmas 2007, people in the area will be drinking clean water.
We applaud this ANC-led municipality for understanding our call when we say: A better life for all. We also say that water is one of the most important commodities to address that call. We call upon all the beneficiaries of this project to look after this asset and make sure that it is not vandalised in order to maximise the benefits to this rural community of Inyangweni and the surrounding areas. I thank you. [Applause.]
VIOLENCE; ZIMBABWE; HOUSING IN SEA POINT
(Minister’s Response)
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Ms S C van der Merwe): Chairperson, I would like to respond to four of the statements. With your permission Chair, three will be dealt with at once because they are on Zimbabwe. The other one I would like to respond to is about the Sea Point problem concerning affordable housing.
Firstly, I would like to say that the South African government cannot and does not condone the use of violence against its citizens or citizens from any other country. We have worked as government over the past 13 years with our neighbours on the continent to entrench democracy and respect for human rights, here at home as well as in Africa, and indeed the rest of the world. We will continue to do so until we have achieved our objective of a peaceful, prosperous and democratic country and continent. I would like to respond to the hon member who raised the question of affordable housing in suburbs such as Sea Point. I would like to say how much I appreciate the creative ways in which different communities approach the question of sustainable human development. I am personally involved in a project involving mainly domestic workers in the southern suburbs, where we are looking at a housing project to accommodate them close to their places of work.
I think the more communities embrace this new way of living, the sooner will we have integrated and happy South African communities who see themselves as South Africans before they see themselves as anything else. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION; VIOLENCE IN KHUTSONG; DISPARITIES IN OUR SCHOOLS;
EDUCATION IS EVERYBODY’S RESPONSIBILITY
(Minister’s Response)
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Chairperson, I have four responses. Firstly, with regard to the issue of affirmative action, it is not correct selectively to utilise the Constitution. We reflect on its advanced nature, its sophistication and we take pride in the fact that we have a Constitution that we, as a country, could be proud of. Yet, we tend to ignore the imperatives within that Constitution.
Our Constitution is underpinned by the values of equality and human dignity. Section 9 of the Constitution clearly imposes a duty on the state to take legislative and other measures to correct the imbalances of the past, which means that affirmative action is entrenched and embedded in the Constitution.
What we seek to achieve in our Constitution is not only procedural equality but also substantive equality. Now, to suggest that affirmative action or corrective action is not necessarily against the ethos of our Constitution, certainly smacks of selective hypocrisy. [Interjections.] I can quite understand the murmurs and interjections from the other side because they represent a particular, narrow, parochial interest.
With regard to the issue of Khutsong, indeed I do agree that government has a particular responsibility – all spheres of government, national, provincial and local – to ensure that we accelerate service delivery in the area.
However, we should take into account that a lot of the violence and a lot of the instability that is being created in that particular area has been through agent provocateurs, who have a particular agenda. The agenda is that they have not been elected as public representatives in the municipality.
There are reports of people being forced out of busses – school children – and being compelled to join the marches. There are reports of people being assaulted and being coerced into taking part in what is termed a solidarity march against the local government.
We do not, however, abdicate our responsibility to ensure that there should be a focused attention in ensuring that Khutsong becomes a better place to live in.
With regard to the issue of Kameelfontein and Bloemfontein Primary, that in fact is a microcosm of the picture in our country. If we compare the huge disparities in our schools and we compare the former model C schools and township schools, you will see the huge differences in terms of infrastructure, laboratories, libraries, etc.
What government is doing is ensuring that through its affirmation programme called Quids Up, it has set aside R10,5 billion to ensure that those underresourced schools are better resourced.
However, in the context of this particular problem, I think a conversation has to take place, where schools that are half full or half empty should become more accommodating to those schools in neighbouring areas that are overfull, where, certainly, quality education cannot take place. This cannot take place arbitrarily, but it should be as a result of interaction between the governing bodies of the two schools to see how they can accommodate each other without compromising the ethos of the school. There are successful practices that have occurred in different areas where this kind of accommodation takes place without infringing on the language policy or the ethos of the school.
I think the approach should be practical, reasonable and rational. I do believe there is a will and good faith on the part of the broader community of all racial groups to ensure that we provide quality education to our people. I would then urge the governing body of that particular school in particular take into account the huge disparities of that underresourced school, the accommodation and the right of access to all learners to appropriate schooling.
With regard to the last aspect, which is in relation to the responsibility of education as being the responsibility, not only of the state, but of all citizens, certainly, education is a task for everybody. It is certainly the fundamental responsibility of government, but I think private citizens as well as private entities should play a role.
Last week I had the privilege of attending the opening of a huge, wonderfully designed, school in Kalkfontein, where there was partnership between the Department of Education in Gauteng as well as Oracle – an IT company – and other donors.
If you look at the way the school is resourced, its mission statement and ethos, one could say that it is a good example of close co-operation between the private sector and government in ensuring that we provide quality education through proper infrastructure and resources. Certainly, we will invite the private sector or citizens to contribute in a smaller or bigger way to ensure that we provide quality education to all our people. Thank you so much. [Applause.]
CRIMINAL VIOLENCE; PROBLEMS IN HOME AFFAIRS;
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
(Minister’s Response)
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS: House Chairperson, I wish to respond to three matters. The first matter is about crime; the second one about the hon member who spoke about Home Affairs and the third one is about the issue of affirmative action.
The hon member from the DA did mention to the House that recently her son became a victim of crime and indeed was stabbed. I would like to express the sympathy of the members of the executive and of the whole government to this member for this unfortunate incident. I don’t think anyone of us in this House would not be traumatised by the fact that so many people in this country are indeed being traumatised by criminal violence. We empathise with them.
What is even more necessary is for us to be correctly focused on dealing with this problem of criminal violence in the country. I think that it is indeed correct to note here that a number of citizens in this country are mobilising to draw the attention of society to this problem of crime.
I would like to say, if one analyses the mobilisation that is going on right now, whilst the strategic intent of the mobilisation might be correct in that it wants to draw attention to the escalation of the problem in the country, that I don’t think the focus is correct.
If we are serious about doing something about crime, it requires the conjoint efforts of every one of us to act in concert with each other and to give support to the forces in this country that are charged with the responsibility for dealing with crime, and that is the SA Police Service.
What we need is for citizens in this country to mobilise to give support to the SA Police Service in every way possible so that it could actually deal with the escalation of criminal violence in the country. Taking to the streets does not necessarily help to resolve addressing the problem of crime. It might draw attention to it. I think its action is not focused and what we really need to do is to get down to the ground in our communities, build the structures in those communities that work in support of the SA Police Service to deal with fighting off this escalation of violence in the country.
On the matter of the Department of Home Affairs, the hon member stated that the people in this country have lost confidence in the department. And she went on to say that leadership in the department is lacking, and she particularly criticized the Minister.
I think you need to think very carefully about that statement because you need to know that it was this very Minister who, herself, requested that this special investigation be put in place so that we could find the correct strategy to deal with the many problems that have been identified by this Minister and her department within Home Affairs.
If we think that the problems that are currently present in the Department of Home Affairs can be eradicated overnight, then we are seriously misinformed. What we are dealing with here are problems that have been accumulating in this department for well over 13 years. The Minister is accurately seized with the enormity of this responsibility; has demonstrated effective leadership by putting in motion this specific study team; and has completely committed herself to ensuring that she would execute the recommendations of this task team to deal with correcting the current difficulties within the Department of Home Affairs.
I think the statement that leadership is lacking is totally untrue and totally incorrect. [Interjections.]
Mrs S V KALYAN: On a point of order, Chairperson: I was quoting directly from the report. So, for the Minister to say that I was misleading this House is actually wrong. He should read the report, because those words are in the report! [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Order! Order! Order! Deputy Minister, order, please. We were trying to listen to a point of order and then there was already clapping and heckling.
Deputy Minister, with regard to the issue of the words used, I’m not sure, we’ll just come back to it. Can you just conclude on your remark and I will make a ruling.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS: I understand the hon member as having said that when she made the statement “leadership is lacking”, … but she drew it from the report. Well, I thought that she was attacking the Minister for showing a lack of leadership. But now that you in fact accept that that is not what you were saying, then I must therefore say that your understanding of the report is incorrect because that statement in the report … [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Order! Order, please!
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS: … that statement in the report refers to leadership at the level of officials within the department.
The hon member from the Opposition, in dealing with the affirmative action matter, made a statement which is absolutely, I think, deplorable. The member made a statement to say that the policy of affirmative action is utilising apartheid as a scapegoat. [Interjections.]
Mr J P I BLANCHÉ: On a point of order, Mr Chairman: I wonder if you could just give us a ruling. I understand that the previous speaker – the previous Deputy Minister - addressed this matter of affirmative action. We now have a second Deputy Minister to address that.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS: Hon Chairperson, I withdraw.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Order! On the issue that was raised earlier by Ms Kalyan around the issue of misleading, the member was not being unparliamentary because he did not say “deliberately misleading”. He did not use that word. Therefore, in that context the Deputy Minister was not out of order. Thank you very much.
CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS IN MOBILE EQUIPMENT BILL
(Second Reading debate)
Mr J P CRONIN: Thank you, Chairperson, the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment Bill was adopted – and it happened here in Cape Town - in 2001 and it was signed at the time by some 53 states including, obviously, South Africa. The Cape Town Convention, as it has now become known for short, seeks to provide much greater clarity around legal and ownership rights in regard to mobile equipment like aircraft engines, aircraft frames and helicopters. This is, needless to say, very expensive equipment and, by definition, it is easily moved around the world. Given the expense of the equipment, parties using it typically enter into arrangements with financial institutions for the purchase and or lease of this equipment.
Because of its mobility and because there is a vast range of different local national legislation, financial institutions have often been very reluctant to provide finance where they charge very significant premiums to cover their risks. And this applies particularly to developing countries, especially those in Africa. The convention seeks to establish an international register of such equipment and uniform protocols for dealing with problems like a default on payment. This is applicable in all states that have signed, ratified and or acceded to the convention. We believe that the convention will greatly assist developing countries, in particular, more easily to access finance for the purchase and or lease of this kind of aircraft mobile equipment.
The Bill that we have in front of us in the House today gives legal effect to the provisions of the convention and protocol here within South Africa; it determines which courts in South Africa will have the relevant jurisdiction, and the Bill designates the SA Civil Aviation Authority as the entry point through which information required for the registration of this equipment may be transmitted to the international register.
There are no financial implications for our state as the convention and protocol are basically private law instruments.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Hon members, again the level of noise is going up. Continuously, presiding officers have to bring it to our attention that we should preserve the dignity and the decorum of the House so that we can hear people who are debating all the issues that they are raising. Thank you very much.
Mr J P CRONIN: Thank you, Chair. This is a very scintillating piece of legislation, so I’m surprised by the people, and I’m trying to Bolshevirise it, so, hush!
In the course of 2006, the Transport Portfolio Committee received a very full report on the convention and the present Bill was tabled before us, as a committee, in the course of this first parliamentary session of 2007. Having finalised our consideration and being unanimous as a committee on its desirability, the committee recommends to the House that we pass the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Bill read a second time.
FINANCE BILL
(First Reading debate)
Mr N M NENE: Ngiyabonga sihlalo. [Thank you, Chair.] This Finance Bill is meant to approve unauthorised expenditure as a direct charge against the National Revenue Fund. Most of the work on this Bill has already been done by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and the reports have come before this House and they were adopted.
Such unauthorised expenditure is approved subject to the following conditions. It is approved on condition that effective and appropriate disciplinary steps against officials who made or permitted unauthorised expenditure have been dealt with. It is also approved on condition that funds in excess of appropriation were spent in accordance with the programme and descriptions of the department on the essential services which could not be avoided and that implies that we did get value for money, but also that remedial steps have been taken by the accounting officer to prevent further occurrence of unauthorized expenditure, and that funds not spent in accordance with the purpose of the main division or a Vote are related to the objective of the departmental ones, and also, finally, that no fraudulent, corrupt activities were committed in permitting the expenditure.
This has since been dealt with by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and brought before this House and the committee has since also approved this Finance Bill and I therefore present this Finance Bill before this House for adoption. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Bill read a first time.
FINANCE BILL
(Second Reading debate)
There was no debate.
Bill read a second time.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS - FILLING OF A VACANCY ON THE COUNCIL OF ICASA
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Thank you, the question before the House is the approval of the recommendation for the appointment of Dr M Socikwa as councillor to fill the vacancy on the council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. Are there any objections to the recommendations?
Mr C M LOWE: Yes, there is an objection from the DA, Mr Chairperson.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela) Is it an objection?
Mr C M LOWE: It is an objection. I understand that we are going to make a declaration.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): I will then follow the procedure here. I now put the question. Those in favour will say, “aye” and those against will say “no”. I think the ayes have it.
There was no debate.
Question put: That the appointment of Dr M Socikwa as councillor to fill a vacancy on the Council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa be approved.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): Order, hon members. We will resume. There has been a request for declarations before a division. Parties have agreed that there will be declarations first. I am going to be allowing those declarations. Those parties wishing to participate in the declarations will indicate that.
Declarations of vote:
Mr P S SWART: Thank you, Chairperson. The DA will not support the nomination of Dr Marcia Socikwa. She is a competent person, but there is a conflict of interest, when she is related by marriage and by blood to persons who respectively run and give legal advice on the telecommunications activities of Transtel.
Transnet has a 15% share in Newtel, and Newtel and Transnet are in discussions for Newtel to acquire Transtel.
Currently, Transtel also provides services to Newtel, and in addition, Transtel holds PTN, Private Telecommunications Network, and value-added network services by other network licenses, and uses them to participate in the telecommunications sector.
Firstly, although Dr Socikwa is not directly disqualified by the letter of the Icasa Act, her relationship to Transtel is, in our view, too close for comfort. You can imagine a range of licensing amendments and other procedures where she should have to recuse herself just as Icasa embarks on the enormous task of implementing the Electronic Communications Act.
Secondly, it remains our view that the portfolio committee should have taken legal advice on whether it could start a new process to find an economist, and not on whether the filling of a vacancy left by the infrastructure economist Andrew Barendse could be performed from the list agreed upon at the last nomination process.
Ms S C VOS: Thank you, Chairperson. The IFP respects the principle of this matter, which has been raised by the DA. The IFP, however, supported Dr Socikwa being short-listed, and we do not question her competence and the wide range of skills which she will bring to the Independent Communications Authority of SA in any way whatsoever.
We are in fact confident that she will be mindful of the perils and perceptions that her family connections hold for her and that she will act with the honesty and integrity which will be required from her at all times. Thank you. Mr G G OLIPHANT: Thank you very much, Chairperson. The DA is full of surprises, but that is fine. The issue here is that there is no question about the credentials of Dr Marcia Socikwa to be a councillor in the Icasa. She has very impressive credentials; she has a PhD in telecommunications and regulatory matters. We could not find anything wrong with her during the interviews and even thereafter.
The DA did raise this matter they said was “too close for comfort” because her brother-in-law had an interest in the ICT sector, and that is the issue that they had with her appointment. We went to the law and checked the disqualification provisions of the Icasa Amendment Act. All of us agreed that the law does not disqualify Dr Marcia Socikwa.
We are not acting on the basis of comfort or anything. So, that was very clear. In this Parliament, we act on the basis of law. Why do we have these laws if we are not going to respect them?
Concerning the legal advice that Mr Swart says we did not sort out, we went to the parliamentary legal advisers to say, “We have a situation of having to fill the vacancy here. What do we do?’’ They advised us. In the committee we all agreed. In fact, the DA said that it was sound legal advice.
To come here and raise other things, I think, is not being very honest with this Parliament and the process. We urge Parliament to support the nomination of Dr Marcia Socikwa and we are going to request the DA to withdraw this need for a division. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr C M LOWE: Mr Chairperson, could I please address you on a point of order?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): What is the point of order? Mr C M LOWE: Mr Chairperson, I seek your guidance. We are seeking to understand, for the appointment to the Icasa board, does Parliament have to vote on that appointment or does it not have to vote?
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr K O Bapela): There was a division called and, in terms of the Rules, we have to proceed with that division, unless the division is withdrawn.
But, for now, because there is no withdrawal of such a division, we will proceed. [Interjections.]
I am also informed that it does not require a special majority. A division has been called for, but if there is a withdrawal, we will look at that issue.
Division demanded. The House divided.
AYES - 165: Ainslie, A R; Arendse, J D; Asiya, S E; Benjamin, J; Beukman, F; Bhamjee, Y S; Bhengu, M J; Bici, J; Biyela, B P ; Bonhomme, T J; Booi, M S; Burgess, C V; Cachalia, I M; Carrim, Y I; Cele, M A; Chalmers, J; Chang, E S; Chauke, H P; Chohan-Khota, F I; Combrinck, J J; Cronin, J P; Dambuza, B N; Diale, L N; Direko, I W; Dithebe, S L; Dlali, D M; Doidge, G Q M; Fihla, N B; Gabanakgosi, P S; Gaum, A H; Gcwabaza, N E ; Gerber, P A; Godi, N T; Greyling, C H F; Gxowa, N B; Hogan, B A; Jeffery, J H; Johnson, C B; Kalako, M U; Kekana, C D; Khoarai, L P; Kholwane, S E; Khumalo, K K; Khumalo, K M; Khunou, N P; Kotwal, Z; Landers, L T; Lekgetho, G; Lekgoro, M M S; Likotsi, M T; Lishivha, T E; Louw, J T; Louw, S K; Ludwabe, C I; Mabe, L L; Mabena, D C; Madasa, Z L; Madella, A F; Madikiza, G T; Madumise, M M; Magau, K R; Mahlaba, T L; Mahlangu- Nkabinde, G L; Mahote, S; Makasi, X C; Maloney, L; Maloyi, P D N; Maluleka, H P; Maluleke, D K; Mars, I; Mashile, B L; Masutha, T M; Mathibela, N F; Matsemela, M L; Matsomela, M J J ; Maunye, M M; Mayatula, S M; Mbili, M E; Mbombo, N D; Meruti, M V; Mgabadeli, H C; Mncwango, M A; Moatshe, M S; Mofokeng, T R; Mogase, I D; Mohlaloga, M R; Mokoena, A D; Moloto, K A; Montsitsi, S D; Moonsamy, K; Morobi, D M; Morutoa, M R; Moss, M I; Mpontshane, A M; Mshudulu, S A; Mthembu, B; Mthethwa, E N; Mtshali, E; Mzondeki, M J G; Nawa, Z N; Ndlovu, V B; Nel, A C; Nene, M J ; Nene, N M; Ngaleka, E; Ngcobo, E N N; Ngcobo, N W; Ngele, N J; Ngwenya, M L; Nhlengethwa, D G; Njikelana, S J ; Njobe, M A A; Nkuna, C; Nogumla, R Z; Ntuli, B M; Ntuli, R S; Ntuli, S B; Nxumalo, M D; Nyambi, A J; Oliphant, G G; Padayachie, R L; Phadagi, M G; Pieterse, R D; Rajbally, S ; Ramgobin, M; Ramotsamai, C P M; Roopnarain, U; Schippers, J; Schneemann, G D; Schoeman, E A; Seadimo, M D; Seaton, S A; Sibande, M P; Sibanyoni, J B; Siboza, S ; Sibuyana, M W; Sigcau , S N; Sikakane, M R; Sithole, D J; Skhosana, W M; Skosana, M B; Smith, P F; Smith, V G; Sonto, M R; Sosibo, J E; Sotyu, M M; Surty, M E ; Thomson, B; Tinto, B; Tlake, M F; Tolo, L J; Tshivhase, T J; Tshwete, P; Twala, N M; Vadi, I; Van der Merwe, J H; Van der Merwe, S C ; Van Wyk, A; Vos, S C; Vundisa, S S; Wang, Y; Zikalala, C N Z; Zita, L; Zulu, B Z ; Zulu, N E.
NOES - 29: Blanché, J P I; Botha, A J; Botha, C-S; Camerer, S M; Cupido, H B ; Doman, W P; Dreyer, A M; Gibson, D H M; Julies, I F; Kalyan, S V; King, R J; Kohler-Barnard, D; Lowe, C M; Marais, S J F; Minnie, K J ; Nel, A H; Rabie, P J; Sayedali-Shah, M R; Selfe, J; Semple, J A; Stephens, J J M; Steyn, A C; Swart, P S; Swart, S N; Swathe, M M; Trent, E W; Van Dyk, S M; Waters, M; Weber, H.
ABSTAIN - 1: Greyling, L W.
Question agreed to.
Appointment of Dr M Socikwa as councillor to fill a vacancy on the Council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa accordingly approved.
DEBATE ON POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SITUATION IN THE WORLD WITH THE OVERALL THEME OF GLOBAL WARMING TEN YEARS AFTER KYOTO (IPU TOPIC)
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Chairperson, hon members, I would like, at the beginning of this important debate - which is a debate that is preparing us for participation in Indonesia on the Kyoto Protocol - to dedicate my speech to Dr Ian Player, one of the strongest environmentalists that we have in the country. He is an environmentalist of note in the world who turns 80 today: Happy birthday to Dr Ian Player. [Applause.]
I had invited him to be in the House when we debate the Kyoto Protocol, something that is very close to his heart, but unfortunately his international duties could not allow for that.
In recent months the climate has changed on the topic of climate change. The climate has changed on climate change. All those people who were in denial that there is climate change now understand that there is climate change. You don’t have to be educated to understand that. You don’t have to be sophisticated to understand that. When winter comes in summer and summer in autumn, it tells you that there is something wrong. But all this that I am saying is caused by man and can be reversed by man or by human beings, to be gender sensitive. [Interjections.] I didn’t say by a man, I said by man, which is a human being.
How do we correct that? Last week during the International Women’s Day celebrations in Spain, the first speaker to address that international conference was an environmentalist from Africa, a woman, Wangari Mathai. She set the tone for that international conference, but unless and until we take the environment seriously, we can have nobody else to blame, but ourselves. The worry is: What about the generations to come? We know that we are polluting today, but the consequences are going to be suffered years later by innocent people who are not the polluters today.
At this point, I just want to congratulate one member of this House who has a formula that comes from the experts, and who tells us how much you pollute the air every time you fly between Johannesburg and Cape Town. For you to offset that carbon you need to plant one tree. He has gone to look at the cost of the trees at Trees for Africa and every time he flies, he plants a tree. That member is the hon Lance Greyling. [Applause.]
We hon members who are forever flying, we are the culprits as well. I have been speaking to Trees for Africa to communicate with each one of you through your constituencies and assist you in planting trees. Because if we plant trees, half the problem of the world shall have been attended to. We are all dedicating our efforts today to say that even if South Africa, in terms of the Kyoto Protocol, is not listed as a polluter compared to the big giants like the US, we still have to take care of the environment.
Indeed, the climate has changed on climate change, starting especially with the Stern report released late last year; the issue of climate change has suddenly appeared brightly on the political radar, perhaps for the first time because the impacts were starkly portrayed in economic terms by an economist Sir Nicholas Stern, being a former Chief Economist at the World Bank. This has nothing to do with the Network on the World Bank that is here today.
Following closely, was the release of the Fourth Report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, which, in contrast to its predecessors’ very conservative approach, has taken a bold stand on the urgency of the need rapidly to take action. Make no mistake, this eminent, scientific panel of the world’s foremost climate scientists is not given to alarmism and does not make statements or take facts lightly. Their findings are based on the very best research results from the world’s best climate scientists and institutions. But even they have now considered that all previous estimates of both the extent of global warming, as well as the rate at which it is happening and will happen, have been grossly underestimated and we are now entering the exponential part of the curve.
This is in fact a clarion call, a Mayday warning that we are no longer talking about global warming, but we are talking about global heating. And I don’t think there is a member who will dispute that. We are no longer talking about global warming, but global heating.
To date politicians largely, heavily influenced by the pro-carbon lobby, have been content to look at the best-case scenarios and pay lip service to any remedial action. That includes us. Worst-case scenarios have been summarily dismissed as scaremongering by environmental groups. However, if we look back 17 years to 1990 when the need for a Kyoto-type initiative was first mooted, it is apparent that almost every box in the worst-case scenario has now been checked.
Whilst Kyoto was a great first step in the right direction in itself, it will achieve nothing unless it is used as a template for more serious agreements and a springboard to them. What does this mean for South Africa? We are in a classic catch-22 here. An ageing infrastructure which must contend with massive increasing demands to meet socioeconomic imperatives; an arguably the cheapest electricity in the world, but also some 87% of our power comes from coal-fired power stations and we are a per capita amongst the highest emitters of carbon dioxide and thus contributors to climate change in the world.
As a developing country, as I said earlier, South Africa is not yet subject to emission reduction targets, but in the post-Kyoto negotiations these are a certainty. Together with an emissions penalty of some sort, simply put, we will very soon see the real costs of our carbon-intensive power generating heating homes and it is going to become very uncomfortable. For some it is already uncomfortable, eating heavily into our economic growth projections, unless we take the opportunity to change.
As a country we have yet to seriously invest in new and renewable energy technologies and options and some effort has been noted in this direction. For example, with our climate solar energy in all forms is a clear frontrunner, in particular, for solar water heating, the biggest energy user in domestic households; this requires a courageous and aggressive approach to changing building practices.
If we do not take these opportunities now, which offer massive openings for international investment, new business, job creation and reduction in energy costs in the long term, we will have them forced on us by the global communities. We do not want anything forced on us, because, as South Africa, much as we were a young democracy when Kyoto was introduced, we did what was expected of us as a nation and we ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
We tried by all means even to talk to the big giants in the world to ask them to come to the table. It has been difficult, but Kyoto is now in operation and it can only be us who assist. And why I am participating in this debate is because the environment is my love and my home. And I know very well that, as I urge hon members to join me, I did promise Wangari Mathai that, she must just watch this space, South Africans are going to plant more trees. I think that with the committed hon members of this House that I know, led by Ubaba Gatsha Buthelezi, we will plant trees.
I know very well that we will plant trees and we can be a proud, shining nation saying to everyone that we care about the environment, not because we care about ourselves, but we care about generations to come; those innocent children that will be coming into a messy world because of us. Let us clean up so that they can come and live in a clean environment. Thank you. [Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms C-S Botha): Order! Are you rising on a point of order, hon member?
Mr A M MPONTSHANE: Yes, Madam Chairperson. The Deputy Speaker may not have meant anything bad, but I would earnestly request that she doesn’t use the name she used to refer to the leader of the IFP. Owing to historical circumstances, I would request that she withdraws that name.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Madam Chairperson, I would withdraw that name, but the sentiment is something that will be carried because I know that he cares for the environment. I have had a discussion with him about three months ago in Mombasa on the same topic and that is why I accord him the respect that he deserves. But I take the point. [Applause.]
Mr G R MORGAN: Madam House Chair, hon members, climate change poses a large and unfamiliar challenge to the world. The UK chief scientific advisor, David King, has said that climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism.
At their July 2005 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 leaders issued a statement acknowledging that climate change is a serious and long-term challenge that has the potential to affect every part of the globe. And former US President Bill Clinton has warned that the climate change is the only problem that has the power to end the march of civilization as we know it.
Hon members, while we as legislators face many problems that require serious and urgent attention in South Africa, most notably poverty, HIV/Aids and crime, it is time that we wake up to our country’s contribution to climate change and the likely effects that it will have on our country and our continent over the coming century.
The most recent report Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published on 2 February 2007, concludes that it is now 90% certain that human activities in 1750 have warmed our planet. There are, however, still sceptics that doubt the science behind this report. There are critics that claim that climate change proponents are anti-growth. But opponents must now tell us, if it is not the reasons in the IPCC report that climate changes are human-induced what is causing it? As Senator Kerry told the meeting of legislators from the G8+5 in Washington last month:
If we are wrong about climate change, what is the worst that can happen? We will have better technology, improved energy security, reduced certification of the oceans and cleaner air. What is the worse that can happen if the sceptics are wrong?
Hon members, the precautionary principle must prevail, or to use the creed of doctors, we should do no harm.
Concern is growing that our communities in ecosystems will have little time to adjust to the changing conditions. Economic losses due to extreme weather events are already being experienced and are likely to increase in the future. The World Health Organisation estimates that climate change is already responsible for 150 000 deaths annually. It is the developing world that is expected to endure the worst effects of climate change. Indeed, much of the work of this House in developing legislation that seeks to eradicate poverty is likely to be eroded by the effects of climate change if we do not act.
As legislators, none of us has the luxury of standing by. Indifference by this House will only accentuate the problem. There is a growing consensus among legislators around the world - the Deputy Speaker has alluded to this
- particularly in the G8 countries. In our window of opportunity, which is a short one, we will need to act. If the likes of Senator Kerry and Senator Boxer, both Democrats, are to be believed then even the US legislators are moving, albeit slowly, to respond to climate change. We as South African legislators must not be caught unawares though. As the Kyoto Protocol approaches 2012, the year in which it will expire in its current form, countries like India, China, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa will be expected to sign up for commitments, whatever they may be.
Hon members, we will need to embrace this challenge. According to the Stern report of October 2006, the cost of inaction will be greater than the cost of action. However, both the developed and the developing world will need to come to the table under the right conditions. As the legislators at the G8+5 climate dialogue noted last month: … action on climate change needs to take into account the differing circumstances of the developed, developing and poor economies, recognising the need for economic growth and access to energy to alleviate poverty.
Action must be taken by countries in line with their capabilities and historic responsibilities.
It is now time to start plotting the way forward. The Kyoto Protocol leading up to 2012 will need to be renegotiated. The market approach must remain a key component although we must accept its limitations. This time around we cannot just rely on emissions trading. We will need to go further. Eileen Claussen of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change recommends five principles on which a future climate framework must be negotiated. Firstly, it must be agreed that we need to find long-term ambitious goals. Secondly, developed countries must take the lead. Thirdly, there can be no solution, due to the global nature of the problem, without the participation of developing countries. Fourthly, incentives need to be established for the developing world, and lastly, and arguably most importantly, there needs to be a fully functioning carbon market that includes a price for carbon.
It is likely that the upcoming G8 presidency, under Chancellor Merkel, will attempt to seek a long-term goal to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. This goal will probably be somewhere between 450 and 550 parts per million of CO2. Following that, the plan on how to reach this goal will need to be thrashed out.
Hon members, there are a number of issues that we, in South Africa, will need to address urgently if we are to make our contribution to preventing a climate disaster. It will require new investments, both in the public and private sectors, and in some cases we as legislators will need to create the legislative framework and the incentives to act.
It is likely that coal will remain the dominant source of energy in South Africa for decades to come. But its contribution to electricity generation, currently around 90%, has to be reduced. It is an indictment on this country that renewable energy contributes a negligible proportion on our energy mix. Eskom has yet to move beyond a few renewable energy demonstration models. Poor energy planning over the past decade has meant that under an impending energy crunch in this country, Eskom has once again resorted to taking coal power stations out of mothballs and is likely to continue building new coal stations. In this state of affairs, renewable energy is constantly put on the back burner. This situation simply has to change.
If energy from coal is to remain on our agenda for the foreseeable future, then it would be necessary for us to induce producers into using best practice technology that will provide for cleaner coal. Carbon capture and storage need to be high on the agenda. The IPCC estimated that in 2005 carbon capture and storage can contribute between 15% and 55% of the cumulative mitigation effort worldwide until 2010.
A home-grown company, Anglo American plc, is in fact a world leader in this field. However, it is developing this technology in Australia and not in South Africa. Why? Because Australia has done more to produce a carbon capture and storage regulatory regime. Therefore, South Africa will need to move to provide the funding for a national storage map and will need to introduce the necessary legislation and incentives to attract the likes of Anglo American into the South African market.
Perhaps the area of intervention that South Africa can respond to most quickly is energy efficiency, the most cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency estimates that worldwide energy efficiency improvements alone can reduce the world’s energy demand in 2050 by an amount equivalent to almost half of today’s energy consumption. We, as legislators, need to look at initiatives like strict standards for standby time for appliances and fuel efficiency in the transport sector in order to realise efficiency gains.
Mandatory energy efficiency labelling of all machines and appliances must be fast-tracked.
Lastly, with regarding to promoting energy efficiency as well as energy conservation, there is a need for a massive public education programme in this country. Households, individuals and businesses need to have an understanding of what their respective carbon footprints are in order to even begin the process of reducing these footprints.
There is much work ahead. With sensible legislation and regulations we can use the response to climate change to encourage new investments and to create new markets. But let us always be mindful of the narrow window of opportunity in which we need to act.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I certainly support the initiative of offsetting our emissions from flying and I will support you on that.
Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is an international security issue, a jobs issue and an issue important to our children and grandchildren. It’s time to take it seriously. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms C-S Botha): Hon member, I will convey your sentiments to the Deputy Speaker.
Mr M J BHENGU: Madam Chair, colleagues, the world, including the economic, political and social situation, is constantly changing and will continue to change at an even faster pace in years to come. It is our ability to adapt to these changing circumstances that will determine how successful we are.
In the ten years since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, much has changed with regard to these situations around the world. Globalisation seems to have made the world a much smaller place; competition for resources and customers has intensified and is no longer confined to the boundaries of a particular country.
Climate change and global warming are realities that affect us directly and we are starting to experience their effects at first hand. Unusual or erratic weather conditions, flooding and extreme heat are just some of the warning signs that we must heed. If we continue our current development trends with little or no consideration for the environment and without a significant reduction in greenhouse emissions, then we will eventually suffer the consequences.
The Kyoto Protocol, which aims at curbing the air pollution that is blamed for global warming, came into effect seven years after it was agreed. It required countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Although some industrial countries are making progress in decreasing the emissions of their greenhouse gases, many are not, and the progress that has been made has been slow. Some countries fear that by implementing strict targets for pollution and gas emissions they will be sacrificing profits and slowing down economic development. It is also very unfortunate that some industrialized nations, particularly the USA, are not committed to the Kyoto Protocol.
Although the industrialized nations are primarily responsible for the carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere, developing countries also have a role to play in managing the situation. By actively trying to curb our greenhouse gas emissions as well as educating and informing the public about climate change and global warming, we can make a difference.
Madam Chair, although we can be proud of the progress and the many economic, political and social developments that have been made globally over the past ten years, it is unfortunate that we have not achieved a similar rate of progress with regard to finding lasting and globally accepted plans and solutions to fight global warming and climate change.
Economic and political developments are very important, but they should not be achieved in isolation with little or no regard for the environment. We are running out of time in our quest to address our environmental problems. We need to start taking these problems more seriously and paying more attention to them if we want to make a meaningful difference. Our efforts in addressing environmental issues have been slow since the Kyoto Protocol was signed ten years ago. We need to speed up this progress.
Mr G T MADIKIZA: Madam Chair and hon members, the scientific evidence for global warming and its effects continue to mount. It is an unfortunate fact that outside of the scientific community, in the mainstream media and in politics especially, there are still those who want to present global warming as just one theory, or even completely dismissing it. This sort of thinking is driven by the short-term and narrow-minded obsession with the pursuit of consumption of resources and energy.
What the world attempted at Kyoto is to acknowledge the long-term consequences of emissions and thus pursue a path of sustainable development. Unfortunately, from the outset, Kyoto was dogged by the disappointment that the biggest polluter, the United States, would not submit to the global long-term view, and chose instead its narrow self- interest.
The emissions debate has further been set back by the preposterousness of trading emissions. On paper, the idea seemed good, but in practice it does not discourage emissions pollution, and only ensures that the pollution ghettos will eventually develop as the rich and developed ``export’’ their pollution. Thank you. [Applause.] Mr L ZITA: Chairperson, comrades and colleagues, two hundred years since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the biosphere and the human civilisation that has evolved from it is at an abyss. Whilst industrial civilisation has brought about unimaginable human advances and comforts, it is clear that these have been begotten at a price that threatens the very existence of life on our planet.
It is instructive, if not ironic, that on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the authoritative world scientific body on the study of climate change drew two fundamental conclusions in its February report this year. It said that:
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air …
Furthermore, the report goes on to say:
Eleven of the last twelve years - 1995 to 2006 - rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature.
In a section subtitled ``Understanding and attributing climate change’’, the report notes that:
Most of the observed increases in global average temperatures since the mid-twentieth century are very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.
In other words, it is human-made.
The Stern Review of the esteemed economist Sir Nicholas Stern, released in October last year, counsels that doing nothing about climate change could cost us about 5% to 20% of global gross domestic product. Already the heat wave in 2003 in Europe, which killed 35 000 people, resulted in US$15 billion losses in European agriculture.
Climate change is a term that is used to describe the warming and cooling of the climate. It is a process that can take place naturally, like the cooling that took place in the Ice Age. Global warming is a particular variant of climate change, which refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, which have been noticed in past decades.
As a result of global warming, there are distinguishable environmental consequences. These include the melting of glaciers, the increasing frequency of floods, a rise in sea levels, increasing occurrence of droughts, scarcity of water, the loss of biodiversity, which takes the form of forest diebacks, and the extinction of some plant and animal species as well as the regularity and severity of weather events such as heat waves and hurricanes.
In an absorbing presentation on the economics of climate change, Sir Nicholas Stern, two days ago here in Cape Town, made the point that as early as 200 years ago, the French mathematician, Fourier, noticed that human activities were having an impact on the environment, which impact was the overall increase of the temperature levels.
Despite these early observations, there have been a number of dismissals of the scientific nature of the claim that there is global warming. The impact of this denial has been to undermine appropriate responses to this challenge.
Since 1987, in Montreal, there have been a number of international agreements and mechanisms which the global community has entered into as part of its response to the challenge of climate change. The Montreal Protocol focused on the detection and management of ozone-depleting substances. In 1989, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established, whose brief is the scientific assessment of climate change, as well as elaborating the best responses to the problem.
In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established as the international framework to agree on strategies to stabilise the emission of greenhouse gases.
The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 and came into effect on 16 February
- Its import is in the fact that it is a legally binding international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The second fundamental dimension of the Kyoto Protocol is the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. At the heart of this principle is an attempt to address the fact that not only are the developed countries the most polluting countries, but they are also the ones that have mainly been responsible for global warming. It is therefore these countries that must mostly reduce their gas emissions.
Secondly, the principle seeks to address the fact that developing countries will have to emit greenhouse gases as part of their developing challenge, and therefore, the reduction that the developed countries make should be of such a nature as to give space for the developing countries to develop, within a broad framework of overall reduction of global warming.
Central to the management of global warming has been a global effort to find solutions to the rise in temperatures. We have the strategies that seek to address the fact that this phenomenon is already with us, and is already threatening life systems and livelihoods. How then should the nations of the world adapt to it? How do you address the fact that, as a result of global warming, fish stocks are leaving Saldanha and going to Chile; that hurricanes are destroying cities, and floods are impoverishing Third World villagers who are least able to defend and protect themselves.
The difficult problem of adaptation is that it is essentially a Third World issue and therefore does not have the same profile as the mitigation issues.
Despite this, we welcome and support the establishment of the Least Developed Countries Fund as well as the Special Climate Change Fund, both of which are under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change.
Another initiative worthy of support is one that is based on taxing the volumes of transactions derived from the clean development mechanism, which presages the evolution of a global tax, and dovetails well with the call for a 2% adaptation levy on all flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol.
Adaptation is the prevention and reduction of activities that induce climate change, referred to as the mitigation interventions, and is about the use of clean technologies. The first point to be made in this regard is that some of these technologies already exist, and the challenge is their access and diffusion to the world at large.
The Global Legislatures for a Balanced Environment, Globe, technology working group, whose thesis we discussed in Washington last month, identified the challenge of mitigation in the following ways:
We propose to focus on five main areas:
First, what scope already exists for deploying available clean
technologies globally?
Second, barriers to investing in low carbon and carbon-free
technologies in developed and developing countries with examples on
how these might be overcome.
Third, policies, emission trends and technology needs of developing
economies and economies in transition, and how these relate to
decision-making processes in the economic models, including synergies
and trade-offs between climate change and other priorities such as job
creation and industrial development.
Fourth, how to combine regulatory approaches that can push and market
approaches that can `pull’ technology solutions in the most effective
ways, able to bring about the range and extent of change needed to
develop and deploy clean and more efficient technologies.
Fifth, how the transfer of efficient low-carbon technologies can be
promoted, and what roles international institutions should play in
this process, with a special focus on how private-public partnerships
might act as catalysts in demonstrating scope here.
In essence, the challenge is to ensure access to and comprehensive dissemination of clean technologies across the world, and to ensure that these technologies can talk to both the challenge of industrial development without the risk of maximising global warming.
The challenge of managing climate change is not just a technological and economic one; it is also political. Whilst many of the world’s leading economies are signatories to the UNFCC, important players such as the United States of America and Australia are not significant to the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, they have recused themselves from the legally binding commitments of addressing this challenge.
The US is the leading polluter of the world. There can be no solution to this problem without her playing a central role. It is in this regard that recent acknowledgement of the challenge of global warming in the state of the union address by President Bush is to be welcomed.
The Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012. At this stage, there has not been an appropriate forum and the goodwill to launch negotiations on a post- Kyoto agreement. One of the knots to be undone is the fact that some of the developing countries are increasingly emitting higher levels of greenhouse gases, and are now being pressurised to reduce their emissions. This is the case with China, India and ourselves. This goes against the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.
The second challenge would be to bring the US into the post-Kyoto framework. Thirdly, the global community will have to address the competing claims by polluting developed countries, which refuse to commit themselves to clean development as long as developing countries are still emitting. Together, we will have to find a solution to these challenges.
In the light of these challenges, it is difficult to find fault with the stance of our government. As this Parliament, we need to be united in supporting the government in its endeavour to take action on adaptation, in its promotion of clean development mechanisms in Africa and its fight for new thinking on technological transfer as well as the pursuit of a more effective global regime after 2012.
I think I should take this opportunity to inform the House that the environment and tourism committee is planning this year to take a trip to Australia to look at the carbon capture and storage facilities of Anglo- American, which is the leading company that is looking at clean development, and moving to ``a cleaner image’’.
As the ANC, we would like to express our appreciation to the Interparliamentary Union for drawing our attention to this issue, so that we, as the nation in assembly, can profile what is one of the urgent challenges that we face – the sustainable reproduction of life on our planet. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr L W GREYLING: Chairperson, I would like to dedicate this speech today to my six-year-old nephew, Matteo Greyling, and everyone of his generation who will have to deal with the effects of our decisions and actions on this important issue.
Climate change is one of the greatest symbols of inequality in the world, because it is the actions, both past and present, of affluent countries and people that are having a catastrophic impact on the lives of the poor and future generations. We have to secure a post-Kyoto international agreement that would include the mission targets for the world’s worst polluters. We only have a few years to breach the current international divide on this issue, if we are to prevent destabilising climate change.
The ID supports some of the progressive work that South Africa has done on the international level to achieve this objective. Back home, however, we can and must do far more to live up to our own responsibility as the 14th biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Let’s stop the rhetoric and talk about real action.
Yesterday the minerals and energy committee, across parties, expressed its collective dismay that the renewable energy sector receives a paltry sum of money, and that we do not have a bold vision for this growing global market. We can lead the world in renewable energy, particularly solar, but it requires government to truly put its money where its mouth is.
Why is Germany building a factory to produce our cutting edge solar panel technology? Why are we not giving substantial tax breaks and subsidies for renewable technology? And why, as Minister Erwin stated yesterday, are we continuing to subsidise the energy costs of hugely energy-intensive companies in South Africa? Why have we stalled the integrated energy planning process and allowed Eskom to simply build five new coal-fired power stations without any thought about how that will push up our emissions? This is old “business as usual” thinking, and what we need is innovative solutions and the belief that we can lead the world in a more sustainable future.
Finally, I believe that we, as MPs, must take personal action, and I congratulate the Deputy Speaker for taking up my plea to make Parliament carbon-neutral by planting trees. As MPs we should also buy trees and do energy audits on our houses to see how we can reduce our own carbon emissions. I have done that and am starting to implement some of those recommendations. I thank you. [Time expired.]
Mr S N SWART: Chairperson, in a recent article Forian Dlamini stated that climate change holds a more serious threat to peace and stability in Africa than political conflicts since the advent of independence. The ACDP agrees that recurring floods in Mozambique and drought in most Southern African states are visible signs of climate change and undoubtedly present a serious threat to peace and stability.
South Africa is very vulnerable to global warming and its consequences, such as rising sea levels, droughts, loss of biodiversity, high incidence of malaria and other tropical diseases, and increased water scarcity.
Regrettably, we are also one of the world’s most energy-intensive economies, with very high greenhouse gas emissions. We must be good stewards of our environment, for the sake of our future generations. What we need is tangible commitment to action now, not later. As citizens we need to choose products and services that are energy-efficient and encourage business and government to do the same.
Whilst I haven’t planted trees as yet, I trust that Madam Deputy Speaker appreciates the colour of my tie as a sign of support for her concern and for hon Greyling’s initiative. I thank you.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms C-S Botha): Thank you, hon Swart. Let me see your tie. [Laughter.]
Mrs J CHALMERS: Madam Chair, Comrades and colleagues, an amazing film entitled An Inconvenient Truth has been circling the globe. Narrated by Al Gore, it sets out in vivid terms the crisis our planet is facing as global warming escalates on an unprecedented scale. I wish, Madam Chair, that we could show the film here in Parliament for all our members to become better informed on this critical situation.
The most inconvenient truth about global warming is that we cannot stop it. Mitigate it, yes; adapt to its consequences, yes, but clearly global warming is already baked into the earth’s future.
It has, in fact, been around a long time, and environmentalists and lawmakers have spent years shouting at one another about whether the grim forecasts are true. But in the past five years or so the debate has quietly ended. Global warming, even the sceptics now agree, is the real deal, and human activity has been courting it.
We thought, however, that time was on our side and that we would have at least decades to sort it out. Clearly, this is no longer the case. Once things start to go wrong, change can happen surprisingly quickly. What few people reckoned on was that global climate systems are booby-trapped, with tipping points and feedback loops.
The slow creep of environmental decay can suddenly give way to self- perpetuating collapse. If you pump enough carbon dioxide into the sky, that last part per million of greenhouse gas behaves like the 100˚C that turns a pot of hot water into boiling water and steam. Carbon dioxide is a tiny, but very important, component of our earth’s atmosphere. It helps warm the earth to the levels we are used to, but too much of it - and maybe the result of our use of fossil fuels and other C02 emissions - does a huge damage as it prevents sunlight from escaping form our atmosphere.
And what happens then? Put bluntly, the temperature of the earth rises. The intergovernmental panel on climate change predicts that by 2100 temperatures will have risen by between 1,1˚ and 6,4˚, and as a result sea levels will rise by 18cm to 59cm. And now, in 2007, this is well on the way to happening.
In particular, damage is being caused to our polar caps, the reason being that the white surface of the polar ice is so bright that it reflects back 90% of sunlight into space. But, as the ice melts and shrinks and water takes its place, it absorbs the sunlight and becomes warmer, melting more and more of the coastal polar ice.
In Greenland the rate at which ice has been steadily melting and dripping into the sea has changed, and now whole glaciers are being dumped into the ocean. By some estimates the entire Greenland ice sheet, if melted, would be enough to raise global sea levels by seven metres, swallowing up large parts of coastal Florida and most of Bangladesh.
The Antarctic holds enough ice to raise sea levels more than 65 metres. Well, I don’t need to expand on what that would do to our South African coastline.
So, Madam Chair, how is the heating up of our planet affecting, disrupting and destroying the biological world we inhabit, and the creatures we depend on for survival?
The naturalist and explorer John Muir once said that when one tugs at a single thing in nature, one finds that it is attached to the rest of the world. Never a truer word was spoken.
In South Africa we are extremely fortunate because the huge challenge of escalating global warming has resulted in an even greater concentration of scientific work. An intellectual focus is being dedicated to studying what is happening. I am indebted to Leonie Joubert for her extremely informative books scoured for some of the facts in my speech. All over the world biodiversity is being affected on a daily basis by changes in our climate. In South Africa, as conditions warm up, species are expected to move higher or eastward.
Our warming and drying is expected to sweep in from the north-west. Those of you in the Northern Cape and the Western Cape have reason to be especially worried.
The largest slice of bio or plant species will occur in the western, central and northern parts of the country. Concern is already being voiced about the survival of some of our fynbos species in the Western Cape.
Most of today’s plants and animals have evolved under global temperatures of about 3˚C to 5˚C cooler than the period in which we currently live. And now conditions are changing faster than most species will be able to adapt.
Changes are happening all around us all the time. As humans, we don’t see slow change, so we come to think of the present as normal. But a comparison with the distant past, 20 years or more, will show just how much places have changed. And many of these species shifts have been documented internationally. In the UK 51 species of butterfly have moved to higher altitudes or northwards. Fishermen in the UK are encountering strange fish in their nets as the sea currents shift and warm up. The Worldwide Fund for Nature reports that a 1˚C rise in temperature has pushed certain fish species, such as haddock and cod, 200 miles to 400 miles north.
In Antarctica penguin species are declining in the North, yet thriving in the South. And in the Arctic the sea ice is melting, depriving polar bears of their hunting ground, and without it they starve or drown.
Plants are moving, and this is amazing. Our pine plants are urging uphill, crowding out rare species near mountain suburbs. And our Southern African quiver trees are dying in the North and thriving in the South.
Way down in the southern oceans we possess two small volcanic islands. The larger, Marion Island, has always been a weather sentinel for this country. The other messages of global warming are coming through loud and clear. Scientist Dr Steven Chung first visited Marion Island in 1983, and I quote: “When I first went there it had a glacier, South Africa’s only glacier. Now we no longer have a glacier.”
Africa’s most famous snow-capped peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, will soon have no more ice, no more snow. This icon, bold as the continent on which it rests, will have disappeared. All over the world ice caps and glaciers are melting and disappearing. The annual sorely needed run-off of water from these formerly huge reserves of life-giving water is diminishing, and the knock- on effects of this are being recorded and noted with great anxiety. Here in South Africa the predicted warming and drying will cause the desert to move South. We, human beings, are part of the greatest system of biodiversity. And how will this affect us?
Changes will occur in land cover, and our biodiversity will come under increased pressure. Inevitably, this will have a knock-on effect on our food security.
And here I would really like to make a plea to our Department of Agriculture to consider very seriously before switching large tracts of food-producing land over to the production of biofuels. I think particularly here of the use of maize.
We can ill afford to shrink our production of one of the most basic food items that is heavily relied on by so many, particularly in our rural communities. In addition, it should be remembered that a large amount of energy is required to produce biofuels, and they are certainly not carbon- neutral.
I would hope that more research could go into the production of biogas, which I understand is a far more environmentally friendly process. Global warming is starting to take its toll on human health. So many studies have now linked higher ozone levels to the death rate from heart and lung ailments that cities are now issuing smog alerts to warn those at risk to stay indoors.
Droughts will occur, but also, as unstable weather patterns increase, there will be an increase in flooding, bringing with it more waterborne diseases as well as the spread of insects that thrive in waterlogged lands, such as mosquitoes.
South Africa’s tourism industry contributes as much as 10% to our GDP, a figure that is increasing all the time. Many foreign tourists visit our country to view and marvel at our extraordinary range of wildlife, so well managed by our national parks and on private game farms. We rely heavily on our unique natural resource base to attract tourism.
The likely scenario of a climbing temperature will be increasing drought, drier soils, more fires and, inevitably, a loss of habitat and biodiversity. As our Bushveld slowly but surely turns into arid grasslands, one wonders what this would mean for our Big Five as their habitat changes. So, what now?
The world is starting to wake up to the fact that environmental collapse is happening in so many places at once. A total of 141 nations have now ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but it is extraordinary that the United States, which is home to less than 5% of the world’s population, produces 25% of CO2 emissions, remains intransigent, with Australia refusing to sign.
Finally, Madam Chair, South Africa has, of course, come on board and is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. And whilst the picture I have painted in my speech sets out how serious our situation is, the critical challenge now is how we deal with it proactively. Questions need to be asked.
Is our energy strategy the correct one? Are we doing enough in the field of renewable energy? Surely every new house should have solar water heaters and a water tank. Are biofuels the way to go?
And how can we begin to contain the large numbers of vehicles on our roads? How can we improve our public transport system and by so doing reduce those numbers?
So many questions are being asked, and it is going to take an extraordinary amount of research, commitment and energy from each and every one of us to come up with answers that can slow down this fearful crisis facing our planet.
We should bear in mind what one journalist said. If life in its current form were to die out, this planet would recover, but we would probably have written ourselves out of the script. Thank you. [Applause.] Mr N T GODI: Chairperson, comrades and hon members, by drafting the Kyoto Protocol the international community was expressing near universal unanimity about the self-evident threat of global warming to humanity. Kyoto was a call for action by all concerned to avert the negative and near catastrophic consequences of global warming.
Whilst global warming will affect all humanity adversely, it is the poor and exploited countries of the south that will suffer the most. Whilst international awareness has been raised about it, concerted action by the biggest polluters has been absent or very slow in coming. This is because measures to combat this threat do not make immediate profit sense to big business and their governments. Ten years after Kyoto there is still much that needs to be done.
We need to reaffirm our commitment to the protocol. Popular education and mobilisation should be the fulcrum of our strategic and tactical line. Whilst acknowledging and encouraging measures adopted by the European Union and Britain recently, we nonetheless still need to insist that more can be done and be done faster and sooner. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms S RAJBALLY: Chairperson, global warming and the changes to weather patterns have raised concerns globally, but not enough awareness has been motivated over the harsh reality, the consequences and preventive measures that can be endorsed to slow down global warming and preserve our planet. The next President to President Bush of the USA, Al Gore, has initiated an effective programme to endorse government into the reality of global warming.
A documentary by Al Gore called An Inconvenient Truth, has been playing at the Cinema Nouveau, and to those who have watched this documentary, it is a serious eye-opener and a very scary reality where all our nations are headed if global warming is not slowed down. It would be to no avail if we are striving for liberation, democracy, equality, growth and social development or any other priority on our agenda if in reality we are not driving our planet to avert disaster.
The limitations placed on nations on the emissions by greenhouse gas by Kyoto Protocol are not enough to address the situation. Pollutants and fast developing industries’ gas dominates our atmosphere. We need to agenda our reality as a nation with regards to global warming and endorse protocol that needs to be adjudicated in every sector of governance and daily lives.
We need to enforce strong legislation that shall govern the emission of poisonous and harmful gases into our atmosphere. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr I M CACHALIA: Chairperson and hon members of the National Assembly, global climate change, often referred to as global warming, possibly poses a greatest challenge facing mankind this century. It emanates from the build-up of human emissions of heat-trapping gases in the earth’s atmosphere, intensifying the greenhouse effect, thus engendering changes in our climate.
This increase in volume of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels, land clearing for agriculture, logging and other human activities are the primary sources of the human-induced component of global warming.
The climate change issue has been growing in seriousness since the middle of the twentieth century and consequently became the focus of international strategies to minimise greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent warming of the earth’s surface.
The Kyoto Protocol, which is the instrument of the United Nations framework on climate change, becomes operational for the first commitment period 2008 – 2012.
Global warming poses a serious threat to sustainable development in developing countries and could well undermine global poverty alleviation efforts and have serious implications for food security, clean water, energy supply, environmental health and human settlements.
Global warming does not occur by default. Human activity creates the problem and every bit of coal, oil and gas that we burn adds to the load of gases in the atmosphere trapping heat and smothering people and the natural world alike. I raised the issue of climate change in this department’s Budget Vote in 2006 and therefore am greatly encouraged that the programming committee has slotted in this debate during this session of Parliament.
International best practice strategies aimed at preventing or the abatement of climate change incorporate action on both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Mitigation refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing them from the atmosphere and embracing energy efficiency, so that less fuel is used. It embraces sources of energy that emit no greenhouse gases such as renewable energy.
Mitigation initiatives globally would incorporate the following practices: Implementing sustainable development; adopting cleaner energy technologies; promoting and implementing renewable energy technologies; and promoting and implementing energy-efficient practices. The concrete examples of mitigation initiatives include CDM or the Clean Development Mechanism and carbon emission trading.
The National Climate Change Response Strategy developed by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism puts forward a number of mitigation strategies for South Africa. These initiatives form an integral part of sustainable development and cleaner technology usage such as the Vehicle Emissions Strategy, aimed at reducing emissions from motor vehicles. The mitigation option project is investigating possible mitigation options that could be implemented, viz, renewable energy sources and energy sources such as nuclear energy.
Successful climate change abatement strategies would use a mix of mitigation and adaptation, as adaptation will become increasingly more difficult and costly, the less mitigation appears on the radar screen. Mitigation measures should remain in focus, receive priority as source- diverse impacts such as loss of rare species and melting of glaciers cannot be reversed. Moreover, mitigation goes to the root of the problem of climate change, viz, emissions from human activities precipitating changes in our climate.
Even if all the greenhouse gas emissions were stopped today, the greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere would be enough to cause climate change. Further, CO2 emissions are likely to rise in the coming decades. The changes in the climate are already happening. The world must therefore be prepared to adapt to the effects of global warming.
Some adaptation strategies would include better flood defences or relocation mechanisms that can be used to deal with rising sea levels; avoiding more vulnerable areas for building houses; agricultural production can adapt to the decreasing availability of water through better water management; urban areas could adapt increasingly to severe storms by increasing rainwater storage through the use of domestic water butts, paved gardens, etc, and increasing capacity of storm water systems so that overflows do not contaminate rivers.
Measures should be enforced to ensure food security in the face of less reliable agricultural yields, particularly in areas where drought take centre stage.
Our Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, stated in 2005:
If South Africa did not immediately adapt to the effects of climate change, it would cost the country 1.5% of the GDP by 2050, roughly equivalent to the total foreign investment in South Africa at present.
I dare say that there are much more serious consequences for South Africa and the African continent than the rest of the world. Whilst adaptation would appear to be the most useful and least economically disruptive response to climate change variability, this would probably be a very short- sighted approach.
Focusing on adaptation to local impacts of change is not a responsible position for any country to adopt. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that mitigation strategies have additional, extremely valuable, benefits that are often overlooked. These include improvements in local environmental quality, public health and wellbeing and the stimulation of the local economy. Last Friday 27 members of the EU meeting in Brussels signed an agreement which commits EU to, firstly, 20% reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2020, and secondly to generate one fifth of its energy needs from renewables.
Greenpeace hailed the initiative as the biggest such decision since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the same meeting: “There is still time to reduce global warming and by so doing avoid a human calamity.”
I hope the United States, Australia, Japan and India are listening and taking note. So far the government has committed a very small amount of its resources to renewable energy for the next decade.
To quote Andre Fourie and Kuzene Dlamini of the National Business Initiative:
South Africa and Africa have played a marginal role in this debate. Yet climate change poses a serious threat to peace and stability in Africa more than political conflicts have done since the advent of independence.
The recurring floods in Mozambique and the drought in most Southern African countries are some of the visible signs of the effect of climate change on the ground. Urgent action is therefore needed now and not later.
It is increasingly becoming a key strategic imperative that businesses, government, civil society and academia collaborate in shaping the global debate on climate change rather than only following or responding, as we often do, to a debate whose parameters are increasingly being set elsewhere.
It is clear that a balanced approach in dealing with climate change is imperative. This implies that both mitigation and adaptation are necessary strategies to deal with this phenomenon. It is incumbent upon all of us to leave no stone unturned in our quest to stem the tide of the dangers that are looming large on our horizon and to take steps to protect this generation and all future generations to come from the catastrophic consequences to humanity if we fail to respond urgently and aggressively to the effects of global warming and climate change. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
DEBATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY: PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTENSIFYING THE STRUGGLE AGAINST POVERTY
Mr G G OLIPHANT: Chairperson, hon members, colleagues, on Wednesday, 21 March 2007, our country will be commemorating the 47th anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, in which over 60 unarmed and defenceless people were shot and killed by the apartheid South African police and 180 were wounded.
There were also reports of killings in similar style in Uitenhage and Langa by police who acted in defence of the apartheid state. The root cause of the peaceful demonstrations by our people was the systematic introduction of pass laws against the black majority by the white minority regime; the system that dictated where the large black majority would live, work and die.
These laws have their origins in the Cape colony in 1760, when the movement of slaves between urban and rural areas were regulated. Slaves had to carry passes from their masters. The system was subsequently extended to the whole country and further entrenched in 1945 under the Native Consolidation Act.
In 1952 the abolition of the Passes Act made it compulsory for every male African to carry a reference book. As if that was not enough, in 1960 the apartheid government introduced the Native Amendment Act, which extended the pass laws to African women, our mothers … “wathintha abafazi wathintha imbokodo uzokufa”. [You strike a woman, you strike a rock; you will die.]
Thanks to the ANC government and the people of South Africa, the United Nations and our friends across the globe. Today South Africa is free, democratic and prosperous. We all carry one single South African identity document. We have a Constitution with a Bill of Rights that guarantees all citizens the right to equality before the law, human dignity, freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly, demonstration, picket and petition, freedom of association, freedom of movement and residence.
As we celebrate this day each year, we must remember the great suffering and loss of lives that accompanied the struggle for human rights. We must therefore redouble our efforts to ensure that people in South Africa will never again be denied these rights. Oliver Tambo laid down his life for these rights, Chris Hani was killed for these rights, Dorothy Nyembe died for these rights, Sam Tambani was killed for these rights and the list is endless.
Many more were killed, maimed, exiled and imprisoned in the struggle to achieve human rights in this country. We pay tribute to all those heroes and heroines who gave all in the struggle to win freedom and democracy.
Comrades and colleagues, we have made impressive progress since 1994 to ensure access to clean water, housing, education and a clean and safe environment for millions of our people.
The challenges ahead still remain on this difficult path of freedom and democracy. We have to redouble our efforts to deal with the big five challenges afflicting our South African society today. They are poverty, unemployment, crime, HIV and Aids and the demon of racism that hounds us from time to time.
Never again should we ever have another Nelson Chisale murder on a farm. No other white farmer should be brutally killed in their homes or on their farms. Trade Union rights are indeed human rights. On the farms and private domestic homes, shops, factories and mines, we must rededicate 21 March 2007 to improve our relationships in society especially for the poor and vulnerable workers.
Let us push back the tide of violence against women and children in our homes, families, neighbourhood, constituencies and places of work. As we intensify our struggle for human rights, we must strengthen the Chapter Nine institutions established to promote democracy and the culture of human rights in our country and elsewhere in the world.
We must welcome the collaboration between our institutions like Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities Rights Commission, the Independent Electoral Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality, South African Human Rights Commission and the United Nation Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to ensure that the Africa Human Rights Day commemoration is observed each year on the 21st of October.
The 21st of October 2007 marks the 21st anniversary of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights adopted there by the Organisation of African Unity in 1981 and came into effect on the 21st of October 1986. We have an opportunity within the framework of the African Union and the United Nations to create a better Africa and a better world.
Our brothers and sisters in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Palestine and Iraq also deserve to enjoy full democracy and human rights in line with our principles of ubuntu and human solidarity. The ANC is historically, and still remains, an internationalist revolutionary movement.
To quote Fidel Castro: “Being internationalist is paying our debt to humanity”. In November 1994 Fidel Castro went on to say:
We have shown solidarity with the world. It’s not our task now to talk about this solidarity. As far as our solidarity is concerned, we should do the most and talk the least. For us solidarity and internationalism are a matter of principle and a sacred one at that.
Let us – that is us as South African citizens and the ANC in particular – allow the armchair critics to do what they do best and we must continue the work tirelessly to achieve a better Africa and a better world. We have an opportunity as we speak now to do that. The SACP calls upon the country and its leaders to focus on the plight of the poor in the coming period.
In particular, the reds demand the removal of all South Africans from the credit bureau as a once-off amnesty. [Applause.] You are allowed to do that. Millions of our citizens are denied the access to participate meaningfully in the economic life of our country because of this black listing. Viva amabovu! [Viva SACP!]
The central task ahead of the ANC and its cadreship in 2007 and beyond is the alleviation of poverty and its ultimate eradication. The ANC’s January statement enjoin us to work tirelessly with our alliance partner and progressive forces to fight poverty, unemployment, crime, HIV and Aids, racism and sexism in the same manner as we fought against apartheid.
Let us all accept this challenge and soldier on. Hon members will be going to their various constituencies in the next few days to participate in human rights activities. And also, in April, when we will be in recess, we will celebrate our freedom and May Day. So, I wish you well in all of these activities. Go there and spread the message of hope for our country. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr A C STEYN: Chairperson and hon members, when the basic services that the government is obligated to provide are not delivered to the poor, it is not just their government policy failure or a waste of taxpayers’ money; it is an infringement of their fundamental human rights.
It is so because the Constitution requires the state to promote and fulfil the rights in Chapter 2 thereof, our Bill of Rights. The socioeconomic rights are a special category of rights. They are not full rights, like your political rights or your right to free speech, but rights of access. The state has a duty to realise them progressively. They are justifiable, but they cannot be enforced in the same way that other rights may be enforced.
It is for that reason that the Constitution places a special duty on the SA Human Rights Commission to monitor and assess the progressive realisation of socioeconomic rights.
It is as a result of that task that the SA Human Rights Commission, after concluding its sixth report on economic and social rights, now intends to advise government, especially in the provincial sphere, that its delivery failures constitute an infringement of fundamental rights.
The Constitution requires that the SA Human Rights Commission must ask the relevant government departments, in both the national and provincial spheres, what they have done to realise the rights to housing, health, food, water, social security, education and the environment each year. The response from government departments, however, has been problematic. At the time of the conclusion of the fifth economic and social rights report, the SAHRC reviewed the low response rate from certain organs of state, the poor quality, and questioned the reliability of certain information. It even went so far as to suggest that perhaps its interaction with departments should be abandoned altogether in favour of fieldwork monitoring.
However, the Constitution says it must ask departments for information, and rightly so. The SAHRC attributes the poor response to lack of capacity, amongst other things. It says that there are no mechanisms and there is little commitment in place within the organs of state together to classify and store information.
The SA Human Rights Commission will now assist the departments to develop appropriate systems to capture and manage information that the SAHRC itself will ultimately request from them. Is it any wonder, therefore, that delivery does not take place when the departments responsible are not keeping track themselves?
Delivery in the sphere of socioeconomic rights should take place primarily at the provincial level, where Parliament sends the vast bulk of taxpayers’ money every year when we vote for the Budget and the division of state revenue.
The SA Human Rights Commission has now decided to bring the unsatisfactory situation to the direct attention of the Premiers, and to advise them that, judged on human rights standards, non-delivery is unacceptable.
In addition to this, it intends to engage directly with the provincial legislatures. This, I believe, is an excellent approach, for it is a fact that our provincial legislatures do not legislate that much, but they do specialise in oversight. This they do very well, judged on the record of the official opposition MPLs at least.
It is a regrettable fact that the National Assembly does not appear to do justice to the SA Human Rights Commission’s work in general, and its socioeconomic reports in particular.
The SA Human Rights Commission appears before a number of portfolio committees, which ought to profit greatly from its socioeconomic work, but these appearances are said to be haphazard and unco-ordinated from its point of view, while the National Assembly as a whole does not appear to engage the commission’s reports at all.
We have at our disposal the work not only of the SA Human Rights Commission, but also that of other Chapter 9 institutions like the Auditor- General. The DA now annually analyses the audits of provincial departments provided by the Auditor-General, and draws public attention to trends and patterns. Alarmingly, the latest analysis of the nine departments of health, show the large-scale mismanagement of tendering and procurement procedures. In disturbingly many cases, this appeared to swing bids in favour of departmental employees or their associates. In our analysis, there is a crisis of deteriorating financial probity and corruption which, in addition to the poor management we highlighted last year, was causing many provincial hospitals to fail to provide a decent, acceptable service.
All this happens while the SA Human Rights Commission reminds us that the population dependent on public health services is currently estimated at 80% of all South Africans, and growing, and that we would be well advised - economically and in every other respect - to honour our national and international obligations on the right to health.
We must ensure equal access to quality health services and “we”, hon members, means us too. If socioeconomic delivery is not taking place, that is a failure, not only of the ANC-led government - as we are so often reminded - but also of the institutions which are supposed to hold government to account. That, hon members, is us. I thank you. [Applause.]
Prince N E ZULU: Mr Chairperson, twelve years since South Africa achieved democracy, the harsh laws that denied so many the right to basic human rights have gone, but many more challenges remain for us today.
The realisation of strong human rights principles, the fight against poverty, including the fight for a safer South Africa, is a fight that we must wage with diligence and vigour, and one that we cannot afford to simply continue fighting half-heartedly.
South Africa has one of the few constitutions in the world that include economic and social rights in its Bill of Rights. Some of these rights are: the right to housing, the right to basic health care, the right to adequate food and the right to education.
Human rights are those basic and fundamental rights to which every person, for the simple reason of being human, is entitled. Yet, so many people in South Africa are denied these basic rights due to extreme poverty. People who don’t have access to the labour market and little or no basic access to services and resources today, nearly 13 years since the dawn of democracy, remain severely disempowered.
A recent report by the United States Department of State Human Rights reported that the magnitude of crime in South Africa should be considered a human rights violation. Among the crimes it notes as human rights violation, are over 23 500 children raped and over 1 000 children murdered. The report states that the number of violations can be laid at government’s door because it fails to provide a safe and secure climate.
The SA Human Rights Commission will celebrate Human Rights Day 2007 by embarking on a week-long Human Rights Week campaign, which we all applaud. On its website, the SA Human Rights Commission states:
This year, the commission has identified the destructive effects of crime on South African society as needing immediate and urgent attention. Due to its cross-cutting nature, the impact of crime is felt across all socioeconomic fields, jeopardising the universal benefits of the Bill of Rights.
Most importantly, it says: “The achievement of equality, eradication of poverty and the deepening of democracy cannot be realised in the context of the high crime rate.”
Today, in remembrance and honour of those who lost their lives during the Sharpeville uprising, we must renew all efforts to promote human rights and intensify the struggle against poverty. What we see in Zimbabwe today is what we saw in Sharpeville in 1960. Such inhuman violations must never set foot on African soil again. Otherwise, we will be judged as spectators when our neighbour’s house is on fire. I thank you, Sir. [Applause.]
Mr G T MADIKIZA: Chairperson, hon members, promoting human rights and fighting poverty are both very important objectives. Therefore, it is quite ridiculous to suggest that these important matters can be constructively discussed in 60 seconds. What, indeed, is the purpose of the debate and of the parliamentary theme “Let’s deepen the debate”?
There is really no point in cramming a few platitudes into one minute and then calling that a proper engagement with the topic. The ANC knows its own views. Why should it get vast portions of each so-called debate in order to listen to itself and to repeat itself? The point of the debate is obviously to hear alternative views, but these can never be properly expressed, or seriously considered, if they are crammed into brief sound bytes.
Indeed, it is insulting to the many people that live in poverty who also happen to represent a sizable portion of our constituency, to pretend that anything useful can be said or changed about their plight or upliftment in the space of one minute. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Mr L W GREYLING: Chairperson, let me see how I do with my sound byte. Our commitment to human rights is enshrined in our Constitution but for many of the poor and marginalised this commitment rings hollow. This commitment rings hollow for the thousands of fishing families along our coast who have been left destitute without any form of livelihood being provided for by the government.
It rings hollow for the millions of rural people who still do not enjoy the basic services of water, sanitation and electricity. It rings hollow for the one in ten children who needlessly die before their 5th birth day as a result of disease or poverty. It rings hollow for the millions of people who still live in shacks without the hope of housing being provided.
The ID believes that we need to commit ourselves to the social democratic vision contained in our Constitution and commit substantial resources to bridging the divides between what is in the Constitution and the daily reality that so many South Africans are subjected to. We need to extend the Child Support Grant to 18 years of age, implement a large-scale rural development programme, start building sustainable livelihoods and speak out forcefully against human rights abuse in the world, and then we can truly celebrate Human Rights Day in this country. [Time expired.]
Mme M L MATSEMELA: Modulasetilo, maloko a a tlotlegang a Palamente, bangwe bao ba leng teng kwa ntlo phatlhalatseng ya rona. Ke lebogela go bua mo nakong e ya meriti e seng ka nako ya mampa a kolobe, gonne moAforika ga a nke a di atlhatlha sentle ga e le ka nako ya mampa. Fa ke bua jaana ke batla ke tlisa mo phatlhalatseng gore fa e ka bo e se ka chatara ya batho, eo e kileng ya tlhomamisiwa ka ngwaga wa 1955 kwa Kliptown, re ka bo re sa fitlhelela diphitlhelelo dingwe go akaretsa le ditshwanelo tsa botho.
Ditshwanelo tse, ke tse di ungwetseng mongwe le mongwe. Ga ya ka ya nna motse re feta wa balala, wa baruakgomo re tsena nao jaaka mo nakong e e fetileng. Go ya ka karolo ya bobedi ya Molaotheo wa Aforika Borwa, batho botlhe ba na le tekatekano. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[Ms M L MATSEMELA: Chairperson, hon members, as well as those in our public gallery, it is a pleasure to deliver my speech in the afternoon, but not at midday because an African cannot apply his mind well during lunch. Let me bring your attention to the fact that if it was not because of the Freedom Charter, which was adopted in 1995 at Kliptown, we wouldn’t have achieved some of the things we have, which include human rights.
These rights benefited everybody, unlike in the past where they were only enjoyed by certain people, and excluded others. According to Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa everyone is equal before the law.]
Speaking on the occasion of the 95th Anniversary of our movement, the ANC, at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga this year, President Mbeki, quoting the resolutions of the 2005 National General Council, had the following to say: The central challenge our movement faces in the second decade of freedom is to defeat poverty and substantially reduce the level of unemployment. This means that the ANC government must develop a coherent development strategy, identifying where we need to move to and what strategic leaps we need to get there.
Undoubtedly, today’s topic could never have been more relevant. Further, the ANC’s draft Strategy and Tactics, which is being work-shopped with all our constitutional structures on an ongoing basis, says:
The National Democratic Revolution, NDR, seeks to ensure that every South African, especially the poor, experiences an improving quality of life. It seeks to bring the best traditions of a developmental state, represented by an efficient state that guides national economic development and mobilises domestic and foreign capital to achieve this goal.
This perspective is indicative of the ANC’s long-term commitment to the resolution of the scourge of poverty, unemployment and other social ills guided by people-driven and people-centred principles.
To fight poverty, the ANC-led government is guided by numerous policies and a sound fiscal regime that not only provides for well over 11 million citizens through social grants, 7 million of whom are children supported by a Budget of R62,4 billion, but continues to employ all the wisdom in the world in order to ensure the human rights of all South Africans, especially socioeconomic rights.
This means that grants constitute more than two thirds of the R89 billion budget of social development. Government has already started, through National Treasury, to establish a poverty line that will be used as a measure of the incidence of poverty so that we do not use inappropriate instruments in determining poverty in our society.
Furthermore, more efforts are being made to oil the wheels of economic growth so that there can be development and redistribution at an accelerated pace. Women and children bear the brunt of poverty in our society and it is important closely to monitor the implementation of socioeconomic rights such as water, sanitation, education, health, housing, social security and food.
While our Constitution says these must be realised progressively, there can be no doubt that government does not seek to hide behind this proviso. Instead, the more the fiscus expands, the more the benefit to the population, especially those that are underprivileged. An example is the nonpayment of tax by all those who earn R3 583 per month, thus giving back R8,4 billion back to the taxpayer.
I am not unmindful of those who have no means of income at all, the majority of whom are women. It is for this reason that I wish to join in with all those in our country who have called for the sustenance of the Extended Public Works Programme and the transfer of skills. The poor must be empowered to take care of their own lives. Nothing is as emancipating as the ability to throw off the yoke of poverty and ignorance.
No doubt that we will take forward our struggle against poverty only if we understand that human rights are indivisible and interrelated.
Incidentally, the Nobel Laureate for Economics, Amartya Sen, defines poverty as: “The lack of certain capabilities, the core of which would include education, food security, water, social security, health and shelter.”
We must continue the fight against poverty across all spheres of government, in all the departments and other organs of state. Necessarily the women of our country, who constitute over 50% of the population, must be at the head of this struggle. We believe that women’s rights are human rights.
Ke ka moo, ke ratang gore bomma, a re se e tlogeleng go e tshwara ka fa bogaleng, gonne mosadi ke mooka o nyaa le mariga. [I would therefore like to encourage women not to stop intervening, as we usually do, to save the situation.] In conclusion, six days before the celebration the Human Rights Day, we call on all South Africans to mobilise themselves into a strong battalion that will persistently and consistently push back the frontiers of poverty in order to ensure sustained development of humanity. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr S N SWART: Chairperson, the critical question is whether the state is succeeding in its constitutional obligations towards the progressive realisation of socioeconomic rights, particularly in the fight against poverty.
The ACDP believes that the greatest challenge in delivering services to the poor lays not so much with government policies, but in the implementation of such policies. This was confirmed by the 2002 Taylor report, which stated that: “The barriers to access, especially in regard to the poor, remains administrative and institutional.”
The ACDP appreciates that some 12 million citizens now receive social grants and that a comprehensive social welfare pension system is proposed. Presently there are sufficient funds for housing, education and health, yet hugely inadequate capacity to actually deliver services due to corruption, patronage and a shortage of skills.
Home Affairs is a good example as it plays a central role in enabling access to public services. Its services fall far short of basic, acceptable standards. Unless urgent corrective steps are instituted in this and other departments and municipalities, the low level of public service delivery will frustrate the state’s attempts to meet its constitutional obligations in the fight to alleviate poverty in our country. Thank you.
Mr M T LIKOTSI: Chairperson, in this 37th anniversary of Sharpeville/Langa Day, the PAC is disgusted that the political parties gathered here are shy to mention that the PAC spearheaded that campaign on that particular day.
The 21st of March 1960 was a day when the PAC of Azania launched the Anti- Pass Campaign in terms of which African people were to leave their passes at home and surrender themselves for arrest at the nearest police station. The slogan for the campaign was, “No bail, no defence, no fine”.
Lest we forget, on that fateful day – 21 March 1960 - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and the PAC leaders surrendered themselves to the police for refusing to carry passes. Despite that, Sobukwe had written to the Police Commissioner that the campaign was non-violent, Mr Blanché.
The police responded with brutality, killing 68 people in Sharpeville and 28 people in Langa, here in Cape Town. Lest we forget, the spilling of the blood of those innocent sons and daughter of Africa, the Sharpeville/Langa Massacre was a turning point of our liberation struggle in this country. The blood of those sons and daughters of the soil and the blood of many martyrs of our liberation struggle will never be left unnoticed.
During this Human Rights Day, the PAC of Azania is calling for the release of all members of Apla - Azanian People’s Liberation Army - political prisoners.
It will be a great act of human rights by the President, hon Thabo Mbeki, and the ANC-led government to release members of Apla and all other freedom fighters incarcerated in the prisons of South Africa. The PAC has been making this call and we are still repeating this call today. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms S RAJBALLY: Thank you, Chairperson. As a democracy governed by constitutional supremacy, which enshrines human rights and is central to our governance and existence through the Bill of Rights, a duty is incumbent on the government and every citizen to celebrate, enjoy and frolic in the rights that our freedom and liberation has given us.
The MF however finds a realisation of importance each and every individual has to play in this development. Liberation and growth is fundamental to meeting our goals. As democracy, we remember our horrid past of apartheid, as we look at the war-infested countries and human atrocities around the globe, hoping that they too shall have peace, freedom and respect for human life.
We pray that they too shall live in a nation of rainbow colours, cultures, religions, sex, shapes and sizes. We, however, wonder how many South Africans in reality are aware of the rights that we have in South Africa. The levels of crime, which many attribute to poverty, show a clear disrespect for human life.
Over the past few days news has been dominated by reports of murder of little girls, not to mention the growth in statistics of human trafficking.
Liberties are said to allow people to enjoy their lives and to maintain a harmonious state, but the reality is that we have evil people in society who find it right to rob us of this.
I cannot imagine what goes through a victim’s mind in those last few breaths. But it is worse when I think of what must constitute the mind of a perpetrator when committing the crime. The sheer ability to take a life makes me feel so ill. And the punishment that these families have to endure for the rest of their lives makes the sentence we legislate seems a day in the park for the criminals. We have to tackle our crime situation in South Africa. We are a government of the people by the people, and the people have spoken. They do not want crime; they want us to act.
The MF calls for the recognition of the call of the nation an immediate action to stamp out crime; enforce punishment equivalent to the pain and suffering of the victims and the loved ones. Human rights are, and should be, a counterfoil in every sector of our daily lives. But discipline of an unruly person who jeopardise our democracy is unacceptable. Our Constitution certainly cannot shield our doom. The MF celebrates human rights and condemns all forms of atrocity. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr L M GREEN: Chairperson, the FD believes that quiet diplomacy on human rights violations provokes other social ills such as poverty and instability. Because of the human rights violations in Zimbabwe the poor of that society are crossing over to our border despite the possibility of repatriation. There are hundreds of children in their early teens who are running away to South Africa looking for food, employment and a decent home. Poverty is a violation of human rights.
In the dark days of apartheid we did not welcome quiet diplomacy to bring apartheid to its knees. Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, has now become the pariah state because of its violations of human rights. However, their fighting back for justice and to have food on their table should be our fight as well.
Our fight against oppression has not been achieved through quiet diplomacy, but through the sacrificial will of the people, with the help of international support and to labour for a society built on universal human rights.
The same universal human rights apply to the Zimbabwean people. That includes their politicians. Those rights cannot be applied selectively to only those in power who want to keep the little they now have in the hands of the few. The redistribution of human rights and economic resources is what we called for.
In conclusion, we are calling for human rights for all the citizens of Africa now. Thank you.
Mr B M SOLO: Chairperson and hon members, more than 53 years ago, South Africans from all walks of life resolved in Kliptown that the people shall share in the country’s wealth. This resolution was aimed at dealing decisively with the question of poverty, inequality and extreme underdevelopment in some parts of our country, and it becomes more relevant when you address such issues, particularly in rural areas, and its communities.
Soon we will celebrate the Human Rights Day. In our celebrations it will be important to promote human rights as tools to intensify the struggle against poverty, particularly as it affects our rural poor masses, of whom the majority live in conditions and an environment of abject poverty.
Human rights should be used as tools to rescue our people from the burden of poverty they experience in rural areas due to underdevelopment. Lest we forget, our country is ravaged with stark inequality and poverty by design and those who bear the brunt, unfortunately, is the large majority of black South Africans. Most of them live in rural areas, which in the past were referred to as Bantustans or homelands, designed by the arch architect of apartheid, former Prime Minister, Dr H F Verwoerd, who, in his own words said:
We are giving the Bantu, as our wards, every opportunity in their areas to move along the road of development by which they can progress in accordance with their ability.
These words were said within a context of only having blacks as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as well as in terms of the Group Areas Act. In this new democracy, which many people fought for, and even died for, with others maimed, it is clearly stated in the Constitution that the people will have equal human rights - in terms of Chapter 2 of the Constitution. The challenge we have in our action is whether indeed black people in particular realise these rights in their quest for a better life for all. For, according to Jill Natrass, in a book Up Against the Fence:
The growing special dislocation between capital that was being invested in the economy and the settlement patterns of the population meant that the capital stock became increasingly a source of wealth for those people who were fortunate enough to have access to it and conversely a source of poverty for those who were excluded.
That is my emphasis.
At the same time, the continued of the black group from the political process rendered them politically unable to force thorough a reallocation either of additional education resources to increase their access to higher paid jobs in the modern sector of factors, inputs specifically designed to upgrade the black rural areas.
I cannot agree more. This is a known fact, but we seem to forget what we have gone through and what we have been subjected to. Of paramount importance is that this challenge should not be limited to government only but to all South Africans, particularly the affluent, economically resourced, section of our society. Abazalwa benama account emabhange abeke izimali ezinkulu bathi zitshaliwe. Namanje badla baze bakhohlwe ukuthi kukhona abalambileyo. [I mean those who were born with huge wads of cash in bank accounts claim that they are invested. And they spend this money and even forget that there are hungry people out there.]
The business community, banks and internationals have a role to play in the creation of a caring society.
Yini indaba kungabibikho amabhange ezindaweni zasemakhaya kanti amabhange ahlale eqhosha ngenzuzo enkulukazi njalo njalo? Yini kungabibikho zitolo emakhaya kanti izitolo ezikhona zihlale ziqhayisa ngenzuzo enkulu njalo ekupheleni konyaka? Abanye babantu abathola umhlomulo bahleli nathi lapha. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Why, for instance, are there no banks in rural areas, because the banks are always declaring huge returns? Why are there no shops in rural areas as they always declare huge returns at the end of each year? Some of the people who benefit from all this are with us here.]
Our Constitution dictates, in Chapter 2 of the Bill of Rights that everyone should have equal rights. It becomes imperative to spell out some few rights that would assist us in the creation of a caring society: Equality; human dignity – everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected; the right to life; the right to property; freedom of movement; the right to housing – no one may be evicted from their home or have their home demolished without an order of the court made after considering all the relevant facts.
Sibona abantu bekhishwa ezindlini izinkantolo kodwa ubone ukuthi cha awuhlonishwa lo Somqulu Wamalungelo abantu esinawo, ngoba vele abantu laba esikhathini esiphambili ababekade bengamakhosi, bekugwebela ukuhamba emgwaqweni. Kufanele siyibheke le nto ukuthi singakwenza kanjani ukubeka amakhosi sicabange ukuthi azosilungisela nathi sithole amantshontsho ngoba nawo afuna ukudla la mantshontsho futhi ningakaqali nina ukudla la mantshontsho. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[We see people evicted from their houses through court orders and that is evident that our Bill of Rights is not respected because these are the very people who were the bosses even during the previous dispensation. They would even punish you just for walking on the road. We have to address this thing and be very careful when we give them certain positions because we cannot expect them to do what we want them to do when they have their own agendas.]
All these rights are an attempt to intensify the struggle against poverty. This is the key objective of the ANC government – working together to fight poverty for a better life for all. Against this background, in the past we have seen a violent suppression and a violation of basic human rights that led to forced removals in terms of the Group Areas Act, forced cheap labour and job reservation in terms of the Job Reservation Act; inferior segregated education in terms of the Bantu Education Act; creation of certain areas as reserves where surplus labour and undesirable people were dumped and hidden in terrible conditions of poverty, areas where there has been no economic development plan, no infrastructure of any kind in terms of the Influx Control Act - these areas were commonly known as homelands or Bantustans or, some, independent national states.
An unhealthy unsustainable situation was created. Our people, particularly black people, led by the people’s organisation, the ANC, struggled against this injustice to an extent, together with their leaders, that they were prepared to sacrifice their lives. Therefore, the Bill of Rights in our Constitution should be used as a tool to intensify our struggle against poverty, particularly in rural areas.
Our task, as South Africans, is to ensure that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected. This can only be achieved if we ensure, amongst a whole range of other rights, that no one may be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour.
All of us need to work together in the spirit of Batho Pele to correct the injustices of the past, particularly business and social service providers. The academics should also have a change of mindset and work towards contributing in the fight against poverty by ensuring that basic human rights are observed.
Uhulumeni emzamweni yakhe uyazama ukulungisela abantu ukuthi bathole konke okufanele bakuthole kodwa siyazi ukuthi amandla kahulumeni awekho kangako. Siyacela kongxiwankulu laba abanezimali ezisemaceleni nezinye ezikwamanye amazwe basondele ukuzosiza ukuthi silwe nobuphofu.
Sesizibekile izakhiwo zomasipala ukwenzela ukuthi abantu bakwazi ukubambisana nathi ngoba ngaphandle kokusebenzisana nabo, ngeke sikwazi ukwenza lo msebenzi ngendlela efanelekile. Siyacela laba bantu babambe iqhaza entuthukweni yabo. Siyilungisile nemithetho ukwenzela ukusebenza ngokubambisana ikakhulukazi ezindaweni zasemakhaya, phakathi kwamakhosi nomasipala.
Siyanxusa nasezisebenzini zikahulumeni ukuthi ake ziyeke ukungabi nanhlonipho, nokungabi nazwelo, nokuphatha kabi abantu bethu. Into abayifundiswa yilowaya baba engimbize ngegama ukuthi yangena egazini ukuthi baphathe kabi abantu bethu. Benza leziya zinto ezazenziwa ukhomishana.
Abanye bayakhuluma lapha bathi uhulumeni ayikho into ayenzile. Bakhohliwe ukuthi iminyaka engamakhulu amathathu besiphansi kwengcindezelo enzima kodwa kufanele bafundiswe ukuze babone ngoba banamehlo nje ababoni kunjalo nje bahleli lapha eKapa ezindlini ezinkulu eziphindwe kathathu.
Abake baphume baye ngaphandle baye kobona ukuthi kwenzekani ukuze basize nabo. Shona emakhaya, uzobona ukuthi ugesi sesiwufakile, amanzi ahlanzekile sesiwafakile. Lona umgamu esesiwuhambile, imigwaqo siyayilungisa, imitholampilo siyakhile, izikole sizakhile ngayo le mali encane enye eniyifihlayo ukuze singakwazi nokuthatha intela kuyo.
Kubalulekile ukuthi abafowethu mhlawumbe beze lapha kuKhongolose ngoba ababoni ngale ndlela esibona ngayo ukuze sikwazi ukuthi sihambe nabo bakwazi ukubona. Kodwa-ke futhi abafuni ukubona ngoba bayazi ukuthi uma bengabona ngapha namehlo azovuleka babone nabo ukuthi le nto abayenza ayilungile. Lokhu kungaholela ekutheni bagcine sebebona kufanele bahlephule kulokhu abakuthatha ngendluzula, babele abanye abantu. Ngiyavumelana nobaba uZulu, ukuthi mhlawumbe intuthuko ihamba kancane, kodwa baba siyayenza imizamo ukuthi intuthuko iqhubeke. Siyacela-ke ikakhulukazi lapho KwaZulu-Natali ukuthi amakhosi nohulumeni wasemakhaya ophethe babambisane nathi ukulungisa le ngxaki.
Abanye bathi uhulumeni akaphumeleli. Angeke-ke size siziphendule lezi zinto ezishiwo yilaba bantu ngoba abanye babo bama ezindaweni zokushumayela emasontweni beshumayeza abantu abalambile, abahluphekayo, abaziniki nesikhathi sokuthi babasize babone ukuthi bayazithola nezinhlelo ezibekwe uhulumeni.
Siyayizwa i-PAC. Sisebenzile nayo kakhulu futhi ngizwile ukuthi ike yaphendulwa leyo nto lapha. Kwakulungiselwa ukuthi simashe sonke ngendlela efanele kodwa nina nabona ukuthi manisheshe niyokwenza lokho. Siyakubonga ngoba lokho kwasiza, kodwa kuseyiwona lowo mzabalazo wokuthi asiqhubeke siye phambili. Bekuyoba kuhle uma beningabuyela ekhaya ukuze mhlawumbe sithole amandla adlula lawa esinawo.
Ubaba uGreyling we-ID ukhala ngabantu abaziphilisa ngokubamba izinhlanzi nangezinye izinto. Sithi-ke thina : abanobuchwepheshe nolwazi mabasize. I- ACDP ikhala ngombiko kaTaylor. Iyakhohlwa ukuthi le khomishana yabekwa yilo hulumeni ukuze isisize ukuthi sibheke kabanzi ukuthi kujule kangakanani ukuhlupheka kwabantu bethu.
Ibekelwe ukuthi sibe nendlela esemqoka necacile kithina ukusiza abantu ngayo. Uyasho ukuthi izinga lokuletha izidingo liphansi. Mhlawumbe uqinisile, kodwa kuhle akhumbule ukuthi ukuthatha kwethu umbuso, sathatha yonke le mfucuza eyayisicindezela, savumelana nani sicabanga ukuthi nineqiniso nizosisiza ukulwa nale mpi kanti ningamaxoki, ningama menemene, nizoyinyathela le nqola ingayi phambili.
Ngicela into eyodwa: Sideleleni sizenzele into yethu futhi sizimisele ukuthi sizoyenza siphumelele noma ikanjani. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The government, in it’s efforts, is trying all it can to provide services to the people but we, of course, understand that the government does not have enough resources. We appeal to the capitalists who invested their monies in other countries to join us and help to fight poverty.
We have created municipal structures so that people can work with us because without co-operating with them, we will not be able to do this job properly. We urge people to take part in their development. We have also amended certain pieces of legislation to ease partnerships, particularly in rural areas, between the traditional leaders and municipalities.
We also urge public servants to stop being disrespectful, arrogant and discourteous towards the public. This thing of ill-treating our people was instilled in them by that gentleman whose name I mentioned earlier on. They are doing those things that were done by the Commissioner. Some people here claim that the government is doing nothing. They have since forgotten that we were under oppression for 300 years, but we must educate them because they have eyes, yet they do not see, and they stay here in Cape Town in huge houses that are three times bigger than some.
These people must go out there to the people and see what is happening there so that they can also help. We have at least installed electricity in remote villages, and we have given people clean water. That is the progress we have made thus far, we are maintaining roads, we have built clinics, and we are building schools with the limited money that we have because the rest of the money you have hidden somewhere so that it cannot be taxed.
It is important for our brothers to join the ANC because they do not seem to see things the same way we do and we will walk with them so that they too can see. Furthermore, they don’t want to see because they know that if they can see this side, their eyes will be opened and they will understand that what they did was not good. This can make them see that what they took by force should be brought forward so that it could be shared with other people.
I echo the sentiments of Mr Zulu that the progress, as far as the development is concerned, is slow, but, maybe, sir, we are making efforts so that the development could move a little faster. We appeal, particularly there in KwaZulu-Natal, that the traditional leaders and the local government would work with us in addressing this problem. Some are saying the government does not succeed. We cannot comment on these things simply because some of the people who say these things stand in pulpits in churches and preach to hungry people and the poor. They don’t even have the time to help and see to it that they get programmes to be introduced by the government.
We understand the PAC and we have worked with them before. I have heard that this point was responded to in this House. We were all preparing to have a lawful march, but you decided to do it before us. We appreciate that because it helped, but the struggle continues and we are going forward. It would be good though if you returned home so that we can be more powerful than we are now.
Mr Greyling of the ID is lamenting the conditions of the fishermen and other things. What we are saying is that those who have skills and knowledge should assist. The ACDP is unhappy with the Taylor report. It forgets that this commission was appointed by this government to assist in evaluating the seriousness of poverty amongst our people.
The commission is in place for us so that we can have a clear programme to help the people. It states that the level of service delivery is poor. Maybe it is correct, but remember that when we took over, this government inherited all the bad that was used to oppress us, and we even agreed on certain things with you because we assumed that you are honest, that you will help us in fighting this war, but you are hypocrites, impostors, you stand in the way of progress.
I am pleading for one thing from you: Just simply allow us to do our own thing and we are positive that we will do it successfully no matter what. [Thank you.]]
Debate concluded.
DEBATE ON FIFTIETH CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF GHANA
Mrs M A A NJOBE: Madam Deputy Speaker, I feel honoured to participate, and, in fact, to open this debate on Ghana’s 50th independence anniversary, particularly because Ghana was my first country of exile in the late 1950s.
When Dr Nkrumah, who was born in 1912, which is the same year as the birth of the ANC, returned from abroad to the then Gold Coast colony to take up the responsibility as Secretary-General of an organisation called the United Gold Coast Convention, UGCC, promoted by political giants such as Dr J B Danquah, he brought with him not only his youthful vibrancy but also a considerable wealth of political understanding, experience and leadership – capabilities that proved decisive in propelling the then Gold Coast struggle to achieve independence as Ghana. The UGCC was later to become the CPP – the Convention People’s Party – under Dr Nkrumah. Having stayed in America for ten years and about two to three years in England, partly studying to expand his knowledge, Dr Nkrumah had developed great interest in, and had interacted broadly with ideas of African Pan- Africanism as espoused by Afro-American leaders of political thought on Africa. These included such leaders as Marcus Garvey and Dr W E B du Bois. These and other ideas were propagated with great vigour by the CPP, leading to Ghana’s attainment of independence at 12 midnight on 6 May 1957.
Madam Deputy Speaker, Ghana’s independence ushered in a new epoch on the continent which was to restore the dignity of the African people, and firmly cut ties with a miserable past, characterised by centuries of slavery, persecution, exploitation, racial discrimination and negative perceptions, all advocated and practiced by colonial masters.
From the start Dr Nkrumah put Ghana positively on the world map as a country of full promise as he stood steadfastly for the overthrowing of colonialism and all its offshoots, not only in Ghana but elsewhere in the world and especially in Africa.
Because of the values Dr Nkrumah believed in and stood for, namely unity and solidarity, almost immediately after independence Ghana organised and hosted the All Africa Conference, the first conference of the then independent states attended by countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia. Delegates from liberation movements in Africa participated, including the ANC, which was led by the late ANC President O R Tambo; the PAC was there, KANU of Kenya, liberation movements from the then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and Tanganyika, now Tanzania. The impact of African Pan-Africanism as propagated at that conference became clearly visible in policies subsequently pursued by such African leaders as Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Dr Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and is actually visible in our own country’s foreign policy today.
Carrying out its obligations and fulfilling its promises to the people of Ghana, Dr Nkrumah’s government quickly set out to remedy disparities entrenched by centuries of colonial rule. The challenge then was to fight poverty and underdevelopment. Dr Nkrumah had a clear vision as to where he wanted to take Ghana. He always proclaimed that the government wanted to see every Ghanaian liberated, even in the remotest areas of the country.
Thus the government wasted no time putting in place programmes that would not only give political or cultural independence but also economic independence. Putting up infrastructureF, such as roads, schools, including tertiary institutions that did not exist before, was made a priority. For example, in colonial days roads connecting the main cities in Ghana were very narrow, a mere strip of tar enabling only one car at a time to pass. Should there be an oncoming car, one of the cars had to give way to allow the other one to pass. Such was the state of road infrastructure passed on to Ghanaians by the British. But by 1960, only three years after independence, the government had succeeded in constructing a network of roads befitting any country proud of its independence.
School buildings of high quality started springing up, ensuring that every village in the rural area did not just have a primary school, but a high school as well. All high schools were of the same standard; it did not matter where they were located. I remember when we visited one of our friends who was teaching in a new school out in the bush and suddenly we came across this new high school with all the necessary infrastructure, including science laboratories, fully equipped libraries, though at that time there was still only one class, the Form 1 class. But since the school was to develop and go up to the sixth form, everything was already in place. And that is how Nkrumah built the schools, and such was the foresight and emphasis placed on education as the basis for development in Ghana.
In colonial times, there was only one university for the whole of English- speaking West Africa. That was Fouragh Bay located in Sierra Leone. But by 1959/1960 the Lagon University, the first in Ghana, had already been built. It was up and running and operating fully. A modern comprehensive technikon – also a first in Ghana – had been constructed and was located in Kumasi in central Ghana. New vocational training schools, putting emphasis on agricultural production and the fishing industry, were located in various villages throughout the country. This was an elaborate development programme aimed at absorbing the youth who did not make it to institutions of higher learning. In other words, it was also a way of preventing crime by ensuring that the youth were actually occupied, doing something.
Ghana’s trade with overseas countries had been limited due to the lack of a deep harbour that could accommodate large ships. But, again, by 1960 the Tema Harbour at Accra was already functional, enabling easier transportation of Ghana’s main export and foreign exchange-earning products such as cocoa, timber and gold.
To create more jobs and eradicate poverty, the Volta Dam Project was conceived. This was to be established for the large-scale exploitation and development of aluminium and the hydro-electric power in the Volta River. Through this ambitious project the government hoped that the whole area covering the Accra plains would fall under irrigation to boost agricultural production and that the country would be covered by an electric grid that would foster the development of large-scale industry to a great degree. The consequence of all these economic activities that were planned, as was envisaged, would be an increase in the national revenue. So, you can see a lot of thinking has gone into this planning.
But as we all know this project, in particular the Volta Dam project, was not to see the light of the day, not with the United Kingdom and Canada, as co-financiers developing cold feet and abandoning the Ghana government. However, the final nail to ensure that the project did not succeed was put in by an American-sponsored coup which deposed Dr Nkrumah in 1966, thus putting Ghana way back, where it had started.
As we celebrate the 50th independence anniversary of Ghana, it is imperative that we emphasise and appreciate Ghana’s leadership and efforts to liberate both its people and those of Africa as a whole. Ghana’s independence contributed much to sub-Saharan Africa’s political struggle for freedom.
Some of these contributions can be summed up as follows: Firstly, Ghana led the way to prove in a concrete manner that colonies in Africa could attain independent statehood. Secondly, Ghana provided valuable stimulation on Pan- African ideas and goals, with Ghana under Dr Nkrumah being the propelling engine of those ideas. Thirdly, it reaffirmed the dignity of the African, giving a boost to his self-confidence and identity. Fourthly, Ghana’s independence aroused African political consciousness more wildly and vigorously, with intense inspiration to the struggles for the attainment of freedom and statehood. Fifthly, Ghana’s independence gave an impetus to ideas, concepts and efforts to promote African unity and solidarity. Sixthly, Ghana’s independence prepared the way to the founding of the Organisation for African Unity, the OAU, which gave rise to today’s African Union.
Today’s Ghana, under the leadership of President John Kufuor continues to reclaim its leadership position and its leadership role in Africa. For example, Ghana was the first country to submit itself to the African Peer Review Mechanism, the APRM. They sometimes regard themselves as always the first. I think I agree. I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]
Mr W J SEREMANE: Hon Madam Deputy Speaker and hon Members of Parliament, Ghana is this pioneering country, championing not only her independence, but blazing the lonely trail, so to say, for the emancipation of other African countries that were to follow, for the realisation of the total liberation of the continent of Africa is indeed an historic event never to be rewritten in a different way.
Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, has, like many of us on this African continent, a long and painful litany of colonial history and blatant if not brutal political economic oppression, let alone the degradation of a people by those who are powerful.
In the entire human history, there cannot be any people who would take kindly to their conquest and subjugation, even if they are less ready to retaliate against their victors or enslavers.
The vision and mere yearning for one’s freedom is the basic ingredient of a people to claim back their freedom, dignity and humanity seized by stealth or might of conquerors. Colonialism ignored the foregoing reality of human history or arrogantly thought that their happy captives were incapable of such aspirations as those that beat in the hearts of all and any freedom-loving people and this is a note that we should take when we wield power.
The first spark of conquers for freedom, in my view, was lit in the 1806 Ashanti-Fante War, which led the Fante to abandon their allegiance to the Ashanti in favour of the British; thus the element of colonial divide and rule was brought into play. This of course set in a motion of a long series of wars, in which the Ashanti tried to ward off or minimise European power in their region.
From 1826 to the 1900s, the British fought a series of wars and campaigns against the Ashanti region. By the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s, all the regions in and around the Gold Coast were consolidated, heralding in the 1956 UN plebiscite that they, these territories, become part of Ghana when the Gold Coast achieved independence, the wind of change.
The new constitution of April 29, 1954 established a Cabinet of African Ministers drawn from all African legislatures chosen by direct election. This is when Kwame Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party, the CCP, won the majority of seats in the new legislative assembly.
Two years later, Prime Minister Nkrumah’s Gold Coast government issued a White Paper categorically proposing for the then Gold Coast’s independence. The British government agreed to this proposal. By March 6, 1957, Ghana became independent to inspire a strong flame and desire for freedom on the entire continent. Nkrumah was now hailed as Osagyefo, the victorious leader. Even we, then up and coming and young lovers of freedom and democracy down south, saw Ghana as a star of hope, a clarion call to break the chains of bondage.
This era, like eras of the dawn of freedom, had its good and bad sides. There was a quest to achieve and develop Ghana into a modern, semi- industrialised unitary state. This quest in itself set in motion the seeds of tension and dissent, not that dissent should be treasonable in democracy. The Convention People’s Party’s control was challenged and criticised. The outcome of these challenges was the provision of detention without trial for five years and later for 10 years. It all sounds very familiar. Apartheid, the Zanu PF regime in Zimbabwe, Darfur, etc, the abuse of power, politely put, the arrogance of power.
In 1961 a new constitution was adopted transforming the parliamentary system to a republican form of government headed by the powerful President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Like suppression or oppression always breeding resentment and strife, the Ghanaian army and police toppled Nkrumah’s regime as, it is said assisted by the CIA. Nkrumah was accused of flagrant abuse of individual rights and liberties, corruption, dictatorial practices, coupled with the deteriorating economy. Sounds very familiar again and very close to us. How and why on earth was the star of hope to fade this way? This fateful day of 24 February 1966 was indeed a blot on the inspiring star of Africa. The rest is history, as they say.
Ghana and Africa as a whole, including the freedom-loving people of the world, have every legitimate right to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Ghana, if for anything but to rekindle that celestial star of Africa, to rise and shine once more, to pave the way forward to African unity and the overall renewal now manifesting itself as the African Renaissance, with its trust in Nepad and related endeavours, to embrace the entire continent and to take its rightful place among nations of the world.
Those who cannot learn from their own mistakes, selfishly or arrogantly are inviting peril. We congratulate, however, the pioneering spirit of Ghana and the people of Ghana and wish them well.
Last, but not least, an emerging democracy such as ours, South Africa, should avoid the retrogressive tendencies and pitfalls that the star of Africa, Ghana fell into. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr M B SKOSANA: Deputy Speaker and hon members, the freedom and independence of Ghana in 1957 inspired the leaders and people of Africa in the noblest ways any African historian can bring to mind.
The Conference of Independent African States called by Kwame Nkrumah had begun to deliberate on the political and the economic future of a free and independent African continent. The conference focused on the contribution of Africa to world peace, the total eradication of colonialism and racism, co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of good relations among free and sovereign nations, the promotion of continental peace and security, and the promotion of the political, cultural and economic wellbeing of all the people of Africa.
These were some of the salient principles that later influenced the establishment of the geo-political African entities, first the Organisation of African Unity, the OAU, and today the African Union, the AU, and its economic arm, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Nepad.
It was the same spirit that motivated the Nigerian leader Nnamdi Azikiwe to illuminate on the renascent Africa, which must embody the fundamental basis of the philosophy of the new African, characterised by, inter alia, spiritual balance, social regeneration, economic determinism, mental emancipation, and political resurgence.
It is this philosophical base that, among other positive factors, motivated President Thabo Mbeki to re-introduce in this Parliament the debate on the African Renaissance. Regrettably, the debate could neither be deepened nor sustained in this House, including civil society. There were those who perceived that as a clarion call for the rise of black nationalism, while others feared an endless criticism of the historic failures of foreign ideologies. This attitude is delaying the true psychic, cultural and economic emancipation of the black majority in this country. Without this transformation, and unlike the people of Ghana and other independent African states, the black man in South Africa is in danger of forever remaining a dispensable participant in a process of modern-day enslavement of himself and his children.
President Mbeki summed it up well when he said: “We rarely speak about change or the absence of change in our minds.” Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr G T MADIKIZA: Madam Deputy Speaker and hon members, Ghana’s independence 50 years ago marked the first important step for Africa to throw off the shackles of colonialism. In that sense, it was a triumphant occasion that still, 50 years on, should fill all of the people of the continent with joy. It marked the beginning of Africans again being in control of their own destiny. At the same time, we must remember that Ghana’s initial freedom soon presented many challenges and problems. The military coups that followed, the charges of corruption, the accusations of ethnic preferential treatment in service delivery and the distribution of national resources became setbacks.
As the years of independence progressed in Ghana, many other African states emerged from colonialism and followed a similar path of hope, and disappointment, and renewed hope, but the nations of the continent have refused to bow down and accept the afro-pessimist view of the so-called inevitability of African suffering and underdevelopment. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr L W GREYLING: President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana once said:
Africa is a paradox, which illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism. Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa’s impoverishment.
As we celebrate 50 years of Africa’s first independence, let us commit ourselves to ensuring that all Africans are liberated from neo-colonialism, war, poverty and authoritarian regimes so that the ordinary people of this continent gain control of their own destinies and immense natural resources.
Let us also remember the millions of African brothers and sisters who have needlessly died as a result of resource wars on this continent. Let us give a moment of silence to those innocent who died and continue to die in African countries like the Congo, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Burundi. I thank you.
Mr H B CUPIDO: Madam Speaker, the ACDP would like to express its heartfelt congratulations to the people of Ghana with their country’s celebration of 50 years of independence. Ghana, being one of the first African countries to obtain independence from colonial rule on the continent, at this stage of the African continent’s history, is regarded as one of the most stable countries in the West African region. This is despite the independence history of military interventions from time to time. The country has been well-governed by a multiparty democracy since the early 1990s.
Madam Speaker, the economy of Ghana is fairly stable, being the second- largest producer of cocoa in the world, together with the export of gold. It has boosted the growth of the economy in Ghana, an average of 4% per annum, with 5,8% obtained in 2005. The economic growth is further boosted by strong developments in the agriculture and construction sectors. The ACDP wishes the nation of Ghana God’s richest blessings. Thank you.
Dr S E M PHEKO: Madam Deputy Speaker, the uniqueness of Ghana’s independence is that it was the product of Pan-Africanism, which triumphed at the fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945. That congress took this resilient African political philosophy home to Africa. Pan-Africanism passed the revolutionary test, and gave classical colonialism in Africa a knockout.
Ghana, through Dr Kwame Nkrumah, spearheaded the freedom movement of Africa. He had, on 6 March 1957, declared that Ghana’s independence was nothing unless it was linked up to the total liberation of Africa. Nkrumah firmly held that political power is meaningless without economic power. He said: “In planning national development, the constant fundamental principle is the need for economic independence.”
When the imperialists and their agents overthrew Nkrumah on 24 February 1966, he had established 68 sprawling state-owned factories producing every need of the Ghanaian people. There was free education, and medical services, which made Ghana the pride of a liberated African country. The treacherous coup against Ghana was aimed at destroying true African independence and economic liberation. The traitors and their masters who overthrew Nkrumah have serious lessons for us: Never again must Africans sell their interests and future for peanuts in order to serve the interests of the former colonial masters. Izwe lethu! [Our land!] [Applause.]
Ms S RAJBALLY: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We indeed applaud and share in the … [Interjections.]
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon members, we have a choice of using plan B or going home and coming back tomorrow. We have 17 minutes left of the debate, and I am only going to ask you to please stop laughing at plan B. It is aimed at releasing you to go home.
Business suspended at 17:37 and resumed at 17:39.
Ms S RAJBALLY: Madam Deputy Speaker, we indeed applaud and share in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Ghana. Ghana, which is certainly one of the most stable democracies in Africa, has come a long way, and like South Africa, however, faces similar challenges such as poverty, unemployment, skills shortages, to name a few.
The realisation that our local supply of qualified persons is shipping off for opportunities in Europe and elsewhere is a harsh reality. We need to ask ourselves why. Why is the continent of Europe or other states a more attractive investment for our graduates? Our growth and development is dependent on our graduates, our skilled artisans and our people. The potential for Africa’s greatest needs to be realised is invested in our people so that we may reap the benefits and grow a nation, so that we too can have the destiny of a bright future.
As a democracy, we too were victims of colonialism. We celebrate the freedom and liberty of our people, and congratulate Ghana on this success. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr L M GREEN: In congratulating Ghana on its 50 years of independence, the FD believes we must also extract lessons from their walk of freedom over these years.
Ghana’s independence in 1957 ushered in a new wave of change sweeping over sub-Saharan Africa. Being the first country to gain freedom from colonial rule, there was much interest in following the way its new government, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, would perform. For instance, at the time of its independence, Ghana was producing 10% of the world’s gold.
The road ahead, based on successful transformation to an independent state, appeared to bring a dawn of new hope to the Ghanaians who were led by their own kind. The leadership and intellectual qualities of Kwame Nkrumah were well suited for the challenges facing an independent Ghana.
It is sad to say that, after 50 years of independence, Ghanaians have very little to celebrate. We believe that the will to succeed at governing the country was uppermost in the minds of the leadership when they took possession of the land in 1957. However, what Nkrumah and his government were not able to do was to know how to rule over a pluralistic and independent-minded citizenry.
The eventual legacy of the rule of Nkrumah was one of dictatorship, imprisonment of opponents and creating a one-party state. The country’s leaders over the subsequent years adopted this leadership style. If Ghana wishes to rid itself of this governing style, they will have to undertake a commission of inquiry into the root causes of their present troubles and deal with legacies left by bad leadership. Even though a country may have huge economic and social obstacles to overcome, we cannot agree with the words expressed in the news article by Gamal Nkrumah, the son of Kwame Nkrumah, who said: “Although we have a viable multi-party democracy in Ghana today, the problem in Africa is that democracy does not feed the people.”
Democracy is the better of the creative energies of humanity to work for the good of all. We must ensure that we have the right mechanisms in place to ensure a just and equitable society. I thank you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Ms S C van der Merwe): Madam Deputy Speaker, hon members, it gives me great pleasure to participate in this debate on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of independency in Ghana. It further gives me great pleasure to share this platform with people such as the hon MaNjobe, who had the exhilarating experience of living in Ghana during those exciting times straight after independence.
It was after all this event on 6 March 1957, that changed the face of Africa, and which was a start of the process of reclaiming Africa’s birthright and the dignity of the African people. Under the leadership of Dr Nkrumah, this heralded the beginning of the process of African independence in the modern era and this example served to stimulate the process towards ending colonialism across the continent. It was, of course, the beginning of the wave of independence, which swept the continent during the 60s and culminated in our own freedom 13 years ago.
Ghana’s independence gave us much hope 50 years ago. And that country continues to give us hope on our new quest for economic emancipation for our economic independence.
In spite of its many post-independence trials and tribulations, modern-day Ghana has managed to straddle the two worlds of underdevelopment and development with much maturity and leadership. In the process, Ghana has become the embodiment of the vision of the African Renaissance. All of us on the continent have learnt many lessons from Ghana. One could say that Ghana has been a vanguard nation in 1957 and now. As one of the first nations on the continent to gain independence, Ghana has led the way as a stable country under democratic rule, and now also serves as an anchor of economic growth and development.
Endowed with great resources, Ghana was historically known, as you all know, as the Gold Coast or “Golden Ghana”, partly for its storehouses of gold and partly because it was considered by its neighbours to be shining as bright as gold itself. Such was the attraction of gold that Ghana was of course a hive of economic activity drawing many foreign nations to our continental shores as successive colonial powers sought to secure a place in the booming trade in gold.
While political solidarity has kept us together as a continent through the tough years of apartheid and colonialism, we recognise that economic development is our current challenge. Political solidarity alone is not enough, but must be supported by strong economic co-operation.
With Ghana we enjoy excellent economic relations and it is a major trading partner of ours; in recent years trade growing tremendously between our two countries. There are, for example, about 35 South African multinational companies and smaller scale companies registered in Ghana. Since 1994, a capital injection of more than US$36 million from South African companies has been invested in Ghana. Also, there are an increasing number of other countries investing in Ghana because it enjoys one of the most sophisticated economies on the continent.
Consider this example from an article published in The Washington Post by Carol Pineau, entitled The Africa You Never See, in which she states:
In the waiting area of a large office complex in Accra, it is standing room only as citizens with bundles of cash line up to buy shares of a mutual fund that has yielded an average of 60% annually over the last seven years. They are entrusting their hard-earned cash to a local company called Databank, which invests in stock markets in Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya that consistently rank amongst the world’s top growth markets.
These are the things we do not read about in the newspapers. It is also little known, for example, that the Ghana Stock Exchange regularly tops the list of the world’s highest-performing markets.
So, South Africa and Ghana continue to have strong ties both politically and economically. Our political relations will be given further impetus this year when in July we launch the Joint Co-operation Commission. Also, on the multilateral level, His Excellency, President Kufuor, chairs the African Union, and the July AU Summit will be held under his chairmanship in the Ghanaian capital of Accra.
Ghana also plays a key role in the Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas, mediating the various crises that have affected the volatile region from Sierra Leone to Cote d’Ivoire.
And under President Kufuor’s leadership, Ghana was also the first country - as has been mentioned here before - to undergo the African Peer Review process, with a very positive result.
Both our countries share a common vision for the continent and the world. We both work towards the eradication of conflict on our continent and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
We are now in the early years of this new wave of independence in which we are actively striving to rid our continent of all the negative stereotypes associated with it, such as war, famine and disease, through developing our economies, investing in our infrastructure and people, and working with our partners on the African continent and beyond to build prosperous societies.
Ghana is today a stable democracy - a country admired by its neighbours in West Africa and in the international community. As a country that has contributed so much to the liberation of our continent from colonialism’s bonds, Ghana plays a crucial role in contributing to the vision of a better Africa and a better world.
Towards this end, Ghana’s foreign policy objectives continue to be directed towards the promotion of a just and equitable international economic and social order. These are ideals for which we stand and which we, too, promote.
As a young nation in democracy, we have learned from Ghana. She has produced a high calibre of leaders whose contribution to the vision of African Unity has left a lasting legacy. Today, as we strive to consolidate African unity, we remember the contribution that Kwame Nkrumah made.
As we celebrate the unstoppable trend towards democratisation, we remember that one of Ghana’s greatest sons, Kofi Annan, has been instrumental through his extraordinary personal and professional efforts in elevating the African agenda to global forums.
As we celebrate the milestone African Union decision to strive for gender parity within all structures of organisation, we must not forget the legacy bestowed upon us by the Ashanti who place women as the final arbiter in all decisions in the Ashanti community.
Both our countries’ people cherish and celebrate their diversity, so both our people are ready to rekindle the filial ties and kinship that had been suppressed by the artificial restrictions imposed by the apartheid regime.
We are hugely encouraged by the increasing people to people contacts from our respective countries. We also look forward to participating in Ghana in 2008 in the Africa Cup of Nations, and also to hosting the Black Stars at the Fifa World Cup here in 2010. Speaking of learning, we hope that we will learn a lot from the Black Stars in 2008 as our own team prepares for 2010.
We are indeed proud to associate ourselves with the cultural and sporting achievements of Ghana; their display of skill and finesse during the Soccer World Cup in Germany indeed filled many of us with pride and made us proud to be Africans.
Ghana has given us all hope - in 1957 and during this half centenary celebration in 2007. At the colourful and happy ceremony in Ghana’s capital last week, President Kufuor said:
This is a celebration not only for Ghana but also for the whole of Africa. The date 6 March 1957 changed the outlook of Africa.
There is no doubt that Africa and many of its nations are making progress. I urge our young people to resolve to stay at home, use their energy and enthusiasm to serve Africa.
This resonates with us as we pursue our own political and economic objectives. We continued to be inspired by the successes of Ghana and the things they have taught us.
I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the people and government of Ghana on 50 years of freedom. I thank you.
Debate concluded.
The House adjourned at 17:53. ____
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
TABLINGS
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces
- The Minister of Finance
(a) Report of the Registrar of Short-term Insurance for 2005.
(b) Report of the Registrar of Long-term Insurance for 2005.
(c) Government Notice No R.186 published in Government Gazette No 29681 dated 1 March 2007: Amendment of Regulations in terms of the Long-term Insurance Act, 1998 (Act No 52 of 1998).
- The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development
(a) Report on the confirmation of the provisional suspension of
Magistrate K Suliman, a magistrate from Durban, in terms of
section 13(4)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993 (Act No 90 of
1993).
-
The Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry
a) Report and Financial Statements of Magalies Water for the year ended June 2006, including the Report of the Independent Auditors on the Financial Statements for the year ended June 2006.