TUESDAY, 12 JUNE 2007 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

                                ____

The House met at 14:03.

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

Debate on Vote No 1 - The Presidency:

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for affording us the opportunity to address the National Assembly as it considers the budget of The Presidency.

The Deputy President will address the House on the important areas that she deals with, including matters such as her role as the Leader of Government Business, the Moral Regeneration campaign, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa, Asgisa, the SA National Aids Council and others, while the Minister in The Presidency will speak on issues of gender, children, disability, youth and other matters.

As the House is aware, in four days’ time, we will commemorate Youth Day and once more reflect on the challenges facing our youth today. This occasion will assume particular significance because three months from today will be the 30th anniversary of the death of one of South Africa’s young heroes who, at the age of 30 years, was callously killed by the apartheid security police, thus denying our country the possibility to benefit further from the enormous talent which Steve Bantu Biko demonstrated during the short years of his life.

A month after Steve Biko was killed, on 19 October 1977, in an extensive state security crackdown targeting individuals, organisations and the media, a variety of publications were banned in a futile attempt to silence the voice of the masses of our people who demanded collectively that, “The People Shall Govern!”

Recognising that we have broken with that past, and confident that our democracy fully guarantees freedom of expression, last week the World Association of Newspapers held its summit meeting here in Cape Town, meeting in Africa for the first time in its 60-year existence. Because the role of The Presidency is to provide leadership as well as to co-ordinate, monitor and evaluate the work of government, we have, in the previous Budget Votes of The Presidency, spoken about whether the democratic state has the required capacity to discharge its constitutional mandate of transforming our society and ensuring that the necessary tools exist to help achieve the objective for which many of our heroes and heroines sacrificed their lives, which is the attainment of a better life for all.

During the presentation of their budgets, a number of our Ministers correctly referred to the fact that we remain committed to building a developmental state. It is in this context that we must understand the work of The Presidency.

Specifically with regard to the issue of the developmental state, the hon Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who is continuing negotiations with the unions and is therefore not here today, said in her budget speech on 5 June:

In any developing society, government machinery is critical in delivering public services and creating an environment in which other societal forces such as business and community can flourish in their own right. In 2005, the World Bank, in its report titled Capacity-building in Africa, underscored the importance of the public sector for a developmental and anti-poverty approach.

She continued:

The state is heavily reliant on the strength and capability of the system of government successfully to implement the range of programmes designed to respond to the developmental challenges we are facing. Excellence in performance across and within the three spheres of government, underpinned by the availability of capacity – that is, skills, human capital resources and systems - attracting and retaining the right capacity, its location and optimal use as well as maintaining an ethos of service become of central concern and importance.

In our presentations to the House on behalf of The Presidency, normally we do not report on our interactions with the individual Ministries. However, to underline the critical developmental role of the state, I would like to draw the attention of hon members to two areas that are of vital importance to our future.

I refer here to the preparations being made by the state-owned enterprises, under the leadership of the Ministry for Public Enterprises, to respond to what the hon Alec Erwin referred to as “the rapid increase in global demand for capital goods which is resulting in supply constraints”. As the hon Minister indicated:

Through the competitive supplier development programme, CSDP, we aim to facilitate the development of South Africa’s manufacturing sector and relieve these supply constraints by developing local capacity …

… in the production of capital goods. The importance of this in developing our manufacturing sector and our economy as a whole cannot be overemphasised.

I would also like to refer to the important work being done by our science councils and science institutions, under the leadership of the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with the universities and the private sector, radically to improve our performance as a country in the critically important areas of science, technology and innovation.

Necessarily, because of the importance of these two areas we have mentioned, as well as others, The Presidency will make certain that it works closely with the relevant Ministries to ensure that we achieve the results we need.

Hon members will remember that when I addressed the Joint Sitting of both Houses of Parliament on 9 February this year, I mentioned that government would continue with its work to improve the capacity and organisation of the state. In this regard, government has implemented several measures to strengthen, especially, the capacity of our municipalities so that these local government structures can contribute to the all-round struggle to defeat poverty and underdevelopment in our country.

We have, therefore, started implementing the Five-year Strategic Agenda to support the local sphere of government. This agenda has three strategic priorities which are: ensuring practical and co-ordinated hands-on support to municipalities by the national and provincial spheres of government; refining and strengthening the policy, regulatory, and fiscal environment of the local sphere of government; and addressing the structure and governance arrangements in local government.

I am happy to report to hon members that we are already making progress in realising the objectives of the Five-year Strategic Agenda. As the Minister for Provincial and Local Government indicated in his Budget Vote speech last week, we are beginning to witness some significant improvements in the capacity of municipalities that are being supported through Project Consolidate.

For instance, as the Minister indicated, municipalities that are receiving assistance with their municipal billing systems have seen their revenue collection increase by an average of 21,4%. Through Project Consolidate, we are also providing technical capacity to some of our municipalities in order to support infrastructure development and, already, there are positive results because of this intervention. We owe the successes we are beginning to see in part to the efforts of 29 organisations and nearly 300 individuals with specialist skills who are working together with government to ensure that we strengthen the capacity of our local government structures. On behalf of government, I would like to thank all of them and invite many others to join us in this important partnership so as to transform our municipalities into efficient and effective institutions that will help to change the living conditions of all our people for the better.

I must also express our sincere appreciation to our traditional leaders for their very constructive engagement with government as well as with the challenges that face our people. In this regard, I am happy to congratulate Kgosi Kutama and Kgosi Maubane on their election last month as Chair and Deputy Chair of the National House of Traditional Leaders.

We have agreed with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Provincial and Local Government that they should create a special directorate within their department which will focus exclusively on matters that relate to the traditional leaders, further to strengthen the excellent partnership that has emerged.

Government’s work to strengthen the capacity of the state also involves recruiting into the Public Service and retaining individuals with skills. As the Minister for the Public Service and Administration reported to Parliament almost a fortnight ago, one of the ways we are trying to achieve this goal is through introducing salary structures that are relevant to specific occupations so that our public servants in those occupations can be appropriately rewarded for the skills they bring to the Public Service.

Indeed, in the present salary negotiations, among other things, government is proposing the introduction of a new salary structure which would appropriately reward professionals in the medical, nursing and legal fields, as well as educators and social workers.

I therefore trust that worker representatives will utilise the existing channels to look closely at the proposals on the table in order to reach an agreement that, inter alia, would benefit the professionals in the Public Service, and therefore the public whom they are employed to serve.

In this regard, I would like to reiterate our confidence that, in time, government as an employer and the Public Service unions will find one another and bring to a conclusion the current negotiations, informed by the objectives to realise a wage settlement that improves the salaries of employees, ensures appropriate rewards for good performance, and acknowledges the unique contribution of public professionals, and is at the same time affordable and therefore sustainable.

I should, at the same time, express my strongest condemnation, as would all law-abiding citizens, of the irresponsible element that has used the negotiation process to engage in unacceptable criminal activities. [Applause.]

All of us should ask ourselves what kind of society we are building and what moral lessons we are imparting when insults, violence against fellow workers and damage to property become the stock-in-trade during protests of this kind. Undoubtedly, society does not benefit from such illegal activities; neither do workers themselves, in whose name these acts of thuggery are committed.

Better co-ordination and integration of government work across all spheres is critical, particularly because our programmes can have the desired impact only if they are carried out in a manner that obviates duplication and ensures complementarity.

With regard to integrated planning, we have previously stated that the alignment of the National Spatial Development Perspective, the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies, and Municipal Integrated Development Plans is of crucial importance. To this end, The Presidency launched a series of initiatives.

Firstly, the NSDP, which was originally approved in 2003 by government, has been updated. Secondly, at provincial level, the process of aligning the different planning frameworks started with the development of guidelines for aligning Provincial Growth and Development Strategies to the NSDP in

1. During the last financial year, all Provincial Growth and Development Strategies were assessed and, where necessary, reworked to ensure such alignment.

Thirdly, the alignment of planning frameworks was initiated at district and metro level with a pilot project involving 13 districts. While the pilot project will be completed at the end of this month, it is already generating important lessons that will inform the roll-out to the rest of the country over the remainder of the term of the present government.

Lastly, to ensure a common base of reference data for spatial planning, intensive work was undertaken using technical specialists to develop geospatial profiles that have been disaggregated to the ward level. These profiles have been made available to districts that were part of the pilot project, but will also be distributed to all other district and metropolitan councils.

Prominent among the lessons emerging from the pilot project is that the nature and quality of co-ordination and interaction between the municipalities and the national and provincial sectors of government require improvement so that the development impact on localities can be maximised.

Further, we have had to speed up the process of regularising our land use management system. The existence of a plethora of laws regulating land use across the country results in inefficient and inequitable utilisation of this scarce resource, and perpetuates the spatial patterns inherited from apartheid. To address these challenges, the Land Use Management Bill will be finalised by Cabinet in the coming few weeks and submitted to Parliament.

As part of the effort to maximise the utilisation of state resources and mobilise private sector resources in pursuit of social development, a comparative study of six middle-income countries on national strategic development planning was undertaken in 2006. These countries are Brazil, Chile, India, Malaysia, South Korea and Tunisia.

The aim of the study was to investigate processes of strategic planning, the content of such plans and the institutional mechanisms and so on. The study has been completed and its recommendations will soon be considered by Cabinet. We are also taking forward the scenario building process to examine the possible combination of domestic and global dynamics during the second and third decades of our liberation towards 2019 and beyond.

We have taken various steps in the past year to strengthen the government- wide monitoring and evaluation system. These include the creation of a policy platform for the functioning of the system, led by The Presidency, with specialised contributions from the National Treasury, Statistics South Africa, and the Departments of Provincial and Local Government and Public Service and Administration.

Co-ordinated by The Presidency, Cabinet continues to receive bi-monthly reports from the clusters of departments on the implementation of our annual programme of action. This, in turn, is published on the government website, the better to ensure that the public takes part in monitoring the work of government.

Following the commitment we made during the ten year review, government will, within the next fortnight, publish an assessment of progress made during the first half of its term, the mid-term review, based on a set of 70 development indicators. The publication will provide an overview of developments in areas such as economic growth and transformation, employment, poverty and inequality, household and community assets, health, education, social cohesion, safety and security, international relations and governance.

Strong monitoring and evaluation capacity within government of necessity also means checking and rechecking the facts in order fully to understand the reality in our country, the better to fashion programmes and responses that help us to move more quickly towards our objective of building a better life for all. This also entails reference to independently published research from, and interactions with, for instance, academic experts, rating agencies that advise investors, and market research organisations.

To the doomsayers who have eyes to see but cannot see the strong performance of our economy, we say, check with all these experts and you will discover that they know what most South Africans know, that by September this year, the South African economy will have been growing for eight solid years, longer than ever before in the recorded economic history of our country. [Applause.] Our current rate of growth has remained at a steady high level for longer than ever before in our history.

Since 2004, real income per person, on average, has risen at around 4% per year. More than half a million new jobs have been created annually since September 2004. Investment has risen steadily from 14,7% of GDP in the first quarter of 2002 to 19,2% of GDP in the last quarter of 2006. And in the last quarter of 2006 investment grew at an annualised rate of 16%, well ahead of our Asgisa target of 10% per year.

These facts are not contested among experts in the field, except for those who say that we may be undercounting some of these key numbers, because the sample frames we use have not kept up with a changing economic structure. There are also some who assert that many of the jobs created are in cyclical sectors like retail and construction, where job security is tenuous. Others point out that a considerable number of the new jobs created are in the informal sector.

Yes, indeed, this is true. But does this mean that we should not celebrate the fact that we are now creating jobs more rapidly than ever before in our history? [Applause.] And should we not be proud of the fact that, unlike most developing economies, most of our jobs are created in the formal sector? Should we be discouraging the millions of South Africans who now believe that the commitment to hard work and getting themselves educated is likely to lead to a more progressive and prosperous future? Of course not! Indeed, we should celebrate the fact that the overwhelming majority of South Africans believe, from their lived experience, that tomorrow is likely to be better than today, and that their own hard work will help make it happen.

In addition to the report that the hon Deputy President will provide on Asgisa, I would like to indicate that the annual Industrial Policy Action Plan to realise the objectives of the National Industrial Policy Framework will be finalised by Cabinet in the next few weeks, focusing on key sectors of the economy, and will indicate how best to leverage public spending for industrial development. The action plan will be incorporated into the government’s programme of action from next year onwards.

One of the challenges facing us is the nurturing and development of small, medium and micro enterprises. We have, therefore, taken measures to stimulate small business development, including alleviating the regulatory burden on small businesses and reducing the tax burden. A toolkit is being developed to help municipalities reduce red tape around municipal regulations that affect small, medium and micro enterprises in particular.

As hon members may be aware, Cabinet requested The Presidency, working with the National Treasury, to put in place a Regulatory Impact Assessment tool, in order to ensure that our regulatory regime in all policy areas facilitates, rather than hampers, growth and development. This will be piloted over the next two years.

As government we continue to intensify the fight against poverty on all fronts. Our initiatives are well known in this regard and for this reason I would like to focus here on only one specific task that The Presidency is required to undertake, over and above its oversight function in respect of the executive.

The House will remember that in 2004 we announced that in order for us to be able properly to target our intervention in the provision of services, we needed a better understanding of dynamics in our households. The National Income Dynamics Study will assist us in this regard.

A pilot study on specific households will be undertaken in the next few months, and the fieldwork will be undertaken between January and April

1. The first of the dataset will be available in 2009, creating the baseline against which we will be able to follow up changes in income and expenditure among these households for many years to come.

Combined with the comprehensive antipoverty strategy that I spoke about during the state of the nation address in February, this initiative will help us in identifying specific interventions required in specific households to make the maximum impact. One such intervention, which deserves special mention, is of course the provision of income in the form of social grants.

The latest figures, as of March 2007, indicate that more than 2 million people are now accessing these grants, from 2,6 million in 1994 and 6,8 million in 2003. It is as a consequence of this, as well as greater levels of labour absorption in the economy, that the extent and depth of income poverty has been significantly reduced, especially since 2001.

We will continue to consolidate the gains we have already made and look for further innovative ways of complementing this and other poverty eradication initiatives such as job creation, skills development, provision of finance and other forms of assistance to small businesses. This we need to do so that we can continue to accelerate the process of pushing back the frontiers of poverty.

At the same time, however, we should acknowledge the fact that while incomes of poor people are improving in real and absolute terms, this is not at the same rate as the improvement in the income of those who are well off within our society. Thus, we face the challenge, as a nation, to address the challenge of inequality.

This task, and the broader challenges of accelerating the rate of economic growth, improving the image of our country abroad, attending to the specific needs of marginalised sectors of our society, promoting value systems of self-respect and community solidarity and strengthening partnerships in the fight against crime, require the forging of partnerships, both locally and internationally, across a whole range of areas. In this regard, over the past year the President and other Cabinet members have had the opportunity to engage with representatives of various sectors of our society as well as friends from abroad through the Presidential Working Groups and other councils.

With regard to economic matters we met, as South Africans, through the Trade Union, Black Business, Big Business, BUSA, Commercial Agriculture and the Joint Working Groups. The discussions have concentrated on the need to accelerate economic growth and to ensure that the growth generated is shared so as to meet government’s objective of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. Many important views and concerns were raised in these meetings and government has incorporated these into the Programme of Action, including Asgisa.

Through these meetings our social partners have made invaluable contributions to the common national effort of building a better life for all. Among other positive developments, business and labour have rededicated themselves to accelerate the implementation of the commitments made at the Growth and Development Summit.

These commitments include working together as social partners to address the challenge of the skills shortage in the country as well as working together to assist in the growth of the BPO, tourism, agro processing, and other growth sectors identified in the National Industrial Policy Framework.

Two recent initiatives in this regard deserve special mention: Firstly, a special two-day Trade Union Working Group meeting was held in March this year to discuss globalisation and its effect on employment and worker organisation, and it was agreed that a three-a-side task team would be set up to take the discussions forward and make concrete proposals.

Secondly, towards the end of last year, the Big Business Working Group agreed to a closer working relationship with government on fighting crime and has allocated resources for this purpose through the Business Against Crime initiative.

In our engagement with the Presidential Working Group on Higher Education, we have identified practical ways of ensuring that the Higher Education sector in our country is further strengthened to assert its intellectual leadership role in all areas of our life; to enhance knowledge creation, production and impact through research and innovation; to develop responsive and innovative curricula, significantly to improve throughput and graduation rates; to help to foster critical consciousness and to use knowledge to deepen democracy and speed up social development.

Through the Presidential Working Group on Women we have had the opportunity to engage with a cross section of the leadership of women on the many challenges facing us to improve the lives of women, both in urban and rural areas. Specific issues for follow-up in this regard include the proposed retirement fund for women and the provision of water and sanitation.

Through the Presidential Working Group of National Religious Leaders, government and the religious sector have agreed on a memorandum of understanding to work in partnership on Early Childhood Development, Home and Community-Based Care, especially in the fight against HIV and Aids, skills development and Adult Basic Education and Training, and issues of Social Cohesion with special emphasis on the area of strengthening youth networks and building local partnerships in the fight against crime.

Through the Youth Working Group issues such as the role of the private sector in supporting youth development efforts, evaluating the responsiveness of the national fiscus to youth needs, and the finalisation of a revised National Youth Policy have been discussed and specific tasks undertaken to take our work further.

I cite these specific examples in part to underline the fact that, as with the rest of government work, our interaction with social partners is increasingly taking the form of identifying specific practical tasks for action, rather than a mere reflection on broad policy matters.

The Presidential Panel of Economic Advisors established last year assisted us by providing independent and well-informed insights on various public policy issues relating to the development of our country and its people.

The same applies to the content of our engagement with the international partners through the International Investment Council and the Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development.

We are happy that the izimbizo campaign has developed into an important and well-established element of our democracy. This is a catalytic forum that enables communities to be part of a united national action to change their living conditions for the better.

In the past four years the izimbizo process has helped us to make a number of interventions that are having a positive impact on the lives of our people. This includes sharing practical approaches to addressing barriers to the effective implementation of the programme of action; identifying practical ways in which other spheres of government can assist in implementing the Municipal Integrated Development Plans; identifying and addressing challenges of technical expertise and professional skills; and strengthening the partnership between government and the people.

Earlier this year we reviewed and reformatted the izimbizo process to align it through the spheres of government and improve follow up on issues raised by the people.

As you know, later this week, President Sepp Blatter of Fifa will be in our country once again. I am very pleased to say that he will find us well on course with our preparations for both the Federations Cup in 2009 and the Fifa Soccer World Cup in 2010. [Applause.]

Addressing the media at Fifa Headquarters on 15 May 2007, Sepp Blatter said:

Back in 1998, I first said I wanted to bring the Fifa World Cup to Africa and three years from now South Africa will host the competition. The South African Local Organising Committee is well structured and we are continuing to monitor the construction of the stadiums to ensure that all deadlines are met. Plan A is South Africa, Plan B is South Africa and plan C is South Africa.

[Applause.]

It is my hope that by the end of 2010 the football world will be experiencing the same highs that we experienced at the end of last year’s Fifa World Cup in Germany.

I have no doubt that our local organising committee, government at all levels and everybody concerned will do the necessary work to guarantee that we host a better tournament in 2010 than the excellent 2006 German World Cup.

With regard to the important issue of crime, we are pleased that the business community, religious leaders and our communities in general are partnering government in a meaningful way. We are also deploying the resources available in the criminal justice system to combat especially contact crimes at the places and times they are most likely to occur. We also continue to work to ensure proper co-ordination throughout the criminal justice system.

When we addressed this House last year on the occasion of the Budget Vote of The Presidency, we made a point that the accomplishment of our development goals was inextricably linked to the success of similar efforts in our region, our continent and the rest of the world. Accordingly, we asserted that a discharge of our international obligations would remain an important part of the work of The Presidency as well as the rest of our government.

One of our immediate and continuing challenges is the steadfast pursuit of our African agenda, and within that the acceleration of the process of the political and economic integration of the Southern African Development Community, including progress towards the establishment of a free trade area.

We will also play our role in the implementation of the programmes of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Nepad, and ensure that the partnership agreements that we forge with other countries and regions are translated into practical and tangible programmes that promote real transformation in the lives of the peoples of our continent.

Further in this regard, we, together with China, India, Brazil and Mexico, have agreed to participate in a structured dialogue with our G8 partners over the next two years as well as strengthen the Nepad G8 follow-up mechanisms. As hon members are aware, the report of the African Peer Review Panel will be submitted to our peers during the days when the AU will be holding its summit meeting in Accra next month.

In a couple of weeks in Accra we will participate in what the AU has described as the Grand Debate, whose main focus will be consideration of the proposal to advance towards the formation of a united African government. This will offer us an opportunity to address real challenges that should be addressed to promote African integration and unity.

I would like to take this opportunity once more to acknowledge our sons and daughters in uniform who continue to make a contribution to the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Sudan and the Comoros. [Applause.]

The same appreciation is due to individuals and organisations, both in the public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations, who have responded in a commendable manner in offering assistance in electoral processes and other undertakings in the DRC, Nigeria, Burundi and other countries.

We have been mandated by SADC to assist the leadership of Zimbabwe to find a lasting solution to the challenges that they face. We intend to move with speed in executing this mandate and are encouraged in this regard by the positive attitude evinced by the protagonists in that country, who we are certain do recognise that the people of Zimbabwe expect of them nothing less than concrete action to extricate them from the difficulties they face currently.

Our election to the United Nation’s Security Council as a nonpermanent member has accorded us the privilege and honour of serving the international community and indeed our continent in search of peace, stability and a secure environment for the citizens of the world. We shall do our best to fulfil the expectations of humanity in this regard, informed by the UN Charter and the aspirations of billions across the globe who yearn for an equitable world order.

These then are some of the major programmes that we have undertaken during the course of last year to meet our mandate as The Presidency, to lead the process of planning and implementation in the executive and the public service. Guided by the programme of action of government we will continue to strengthen the capacity of The Presidency to discharge its responsibilities.

Indeed, as the budget indicates, we will make sure that The Presidency discharges its responsibilities as required by the Constitution. It is in this spirit that I commend the budget of The Presidency to the National Assembly. Thank you. [Applause.] Nksz N J NGELE: Somlomo, Mongameli weli lizwe, Sekela-Mongameli, baPhathiswa bonke abakhoyo apha, Malungu ePalamente, zindwendwe zethu ezibekekileyo, siyanibulisa sinamkela ngale nyanga yolutsha. Siyakubulela, Mongameli, ngokuthi ube nentliziyo yokubonelela abantu bonke abahluphekileyo, ungakhethanga bala lamntu.

Ndifuna, Mongameli, ukungqina amazwi akho okhe wawathetha ngenye imini umi kule ndawo, nangona ndingekhe ndiwathethe ngendlela owawathetha ngayo. Kodwa wathi: “Ndlala ubalekile.” [Kwahlekwa.] Ndifuna ke ukungqina ukuba umntu osenekati elala eziko uyathanda.

Mongameli, kulo nyaka uphelileyo, kulaa ndawo idolophana yakhona inguMthatha, ilali iyiBhaziya, ibingeso sivuno ibiyindyebo yodwa. Andisathethi ngamathanga, ayegilana emasimini, imixoxozi ityiwa ziinkomo ingasavunwa ngenxa yendyebo ebikhona phaya.

Oku kubangelwe kukuhlangana kwabantu norhulumente esinaye – nditsho kuwe ke, Mongameli. Uthe wasihlanganisa nabantu ukuze balime, belinyelwa ngurhulumente, izichumiso, wena ntoni, bezinikwa ngurhulumente. Yiyo loo nto ke kuye kwabakho isivuno esingako. Yonke loo nto ibingekho, siyayiqabuka. Andisathethi ngootamkhulu noomakhulu.

Ewe, Mongameli, ndikhumbula kakuhle ukuba ukukhula kwam yayikhona le nto ikhetha ibala. Umama wam wayerhola iirandi ezingama-200 ngenyanga yesithathu. Kodwa yayikhona into ethi abantu abalolunye uhlanga badlala ngemali, abarholi yinyhikithya. Kodwa wena awuyenzanga loo nto. Uye wathi unyaka nonyaka wayonyusa imali yezibonelelo zikarhulumente. [Kwaqhwatywa.]

Abantu abanezigulo ezinganyangekiyo ubabonelele. Abantwana abancinci ubabonelele. Yonke loo nto ithetha ukusuka kwendlala ebantwini.

Ndikhe ndasibona, Mongameli, isitiyanyana esingangale tafile emzini womntu, umntu esilimile esitya kuso. Lo mntu wayekwazi ukupha nommelwane, ngenxa yeentshumayelo zenu ezithi: Yibani nezitiya emizini yenu khon’ ukuze ningadliwa yindlala.

Uyakwazi ukukha imifuno nayo yonke into oyityalileyo, uhlanganise utye ukuze ube sempilweni. Kule ndawo ndihlala kuyo – zininzi wena ezi ndawo ndihlala kuzo, Mongameli – kwesikaTshwane, ukhe wasihambela. Ndifuna ukuthi ukuvela kwakho ebantwini yenye into eyenze … uyazi, xa ubona uMongameli engena endlwini yakho uyahlutha nokuba ubulambile. [Kwahlekwa.] Yenye yezinto eyenze ukuba abantu babe nethemba xa uthetha, ukuze elo themba ulifezekise.

Sithe xa singena tyotyombeni lithile, nanjengokuba wawutshilo ukuba simane sibavelela abantu, safika satsala isitulo, sathi xa siza kuhlala kwathiwa: “Uxolo, ningakhe nihlale kwesi situlo. Esi situlo sasihleli uMongameli. Andifuni kuhlale mntu kwesi situlo.”

Ndifun’ ukuthi ke, Mongameli, yonke loo nto siyibopha ngebhanti enye, sikubulela ngendima oyenzileyo phakathi kwabantu, uzama ukuphuhlisa ususa indlala. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Ms N J NGELE: Madam Speaker, hon President, Deputy President, hon Ministers who are here today, Members of Parliament and our distinguished guests, I greet you all and I welcome you in this youth month. We thank you, hon President, for addressing the plight of the poor, regardless of race.

Mr President, I want to agree with you and support what you said one day when you were standing at this podium. Although I may not be able to quote you verbatim, you said something like, “Poverty, you are no more. “ [Laughter.] I want to emphasize that anyone who is still languishing in poverty prefers it that way.

Mr President, last year in Mtata in a village named Bhaziya, the harvest was plentiful. There were lots of pumpkins and melons, to the extent that the melons were not even harvested but were left for the cows. That is how plentiful the harvest was.

This was all as a result of the partnership between the people and the government - and I mean you, hon President. You brought us together with the people so that they could work the land, using agricultural implements and fertilizer and many other means which were provided by the government. That is why there was such a plentiful harvest. We had never had this before; it is new to us, let alone to our grandfathers and grandmothers.

And I remember very well, Mr President, that when I was growing up there was discrimination on the basis of a person’s colour. My mother used to earn a mere R200 after three months. However, it was said that people of other races were earning far more than that. And our hon President did not do that. Instead he has increased the government grants on a yearly basis. [Applause.]

The government also provides for people with chronic diseases. And there is also a grant for young children. All this adds up to the alleviation of poverty.

I once saw a small garden, as small as this table, at a certain person’s home. I learnt that that garden produced vegetables which this person even shared with neighbours. I think this all happened because of your encouragement, to the people to have gardens at home, so as to avoid being victims of poverty.

Once a person has her own garden, she will have vegetables which, once produced, will provide a healthy life. You visited the area where I reside

• I reside in many places, hon President - in Tshwane. Your visit to our homes, Mr President, brought hope to people who were poverty-stricken. Even if you were hungry, you immediately became full. [Laughter.]

I remember when I visited a certain family that stays in a shack and went inside the shack – as you often say that we should visit people - I took a chair, but when I was about to sit on it, someone yelled at me not to sit on it because it was used by the President and he therefore did not want me to use it.

Therefore, I want to say to you, hon President, that we bring all these issues up to express our appreciation for the role you have played among the people, trying to develop them and alleviate poverty.]

I just want to remind this House of what the ANC has been saying regarding poverty alleviation in South Africa. In 1994 we said: “A better life for all.” In essence we said that most people in the rural areas, the majority of whom are women, live in poverty.

Central to the development programme will be job creation, through industrial development and opportunities for small businesses, alongside land reform. We will focus on the provision of water, clinics, schools, toilet facilities, etc. Indeed, the ANC-led government has lived up to that, even though what we have achieved so far is outweighed by what we must still hope to do.

During the 1995 local government elections we said: “Let’s make it happen where we live.” We indicated this as we saw a need for community involvement as a key to ensuring more security and building stable communities.

We also said: “Together, we will tackle poverty, crime and disease that have undermined our community values and brought fear and insecurity.” Through the ANC, we have brought new strength and the determination to solve these problems.

During the 1999 elections we said: “Together, in every sector, fighting for change.” The ANC-led government shares your experiences of poverty, disease and underdevelopment. That is the reason, since 1994, we have delivered electricity, clean water, etc.

While we register these monumental achievements, we know that many of you, especially in the rural communities, still don’t have adequate and affordable housing, water, electricity or transport. In 2004 we said: “A people’s contract to create work and fight poverty.”

We’ll ensure that all those who are eligible for social grants, including poor children up to 14 years of age, receive these grants, which increase at least at the rate of inflation. In 2005 we said: “A plan to make local government work better for you.”

In our election manifesto we pledged ourselves to a vision to build a better South Africa by 2014, during the second decade of freedom. The ANC believes that by working together in the next 10 years, we can build a South Africa where a growing economy will enable us to reduce unemployment and poverty by half.

The economy will have the skills it needs to grow, and our people will have the education they need to find employment. Everyone will have access to water, electricity and sanitation. Every South African will be able progressively to exercise his or her constitutional rights. There will be a fairer distribution of land; there will be compassionate government services to the people; health services for all will be better; serious and priority crimes will be reduced; and so will the time for accused persons to await trial.

Our country will be a force to be reckoned with in international relations and contribute to peace and development in Africa, as well as the creation of a better world.

Ndikhumbula, Mongameli, omnye uMphathiswa, endingazi kumbiza ngegama. Lo Mphathiswa ukhe wathi ebetyelele eIndiya. Ndiza ke kulo mba wezibonelelo zabadala nezenkxaso yabantwana. Uthe uMphathiswa ufike eIndiya kusithiwa ewe, kulungile ukube benzelwe ezi zinto. Kambe ke nabo mabakhe babe nento abayenzayo ukubonisa umbulelo wabo. Futhi ndinethemba lokuba aba bantu banombulelo kakhulu kwaye bayafuna ukubonakalisa ukuba yonke le nto nisenzela yona siyayibulela. Mhlawumbi, Mongameli, nokuba singathi ngemini yezipho …

SOMLOMO: Inzwi! Ixesha liphelile, mama. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[This reminds me of a certain Minister who visited India, whose name I am not going to mention. In addressing the issue of grants to the elderly and children, the Minister in question said, people in India had agreed that people should be provided with these services. However, it was said that they, in turn, had to do certain things to show their appreciation. Furthermore, I hope these people do appreciate what is being done for them and that they do want to show that they are grateful for everything that you, Mr President, have done for them. Perhaps Mr President, on a prize- giving day we can maybe …

The SPEAKER: Order! Your time has expired, madam.]

Ms N J NGELE: Madam Speaker, I fully support this budget. I thank you. [Applause.]

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, Mr President, hon Deputy President, Members of Parliament, the DA will support the President’s Budget Vote. [Applause.] We sincerely wish the President to succeed with his ambitious strategic plan for South Africa. For this he needs two things: The allocation of adequate resources and opposition to hold him to account. We will give him both.

I have no doubt that we share most of the aims expressed here today. We want a country that works. It is a country that works but we want it to work even better. Our economy, under the stewardship of the President, as he has pointed out, remains buoyant, underpinned by a rational macroeconomic policy that fosters growth and not decline. Despite considerable pressure from within his own ranks to change direction, he has succeeded in putting us on the road to prosperity.

I am particularly aware of this when I sit in a Cape Town traffic jam hemmed in by new cars. The economic activity in this country is bursting at its seams. Clearly, many, though by no means all, South Africans previously excluded from ownership of our economy now have access to it. Most of all, I find myself sharing the same irritation at the slow flow of traffic, loudly criticising drivers who are on their cellphones until mine rings, listening to the same loud music – something like, “De la Rey, De la Rey” – or the never-ending talk shows; perhaps most of all, looking each other in the eye as equals, not caring about who is white or black, only that you don’t cut in in front of me. Although coming from a deeply fractured past, I can confidently say, we share a deepening sense of togetherness. We are in here together and for the duration. [Applause.]

It would be wrong of us to become complacent and self-congratulatory because our country today is so much better than it was 15 and 30 years ago. [Applause.] We cannot do this while daily deprivation is still the norm for so many of our citizens and the biggest strike of our new democracy is happening outside. We must rightly question ourselves: Have we served South Africans as well as we should have over the past 13 years?

Does our daily life’s expectancy in any way relate to that, let us say, of a young girl from a poor family growing up in rural South Africa today? Let us place her in the hills near Lusikisiki – it cannot be the hills near Viljoenskroon, because it is very flat there. Let us picture her coming into this world in the month we attained our freedom, April 1994. Today that girl has just passed her 13th birthday. If she had been given the opportunities the state has committed to providing for her, she is contemplating secondary school and thinking about her future.

My question is this: Have we, after 13 years of freedom, succeeded in offering this young girl a reasonable chance to become the woman she wants to be, to fulfil her own potential and to realise her dreams? This is a very serious question because in our view it goes to the heart of the purpose of government in a country like ours, which must confront the future against the backdrop of vast deprivation and underdevelopment.

Has our girl from Lusikisiki grown up with access to even basic health care or has she had to travel far to wait in long queues and then receive indifferent service from the overworked and underpaid health care professionals in our clinics and hospitals? Does she have a birth certificate? What will she experience if she has to visit a police station? Is her father employed or a job seeker? Does he have an ID? Must she study by candlelight?

In fact, has she been able to attend a primary school near to her home, where the teachers are committed to excellence and can draw on the books, stationery and other facilities needed to attain that excellence? The answer, and we all know it in this House, and it was also stated by the previous speaker, is a “yes” for some, but for very many a sad and resounding “no”.

I want to single out health and education in the story of the girl from Lusikisiki, because I believe we have not done nearly as well as we could have in either of these fields. I actually believe we have failed the young girl from Lusikisiki; that her ability to grow into the woman she wants to become and direct her own life has been seriously compromised.

We have not succeeded - not because of financial constraints but because the health and education policies of this government and its predecessors have been ill-conceived. Its management has been deficient and it has displayed scant ability to learn from its mistakes. Sadly, she is not alone. The future of boys and girls all over South Africa remains in jeopardy because they lack the wherewithal and the opportunity to succeed in life.

The present Minister has indicated that she will call on education MECs to account for the results in 2007. This is a step in the right direction for the experts’ view. However, at the root of the problem is the generally poor quality of teaching. What we need is an urgent reassessment and overhaul, once again, of the education system, just as we do in other critical areas of delivery, and to concentrate on a system of meaningful incentives for excellent teachers, if we are to head off a national crisis.

But why have we not lived up to the full promise of our enormous potential? Why have we only delivered to some? The past can indeed be blamed, but 13 years on, the reasons must also be sought elsewhere and basic to our delivery failure, we believe are two things: It is the ANC’s narrow definition of transformation, which in many instances has taken on the guise of racial nationalism. Secondly, there is the ANC’s belief that it must control all the levers of power in the state and society.

Gone are the meritorious arguments for affirmative action to which the DA fully subscribed. Enter transformation by demographics, seeking to promote the interests of one group of South Africans over those of all the others. The fact is, I think that at heart, the ANC like all nationalist organisations, cannot distinguish itself from the people, not the voters, the people, by which it means very specifically, black South Africans.

Here, Mr President, are two unfortunate recent examples of how the policy of racial nationalism divides our people and compromises service delivery. Just two weeks ago, the choices for three top medical posts at two Western Cape hospitals were rejected by the provincial health department. Why? The candidates chosen by the institutions involved were white.

The result is a double loss to South Africa, because one of the candidates has given up hope and is now going, as it were, into voluntary exile in Australia. This, while disadvantaged South Africans dependent on the hospitals in question, are having to wait longer to get the treatment they need, because the posts are now vacant.

I cannot for a minute believe that this is the intentional outcome of what you would like to achieve. It is the outcome and, Mr President, you must take responsibility for it.

These distortions are also rife on our playing fields.

Ons weet dat sport in Suid-Afrika nog altyd ’n politieke speelbal was. Die politieke opofferings wat die Watsonbroers vir ’n rasse-ideologie gemaak het, is nog vars in my geheue. Vandag is die spel, met Luke Watson as die ongelukkige pion, in presies dieselfde posisie as dié waaraan ons probeer ontsnap het en nie weer in wou vasval nie.

Is daar enige land ter wêreld waar die afrigter van ’n nasionale span ’n vergadering met die President moet probeer reël? Gelukkig is hy nie mnr Koos van der Merwe wat ’n jaar gewag het nie. Hy is onder druk om bepaalde spelers, suiwer op grond van ras of bande met die regerende party in sy span in te sluit. Terselfdertyd is ons onderwerp aan ’n verwante, maar meer sinistere uitbarsting deur die Voorsitter van die Portefeuljekomitee oor Sport, wat dreig om op eie gesag die paspoorte van die lede van die nasionale rugbyspan terug te trek en om hulle te verhoed om aan die Wêreldbeker deel te neem, omdat hulle wit is. ’n Ware demokrasie dreig nie om grondwetlike regte op te skort om ’n party se ideologie te dien nie. Speaker, ons behoort nie toe te laat dat hierdie miskenning voortduur nie. [Applous.]

As ons iets uit die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika kan leer, is dit tog sekerlik dat dit onregverdig is om tweedeklasburgers te skep, en dat dit ’n renons kweek wat in weerstand uitloop. In stowwerige townships, ver van goedversorgde sportvelde, sien ons dat dieselfde ontnugtering in burgerlike verset uiting vind. Selfs hier word die ongelykhede deur dieselfde beleid vererger.

Geregtigheid vereis dat ons die wanbalanse van die verlede eerste moet regstel, maar dit vereis ook dat ons dit só doen dat dit nie die leuen laat voortleef dat sommige meer gelyk as ander is nie, en dat iemand se vooruitsigte in die lewe weer eens, nogmaals, deur velkleur bepaal word nie.

Ons stem dus geheel en al saam met die President se mening, soos berig, dat ’n kritiese heroorweging van regstellende aksie versoening en maatskaplike samehang sal bevorder, en die vooruitsigte dat benadeeldes bemagtig sal word, sal verbeter.

Dit sluit egter ook in ’n einde aan die volgehoue beleid dat ANC-lojaliste, as kaders bekend, in posisies aangestel word waar hulle veronderstel is om van partybeheer los te staan. Dit bevoordeel miskien enkeles, maar vir verreweg die meeste Suid-Afrikaners is dit duur, dit werk nie en dit moet einde kry. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[We know that sport in South Africa has always been a political football. The political sacrifices made by the Watson brothers in the face of a racial ideology are still fresh in my memory. Today, the game, with Luke Watson as the unfortunate pawn, is in exactly the same position as that we tried to escape from and did not want to get stuck in again.

Is there any country in the world where the coach of a national team has had to try and arrange a meeting with the President? Fortunately, he is not Mr Koos van der Merwe who had to wait a year! He is under pressure to include certain players in his team solely on the basis of race or ties with the ruling party.

At the same time we are subjected to a related, but more sinister outburst by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation, who threatens to use his authority to withdraw the passports of members of the national rugby team in order to prevent them from participating in the World Cup, because they are white.

A true democracy does not threaten to suspend constitutional rights in order to serve the ideology of a party. Speaker, we should not allow this disregard to continue. [Applause.]

If we can learn something from the history of South Africa, it must surely be that it is unfair to create second-class citizens, and that this cultivates an aversion that in turn leads to resistance. In dusty townships far from well-kept sport fields one sees that the same disillusionment is being expressed in civil resistance. Even here, the inequalities are aggravated by the same policy.

Justice requires of us to, firstly, correct the imbalances of the past, but it also requires that we should do it in such a manner that it does not perpetuate the lie that some of us are more equal than others, and that somebody’s prospects in life will once again be determined by his skin colour.

We therefore agree wholeheartedly with the President’s view, as reported, that a critical reconsideration of affirmative action would promote reconciliation and social cohesion, and that the prospects that the disadvantaged will be empowered, would be improved.

However, this also includes an end to the continued policy that ANC loyalists, known as cadres, are appointed in positions where they are supposed to be detached from party control. This may be benefiting a few people, but for the vast majority of South Africans it is expensive, it does not work and it must come to an end.]

Indeed, recent history already bears out our point, because the state’s management and delivery capacity has continued to deteriorate as power has steadily been accumulated in the centre, and particularly in the Office of The Presidency. Yet the government seems increasingly determined to locate more and more power in the centre, the wrong prescription founded on a faulty diagnosis of the problem. We are in principle opposed to the two great issues of centralisation currently under consideration: the first being a decrease in the number of provinces, and the second the introduction of a single Public Service.

We are of the firm belief that decentralisation creates accountability by elected politicians, where they are directly responsible for appointed officials. Despite your assurances in this House a few weeks ago, Mr President, that it is not government’s policy to push through Parliament a decrease in the number of provinces, there is clearly support for the idea in government and ANC circles. Coupled to this is the unpalatable idea of a single Public Service, the clear consequence of which would be to discount the choice of the voters and their ability to hold elected representatives to account.

I said earlier that the government’s diagnosis of the problem, its failure to deliver, is faulty. The problem is not the autonomy of provinces and councils. We can centralise power as much as we like, but unless we begin to appoint officials on the basis of their ability to do the job and then hold them to account for their performance, the delivery problem will never go away. [Interjections.] Centralisation will not change this. Judicious appointments, capacity-building and skills development will.

Mnr die President, ek het die Parlement se toenemende internasionale rol van naby aanskou, en u s’n van ver af. U het heel tereg lof verdien vir die indrukwekkende rol wat u Presidensie in buitelandse sake gespeel het, veral in Afrika, en ons aanvaar die verdienste van daardie uitbreidende interaksies geredelik. In die afgelope maande, egter, het ons morele gesag in wêreldsake ’n knou gekry deur die regering se oënskynlike dienstige beleidsposisies oor Myanmar, Somalië, Iran en Nigerië, en knaend oor Zimbabwe, ons buurland na die noorde.

Mnr die President, ons sal geduldig wees met u in u poging om namens die SAOG ’n nuwe onderhandelde skikking tussen die mededingende politieke organisasies in Zimbabwe te bemiddel, al is daar oor die naweek oor ’n terugslag berig. Daar is egter werklike kommer dat president Mugabe nie in goeder trou aan hierdie samesprekings sal deelneem nie. Die feit dat hy die grondwet eensydig gewysig het, terwyl u juis daaroor onderhandel, bewys maar net weer dat hy u pogings minag.

In die lig hiervan sal u ons sinisme begryp oor die feit dat die Parlement ’n tweede keer ’n debat oor die ingewikkelde maar afgeleë probleem van die Palestyne aangevra het, terwyl ons versuim het om selfs maar een keer teen menseregtevergrype in Myanmar, Soedan, Haïti of Somalië, en natuurlik in Zimbabwe, ons opinie uit te spreek.

Ons moet dringend in ons buitelandse beleid na die konsekwente beginsels van besorgdheid oor die waardigheid, regte en vryheid van alle mense op aarde terugkeer. Dit is beginsels wat ons self voorstaan. Ons moet moedig genoeg wees om te sorg dat ander dieselfde beginsels in ere hou, veral terwyl ons nuwe take aanpak. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.) [Mr President, I have observed Parliament’s increasing international role from near and yours from afar. You have rightly earned praise for the impressive role that your Presidency has played in foreign affairs, especially in Africa, and we accept the rewards of those expanded interactions freely. However, our moral authority in world affairs has suffered a knock in recent months through the seemingly servile policy positions of the government towards Myanmar, Somalia, Iran and Nigeria, and consistently towards Zimbabwe, our neighbouring country to the north.

Mr President, we will be patient with you in your attempt to mediate a new negotiated agreement between the competing political organisations in Zimbabwe on behalf of SADC, even if a setback was reported over the weekend. However, there is real concern that President Mugabe will not participate in these discussions in good faith. The fact that he has amended the constitution unilaterally, while you were negotiating about exactly that, once again proves that he is disregarding your attempts.

In the light of this, you will understand our cynicism about the fact that Parliament has requested a second debate on the difficult, but distant problem of the Palestinians, while we have neglected to voice our opinion at all on the transgression of human rights in Myanmar, Sudan, Haiti or Somalia, and, of course, in Zimbabwe.

We should urgently return in our foreign policy to the consistent principles of concern about the dignity, rights and freedom of all people on earth. These are principles which we advocate ourselves. We must be brave enough to ensure that others honour the same principles, especially while we are tackling new tasks.]

For all these reasons, Mr President, I respectfully but seriously contend that there are crucial respects in which we could have done better, no matter how many things we have done extremely well, and in which we absolutely have to do better over the next 13 years. To succeed in this, we must internalise the vision and the values of an inclusive and open- opportunity society, in which every individual has the right, the space and the opportunity to be himself, to develop herself, and to direct his own life.

This means we must promote tolerance of difference and dissent in our society, and in our public discourse. In fact, it means we must deepen the debate, and it means that we must get serious about promoting opportunity by crafting a role for the state in which it facilitates but does not direct the activity of citizens; in which it seeks to expand choice for people, not determine their choices for them; and in which citizens themselves determine their development needs and take personal responsibility for the outcomes of the choices and opportunities provided.

In an opportunity society, the question is not whether the state plays a role in development. Of course it does, but the question is what the nature of that role is, and in a country like ours, which is seeking to overcome a legacy of underdevelopment and discrimination, the state’s role must be to ensure access to education and skills development, to capital, to the labour market and health care, and to facilitate economic growth through the provision of infrastructure and a competition-friendly regulatory environment.

We need to find our way back to the path that we saw in the beginning, that leads to this open-opportunity society, to recommit ourselves to the vision of our Constitution, our document of destiny, for ourselves and for our children, and for the girl from Lusikisiki. Thank you. [Applause.]

Prince M G BUTHELEZI: Madam Speaker, His Excellency the President of South Africa, Her Excellency the Deputy President, hon members, I wish to address crucial issues relating to The Presidency, speaking not from a party- political viewpoint or even as the IFP president, but as a South African citizen concerned about our institution of government, The Presidency.

Over the past two years, I have expressed my concerns in this House that our constitutional system is being weakened by the attacks and controversies which have undermined the dignity and effectiveness of our Presidency. This is not a party-political issue, but a matter which should concern every South African, as the President is the face of South Africa.

The Presidency, as an institution, should represent the entire South African nation and be above reproach, attack and political controversy. Because our head of state is also our head of government, it becomes unavoidable for the entire Presidency to be drawn in, and tarnished by the mud-slinging which often characterises politics, in other words, the hurly- burly of politics and the arduous task of governing a democratic country.

No democratic government has been spared a constant stream of attacks. Such cut and thrust is the essence, in fact, of democracy. But ours is not a consolidated and mature democracy. As we can see, too much vitriol and venom is being splashed on The Presidency in the process than is warranted, by ordinary politics, all in the name of democracy, of course. Our people need a point of reference which they may respect at all times.

What is happening on the streets of South Africa speaks volumes. There are many who feel that they are striking and rebelling against the President, who in fact carries the final executive responsibility of all actions of our government.

On this note, we are all seriously concerned about the impact of the strikes upon the nation. Whilst one recognises that both the strikers and government have a legitimate case, we are all praying that there will be a meeting of minds. The settlement must be rooted in reality as far as the human needs of civil servants are concerned, but at the same time, it should not compromise economic stability or, in other words, kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Most of the established democracies in both the Eastern and Western world are constituted in the form of a parliamentary rather than executive system. In a parliamentary system the president, as the head of state, rules, but does not govern. The day-to-day activity of government is left to a prime minister. Such a system prevails in Namibia and Mozambique.

The executive Presidency was foreign to our South African tradition before it was introduced before 1994. South Africa had a president and a prime minister. In a certain sense this tradition seemed to have continued, although not in so many words, under the presidency of President Mandela, who used to say candidly, even jocularly sometimes, to foreign dignitaries and friends alike, that he was only the de jure President while the de facto President was the then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, who presided over most Cabinet meetings and conducted most of the business of government. I was in the Cabinet and know this to be so. That arrangement created a balancing effect which we all noticed and now miss.

Unless we take action now, the crisis in which The Presidency is now engulfed may continue into the future. This is not an issue about the present or future incumbents, but about the Office of President. This Parliament has the responsibility of addressing present and foreseeable future problems before our country is damaged further.

I do not presume to have any power to lead this Parliament in any direction, but I humbly offer my action as a catalyst which takes the hot potato from the fire for others to eat. [Laughter.] [Applause.] This action can no longer be delayed.

Acting not just as the president of the IFP, but as one of South Africa’s senior leaders, I have tabled today the 17th Constitution Amendment Bill, which is a Private Members’ Bill, to amend our Constitution to separate the Head of State from the head of government so that from the next elections, we may have both a President and a Prime Minister.

The details of this separation are not new. This schema has been tried and tested and is in force in the great majority of the democratic constitutions.

The proposal is that the President would be performing a balancing role in the functioning of our institutions and in the dynamics of politics by operating above politics itself. He or she will represent our country both in respect of ceremonial functions and, when the occasion demands, in international affairs. The President will have the power to appoint the prime minister, subject to parliamentary approval. He or she will also play a significant role in making crucial appointments to offices that ought to be above daily party politics.

The prime minister will serve at the will of the parliamentary majority. This will make our government more accountable and strengthen the centrality, power and relevance of our Parliament. The prime minister will be stronger in carrying out the business of government, both on account of the support of Parliament and the President and because he or she will have more time, since the ceremonial roles and international relations will be attended to by the President.

I speak merely as a concerned South African. We have no time left. Like many other Private Members’ Bills, the Bill I have introduced could lie in the Private Members’ Committee for two years and lapse at the end of the legislative session after earning the derisive chortles that it has earned as I was speaking. On the other hand, this Parliament has repeatedly adopted important urgent constitutional amendments in a matter of weeks when it wanted to do so.

I believe that we need an urgent national debate on whether South Africa would be better served by a President and prime minister rather than by a Presidency which combines both roles. To be relevant, this debate needs to reach its conclusion soon enough to create a path for the ongoing political decisions and processes.

I suggest that we all need to step back, just a little bit, and look at the problems confronting us from a different perspective. We must not underestimate the growing peril and fomenting social upheaval - which I do not need to spell out - which all of you are aware of. We need to show courage which matches the challenges ahead.

I am reminded of my mentor Nkosi Luthuli, who always got inspiration from that hymn, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus,” when he often spoke of courage rising with danger, and that is what we should do if we do not wish to be remembered as those who failed to act when we had a chance to do so.

As for other matters, I wish I could stretch my 11 minutes, but unfortunately I cannot. And because of the seriousness, also, of the matter that I am putting before Parliament, Madam Speaker, hon members, I would like to say that the IFP supports The Presidency Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.] Mr B H HOLOMISA: Mhlekazi, siphi esi sithuba sobunkulumbuso, ukuze uze kubeka mna? [Kwahlekwa.] [Speaker, where is this premiership position, so that you can give it to me. [Laughter.]]

Madam Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, the UDM supports Budget Vote No 1. The Presidency has in the past couple of years been focusing on economic and foreign policy issues, particularly in the context of the African agenda. In those instances we have to commend it for doing exceptionally well.

Notwithstanding what the hon President has said here today, social issues seem to have been granted a lower status. The implementation of social policies in general has been left to members of the Cabinet and directors- general. For instance, the policies for social issues, such as education and health, seem centred around the political head and not on long-term goals.

Thus we have seen changes upon changes as Education Ministers come and go. The Department of Health has been characterised by conflicts and differences between the top political and administrative management personnel; hence the problems and controversies that undermine service delivery by the department.

It has been a long time now since the hon President announced that the directors-general would be investigating the general structure and performance of the entire government bureaucracy. The concerns that led to the hon President’s announcement don’t seem to have gone away. So if such a study has been completed, it would please this House to view its findings.

The remainder of the President’s term in office is a vulnerable time owing to the looming change of the guard. There will be those Ministers and directors-general who would be hesitant to propose restructuring, or other difficult but necessary reforms, because they do not want to rock the boat and perhaps upset a future employer.

This is also a time fraught with the danger that some people might decide that this is the last opportunity to loot resources or secure lucrative government business. There is a need for The Presidency, in the remaining two years of this term, to turn its focus inwards upon the bureaucracy itself to ferret out the numerous stumbling blocks to proper policy implementation.

By doing so, the hon President would be proactively addressing the concerns of many communities who have taken to the streets in protest about poor service delivery. Such an approach would help government to undermine any strategies that may be afoot to portray South Africa as an unstable country.

In conclusion, there has been a tendency in government to use spokespersons and media statements to comment on matters of serious concern. Sometimes these statements even contradict each other. When you see that there are signs of low intensity warfare and destabilisation, then it is important for the spin doctors to step aside and the national leadership to speak directly to the people.

While each successive president may have a different style, there are times as a South African that I long for a voice of reassurance and authority from The Presidency. At times all of us South Africans, irrespective of political affiliation, want a national leadership that condemns unequivocally some of the lawlessness that we have seen in recent years and reaffirms our mutual ownership and sense of pride in our country. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr M R SONTO: Madam Speaker, Your Excellencies the President and the Deputy President, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, in his inauguration speech on 10 May 1994 President Nelson Mandela said, and I quote:

We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

It is the thorough management of that covenant by government, at the apex of which is The Presidency, that our democracy is where it is today.

To harness that covenant, in his 2006 state of the nation address, the incumbent President of the Republic, President Thabo Mbeki declared that: “Our country has entered its age of hope”. Because of that hope, citizens of this great country are defining for themselves what they want to make of their shared destiny.

The interaction between communities by way of izimbizo called by The Presidency, Ministers, MECs and municipalities, and through all other forms of person-to-person communication, gives meaning to this “democracy of the people, for the people, by the people”.

These gatherings have become effective tools of co-ordination, through which government interacts directly with the electorate as it allows people to interact directly and freely with the lawmakers. Community development workers, community policing fora, school governing bodies, ward committees and other structures are examples of initiatives taken by government under the co-ordination of The Presidency to ensure people’s participation in governance.

Programmes such as the Integrated Development Plan, local economic development, public hearings in Parliament, and taking Parliament to the people - as was the case in Kliptown and Oudtshoorn - served as a strong link between izimbizo and these programmes. These have maximized the input of the people in matters that directly affect them.

The 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, an historic event of the people, as well as Africa Day and other great moments that we celebrated, are an epitome of this government’s commitment to promoting people’s participation.

In the past our people were never involved in decision-making processes and their views and inputs on issues of governance were never taken into account. Buildings, streets, airports, and public places were named after people whose origins are foreign in our country. As those decisions were taken in boardrooms, they were never agreed on by our people.

Those who had authority over such undemocratic processes are not even apologetic about what they put us through, as we grapple to rewrite our history. They challenge every democratic move of redress the government takes, and this makes one wonder as to where their allegiance is. Their understanding of democracy can be likened to that of Joseph Schumpeter, who once said:

Democracy does not mean and cannot mean that the people actually rule in any obvious sense of the terms ‘people’ and ‘rule’. Democracy means only that the people have the opportunity of accepting or refusing the men who are to rule them.

What a direct attack on participatory democracy as he could only think of democracy as representative democracy, a belief that suggests that it is enough for people to be consulted only about who should lead them.

That is the understanding of those who would oppose, for the sake of opposing, anything that government, through The Presidency, is doing. Our democracy is underpinned by that demand of our people made in 1955 in Kliptown - where the Freedom Charter was adopted - when they said that: “The people shall govern”. Through that demand government, overseen by The Presidency, created an enabling environment where all people are entitled to taking part in the administration of the country, the benefits of which are seen through Mama Nhlapo from Mpumalanga, who received a house for the first time at the age of seventy-eight years.

In the Overberg there are two projects of particular importance that our people have benefited from. While government has succeeded a great deal in addressing most of the ills in our society, more needs to be done in gearing the Public Service towards following up on people’s problems and solving them.

The delivery backlog we inherited made it impossible for us to reach anyone. The huge advances we have made cannot be overshadowed by that lack of follow-up. I must stress that prophets of doom and gloom will never stop portraying a negative picture of the government and The Presidency. However, the resolve to achieve our objective of a better South Africa cannot be doubted. I support the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs P DE LILLE: Thank you, Madam Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President. Mr President, I want to use this opportunity to pay tribute to your commitment to the development of the African continent. We recognise your efforts in highlighting the plight of the African people and elevating the African agenda globally. However, a lot of work still needs to be done if we are serious about achieving the millennium goals.

In the words of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, hon Ban Ki- moon, and I quote: “How Africa fares in reaching the Millennium Development Goals is a matter of life and death.” Therefore, I call on you, Mr President, to increase the pressure on African states to fulfil their obligations in achieving the MDGs.

Quite frankly, Mr President, the African continent is not poor, but it is poorly managed. Mr President, you are not alone in this noble quest. As a member of the steering committee of the newly-established Arab-Africa Initiative, chaired by Tokyo Sexwale, we have been actively lobbying Arab governments, the Arab corporate sector and civil society of Arab nations to make a meaningful financial contribution to the achievement of MDGs. We cannot just rely on the empty promises of the G8.

This initiative is aimed at building partnerships between Africa and the Arab world, governments and civil society, with United Nations co-operation that includes Mr Jeffery Sacks, Economic Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is similar to our own Asgisa, which is trying to raise finance for development. The Arab-Africa initiative will therefore soon engage with the Deputy President on Asgisa.

I have just received an invitation from the President of the General Assembly, Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, to attend a meeting titled: “Financing Development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”, in Doha, Qatar.

Mr President, on the home front, looking through your three-year strategic plan and previous budget speeches, it is clear that your government is weak on policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It is clear that to achieve our ambitious developmental objectives, the state and the market alone are not enough. We need people-centred development in South Africa that unlocks the capacity and creativity of our people and communities. The ID supports the budget. I thank you. [Applause.] Rev K R J MESHOE: Madam Speaker, hon President, the ACDP will support this Budget Vote and welcomes the President’s strong condemnation of violent actions by striking public servants. We are equally concerned about the cruel actions of some strikers who are intimidating and victimizing patients seeking medical treatment at public hospitals. Reports about paramedics being prevented from giving emergency medical care to desperate patients are deplorable. Such unacceptable behaviour will not advance the workers just cause for better wages.

While we understand government’s frustration and decision to fire striking nurses, we want to know what government is planning to do about nurses who do go to work, but choose to watch television in staff rooms, rather than attend to patients. Yesterday, The Star newspaper reported about the shocking conditions they found when they did spot visits to Baragwanath and Johannesburg hospitals.

Among others, they found bleeding patients at Baragwanath lying unattended in outdoor courtyards, and corridors of uncollected hazardous medical waste. We wonder what happened to the policy of Batho Pele and a caring society that government has spoken so much about.

A few thousands soldiers who have been deployed to government hospitals and schools to help patients and to protect those who want to access medical care, don’t seem to be coping with the work load. Reports that seven private hospitals in Gauteng and three in KwaZulu-Natal were closed last week because of intimidation by people alleged to be striking public sector workers are annoying.

That’s why the ACDP appeals to the President to do everything in his power to ensure that private hospitals and schools that are still open and under threat, are protected from a potential invasion by angry strikers who do not care about the constitutional rights of others. Government must also ensure that children who want to write their mid-term exams are not victimised or even assaulted by undemocratic strikers.

Our greatest concern, Mr President, is the threats by the police and prisons civil rights union and some members of the Metro Police Services that they would join the strike in sympathy with public servants. Popcru president, Zizamele Cebekhulu, is reported to have said that unmanned prisons and police stations are a possibility. This, to say the least, should worry all law-abiding citizens.

Besides urgently applying for a court interdict, we want to know what government is going to do to prevent such threats from becoming a reality. We do not want to see soldiers confronting armed police officers who are on strike. A clash of armed forces must be avoided at all cost.

While the nation appreciates press conferences by government ministers to keep them informed about the latest news regarding wage negotiations, we nevertheless believe the President is the best person to give concerned citizens the assurance that an amicable solution to the impasse will be found within the next few days, and that this costly strike will not be allowed to get out of hand. I thank you.

Dr P W A MULDER: Hon Speaker, hon President, after the Anglo Boer War Emily Hobhouse said of the Afrikaners and the women in the concentration camps, and I quote:

An Afrikaner Boer can live on a plate of mealies a day, as long as he or she has hope. If you take away hope, the food is too little, and you die.

This is true of all people. South Africa and Africa need hope. We as leaders have to give people hope. Why do many people and leaders not give hope? Because they are selfishly busy looking after their own interests.

If I look at the strike, I get this message. The FF Plus had expressed its support for better salaries for teachers and nurses. The way in which trade union leaders are now acting sends out a message of selfish own interests. This is while many poor South Africans, who are unemployed, observe the strikes. What is worse is that it now becoming clear that the Cosatu leaders are abusing thousands of public service employees to fight their bigger political battles against President Mbeki and the government. These employees are losing their jobs and millions of rands as part of this.

’n Ander rede waarom leiers nie hoop gee nie, is omdat hulle so besig is met die dag-tot-dag-probleme, dat hulle die groter ideale uit die oog verloor. Ons is so besig om die klippe reg voor ons in die pad te vermy, dat ons vergeet om op te kyk na die horison ver voor ons. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[Another reason why leaders are not giving hope is that they are so involved with the day-to-day problems that they are losing sight of the bigger ideals. We are so busy trying to avoid the stones right in front of us in the road that we forget to look up at the horizon in the distance.]

What are the essentials of genuine statesmanship? Scott named two, and I quote:

Rare combination of idealistic – the horizon in the distance; and the severely practical – the daily stones in our way.

Idealistically, the FF Plus dreams of a Southern Africa with a well- developed infrastructure, and a place in the sun for everyone. It consists of roads, rail network and an environmentally friendly power network which could provide the whole of Africa with power. Inga III and IV - the gigantic hydro-electricity project in the Congo River, could provide all countries in South Africa with more than enough power.

With such infrastructure, we can eventually begin to beat poverty. Is it a pipe-dream? Perhaps it is like that. But the wise person said: make no small plans because they have no magic to stir men’s blood.

Hierdie idealisme bring hoop, maar baie VF Plus-ondersteuners se hoop word deur verskeie praktiese sake vernietig, wat ek ’n ruk terug met die President bespreek het. Regstellende aksie is een. Dr Hermann het met navorsing die effek van regstellende aksie op 5 000 werkers van Eskom bepaal. Hy het bevind dat 80% van hulle meen dat regstellende aksie nie korrek toegepas word nie; 93% voel dat bevordering deur harde werk en op meriete vir hulself buite die kwessie is; 75% dink daaraan om Eskom te verlaat omdat hulle daar geen toekoms sien nie. Hy het gesê dat Suid- Afrikaners hoop nodig het en dat ook hierdie wit werkers hoop nodig het.

As Minister Manuel die stigtingsverklaring van die Pan-Afrika Infrastruktuurontwikkelingsfonds teken, bring dit hoop dat ons die infrastruktuurdrome wat ek hierbo genoem het, wel kan realiseer. Maar u moet ook hoop gee aan die duisende wit werkers wat tans geen hoop het as nie gevolg van die wyse waarop regstellende aksie toegepas word. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[This idealism brings hope, but the hope of many FF Plus supporters is being destroyed by several practical matters which I discussed with the President a while ago. Affirmative action is one of them. Dr Hermann has established, through research, the effect of affirmative action on 5 000 workers at Eskom. He found that 80% of them are of the opinion that affirmative action is not being applied properly; 93% feel that promotion for themselves through hard work and merit is out of the question; 75% are contemplating leaving Eskom as they don’t see a future for themselves there. He said that South Africans need hope and that these white workers also need hope.

When Minister Manuel signs the founding statement of the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund, it brings hope that we can indeed realise the infrastructure dreams I have mentioned above. However, you also need to give hope to the thousands of white workers who are presently without any hope due to the manner in which affirmative action is being applied.]

Remember that in history it is the dreamers that move the world; trying to do things that cannot be done, that makes life worthwhile.

Ek dank u. [Applous.] [I thank you. [Applause.]] Mr I VADI: Madam Speaker, Ilana Mercer, a South African living abroad, had this to say about her former homeland: “A decade after democracy the city of Johannesburg looks like Mogadishu, streets are strewn with garbage, gun battles are commonplace and shopkeepers often sit behind iron bars”.

Emphasising that ordinary South Africans are fed up with crime, she adds that they are foolishly organising protest marches to present petitions to President Mbeki. She then declared that President Thabo Mbeki would take note, mind you, if the once-mighty Afrikaners took to the streets with their weapons, not with petitions and scented candles.

It might well be that Mercer’s call to arms was inspired by Bok van Blerk’s song De la Rey. Whilst I do not believe that the song aims to incite treason, Mercer’s article does reflect a dangerous mindset. It so glibly calls on Afrikaners to take up arms against the democratic government. It ignores the fact that violent crime in our country is decreasing.

However, both the ANC and The Presidency recognise that this downward trend provides little comfort to ordinary South Africans as crime is still at an unacceptably high level in our country. It is disappointing that Mercer’s articles came only days after President Thabo Mbeki had dealt with the issue of crime at the ANC’s 95th anniversary celebrations, where he declared that crime is a scourge that continues to bedevil our young democracy and that it impacts negatively on the quality of life of all our people - and that includes Afrikaners.

This view was reiterated in the President’s state of the nation address in which he stated that we certainly cannot erase that which is ugly and repulsive and claim the happiness that comes with freedom if communities live in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire, ever anxious in their houses, on the streets and on our roads, unable freely to enjoy our public spaces. Obviously, we must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime.

He then urged all of us to address the socio-economic conditions that feed crime. He called for the active participation of all communities, including Afrikaners, to build a united front against crime. These assertions from The Presidency are reassuring. They must galvanise all of us to fight criminals and to take charge of our communities.

Mr President, I am pleased to report that this is precisely what we are doing in our constituency. On Saturday, 16 June 2007, members of the SA Police Services from three areas in Lenasia, Ennerdale and Lenasia South, together with the CPFs and other community organisations, are going to embark on a joint anti-crime campaign. This programme will see the staging of roadblocks, joint operations in crime hotspots and a massive community campaign against drug dealers.

It is activities such as these that inspire hope in our people, and that also contribute towards safer communities. The possibility of joint police operations across precinct areas raises another important question: Can we enhance the level of co-operation and co-ordination among the different arms of the security, intelligence, judicial and correctional services?

We are aware that under this Presidency, government has opted for an approach of clustering departments. It has established a natural security council and more clearly defined the functions of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee. Yet, the question must still be posed: Do we have the desired levels of co-operation and co-ordination within the peace and security cluster? Are we minimising turf battles? Are we sharing information and expertise? Are we really joining hands to safeguard the overall security of our nation and its people?

Madam Speaker, this leads me to another question. How do we propose to deal with threats to our national security, particularly the threat of international terrorism? In the past this House welcomed the President’s condemnation of internal terrorist attacks on the African continent and elsewhere in the world. This principled view is inspired by our own struggle for national liberation and the core values of our Constitution. While the President has pledged South Africa’s co-operation in the fight against international terrorism, he rejected acts of vengeance directed at individuals, communities or nations simply because of their faith, language or colour.

It is, however, disturbing that the US-led “war on terror” is increasingly being perceived as a “war of terror” against the weakest states in the Muslim world. Of equal concern is that some Western powers are exerting enormous pressure on smaller states to join in this obsession with the fight against international terrorism at the expense of the fight against poverty, illiteracy, underdevelopment and disease. One wonders if our own country is also coming under this spell.

I say this as in the recent past several conferences have been held in our region to discuss the threat of international terrorism in Africa and in Southern Africa, specifically. For example, in January this year a dialogue sponsored by the US National Intelligence Council and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the US Department of State, brought together African and American policy makers and analysts to consider terrorist threats in Africa, the extent of the so-called threat by radical Islam on the continent and the relationship between religious and political radicalism and terrorism in Southern Africa.

Similarly, a Combating and Preventing Terrorism in Africa Conference was hosted by the International Quality and Productivity Centre in August last year in Johannesburg, involving antiterror experts who previously have had close links with the Israeli Defence Force and the US Defence Department. South Africa must be mindful of such events. It should not allow itself to be pushed into driving and extending agendas at the expense of its own national and security interests.

Lastly, I wish to examine the question of changes in political leadership within African states. I have raised this issue because the succession of leaders, either through a military course or democratic processes, has emerged as a source of instability within many Africans societies.

If one were to scan the African continent in this regard, three trends become apparent. The first is the well-known but unacceptable factor of having a president for life. Here is an African leader, committed to a strong man culture and he uses all means - fair or foul - to remain in power either for life or as long as possible. This is the case whether or not he enjoys popular legitimacy.

At the other end of the spectrum we have seen the emerging of a positive trend of changes in political leadership though legitimate, democratic and peaceful processes. The changes in Mozambique and Namibia, as in South Africa in 1999, represent the best examples of well-managed exercises within the context of recognisable democratic norms and standards.

In between these two trends we have had cases of bitter and often violent contestation over the presidency. One can think of the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to a limited extent Nigeria, as pertinent examples of succession battles leading to political instability and social insecurity.

Madam Speaker, South Africa has been a leading example of the best that African can offer in this regard. As we come closer to our fourth national democratic elections, let us reject any notion of a street revolution or undemocratic procedures from any quarter to resolve the succession question in our country. Let us also be alert to sinister tricks of covert forces, both national and foreign, that might want to exploit the moment for ulterior purposes.

Being vigilant we can remain the brightest southern star on the African continent. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Hon President, Madam Deputy Speaker, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, I’m honoured to have an opportunity to engage with you on the occasion of the annual debate on The Presidency’s Budget. This budget debate takes place during a special month; our youth month. When we talk about the people of South Africa and Africa, we are talking about a population that is essentially young. In Africa close to 30% of people are below 35 years of age. In South Africa, 41% of our population is below the age of 35 years. This presents our continent and country with an opportunity to shape the next generation, depending on what we do. We can invest in a more prosperous generation.

In the 2007 state of the nation address, the President announced that we need to look into the matter of the wage subsidy, which is a facilitated entry into the labour market for first time entrants the majority of whom will be youth, precisely because we need greater certainty about youth absorption into the labour market and their soft landing in the world of work. I noted with appreciation that the Minister of Finance touched on this in his Budget speech.

This is as we build the fabric of a great nation, restoring its soul and brightening its future. Unlike the youth of 1976, this government is on the side of the young people. We are partners in reconstruction. The unfolding process to renew the Youth Development Policy led by Minister Pahad will intensify how we confront these vexing issues; many of them are those from the throes of our inherited tragic history.

We need our young people. Their needs are not abstract or pie in the sky. They are very real. Most of the youth in South Africa just need somebody to give them “a break”.

We also know this economy will never reach its full potential without the full engagement of our young citizens, our women and our black people in general, and of course, all South Africans. These are the people on whom growing the economy faster and more equitably equally rests. An estimated four million of them are out of school, unemployed, and with only 10 or less years of schooling. They too are part of the young population that must be empowered to make our future brighter. They need our attention very soon. It is for this reason that we are focussing on the development and the revisiting of our youth policies.

It is estimated that there is R7 billion that is spent by the private sector focussing on youth development. This indeed is what we are seeking to look into, so that we can work collaboratively with the public sector to ensure that these resources are better targeted.

Our own programmes as government, we feel, are not sufficiently targeted to some of these needy groups, so this week we will meet with the private sector so that we can decide and discuss how we can design plans and target these young people using our collective programmes as well as resources. We talk about the young people in our communities, abo Trompies e Mitchells Plain, abo Ntokozo Emlazi kwa V, abo Bra Tshepo e Qwaqwa, [Trompies in Mitchells Plain, Ntokozo in Umlazi V section, and Tshepo in Qwaqwa] just the average young people that are not in some of the logical places that we’ll turn to work. They are young, able-bodied and unskilled, but trainable. Qha. [That is all.] They should not be left to form the next generation of citizens in the second economy.

Thankfully, our democracy has opened possibilities for millions of our youth who are slowly but surely making their presence felt in the public sector, in community service, in the economy, in the sciences, in education and in many other fields.

It is important for us not to define success to our young people only in terms of business and wealth accumulation, but also in terms of professionalism, service and academic excellence, all of which are of equal value and in some cases of greater virtue.

When many of you left school, some of the careers and industries in the market today did not even exist. Ndibhekisa kwaba baphuma kudala esikolweni. [I’m referring to those who left school long ago.] [Laughter.]

Of the careers and industries that will emerge in the next few years, some will be new industries, which will require new qualifications and skills, and, of course, the young and the old will need to train themselves for this new reality. In the work we do in the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition, Jipsa, we align the economic growth trajectory with school requirements.

We have already enabled at least 5 000 young graduates in training and employment placement in South Africa and almost a thousand overseas. These placements are driven by the Independent Development Trust, assisted by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, foreign embassies and many departments, including foreign affairs, that in future will an even play a more significant role in facilitating this programme of international placements.

We have been pleasantly surprised to find many young black rural women with amazing qualifications, eagerness and intellect. Some, we have placed where they can fast-track their acquisition of experience and skills, and I’d like to thank many companies in South Africa and abroad who have assisted us in this work.

For young adults, on the margins, our Adult Basic Education and Training programme will also play a significant role when it comes into full steam, especially technical Abet. The National Youth Service also, will give, and is already giving, some of our young people “a break”.

We are glad that the National Youth Service will meet the target set by the President in the state of the nation address. I’d like to thank the many departments who have allocated resources to the National Youth Service, NYS, who have already started implementing the programmes. I’d like, for instance, to thank the Departments of Public Works, Defence, Housing, Home Affairs, Water Affairs and Forestry, municipalities and many more.

The training of artisans by both the government and the private sector and state-owned enterprises is another very direct response to the demand for skills and gaps identified by Jipsa in our growing economy. With the R415,8 billion government expenditure committed for infrastructure, our government is delivering on a key Asgisa objective, which has also raised the investment levels in the economy to significant new heights.

As the President has stated, gross fixed capital investment, much of which is in infrastructure, rose from 14,7% of GDP in 2002 to 19,2% of GDP in the last quarter of 2006. SOEs are making progress, Eskom’s power stations have been approved and tenders for Independent Power Producers have been approved. The National Public Transport Plan has been finalised and approved and the Airports Company SA, Acsa, is on schedule. Transnet orders for locomotives and rolling stock are also in the pipeline. This progress is a relief, because the infrastructure budget was the biggest in the work that Asgisa was supposed to facilitate. We in The Presidency therefore also have a dedicated person who is monitoring and liaising with colleagues who are working in the infrastructure arena, and of course, we also work with the private sector. So, that is why I’m a bit puzzled by the hon Botha who thinks that we’re centralising. We actually work with lots of people in The Presidency, especially on many of these macro initiatives that we have.

We are worried about the implications for the capital goods industry as our infrastructure programme evolves and I would therefore like to thank the Department of Trade and Industry, which has done a study on the exact capital goods requirements. The study is now being discussed with the stakeholders so that they can assist. Again, another collaboration with greater stakeholders and not the President working alone, bantu! [Please people!]

We assist with issues of poverty and we are putting greater emphasis on eradicating poverty in a predictable manner. To date, even our worst critics agree that government’s outreach to more than 12 million beneficiaries is a significant outreach to the poor. These are the poorest of the poor and this unprecedented outreach to the poor in a country and economy of our size is indeed unheard of.

Our outreach is reaching households, poor families, poor children, gogos [the elderly], disabled persons and of course, even our critics also agree that our social wage is very generous. It is indeed, also, again I must emphasise, unprecedented in a developing county. That is why we also know how to identify the unserved groups in the second economy who do not receive any grants, education or are pre- pensioned adults who are also not receiving our pensions.

We’ll therefore target these groups that are falling between the cracks in our comprehensive anti-poverty strategy, such that we’ll be able to assist them to exit the cycle of poverty into self-reliance. It is not true, therefore, that government does not care and maybe government cares too much, but that we are not apologetic about. [Applause.]

We have not manufactured the more than 12 million beneficiaries of our support. Who else in this country is doing so much, with such dedication and is still determined and committed to do more? Our government will implement an interim anti-poverty campaign while it is developing the comprehensive anti-poverty strategy and we will identify households and individuals who live in dire poverty. Again, this work is being done with NGOs, with professional bodies, with researchers and with communities. Again, the government collaborating, not centralising power and responsibility!

We are committed to intervening, in collaboration with families, through a strategy where each family and individual will be looked at regarding their status and situation in relation to poverty. In that process, we will seek to empower families to take responsibility to end poverty in their own respective families for generations to come. The social cluster and our Policy Co-ordination and Advisory Services in The Presidency, PCAS, are seized with this work which will lead us to empowerment of the family in the fight against poverty.

Our commitment to end gender-based poverty which persists at the bottom end of the poverty pyramid is also part of the challenges and areas of focus. These women and people in general are the people who do not have jobs. They are not fortunate enough to be in positions like you and me and many others who are employed by government or the private sector or are in self- employment and have an income.

Our responsibility as this government is to ensure that state resources are spent in a manner that is not biased against the poorest of the poor, because they depend only on us for health care, pensions, child support, free education, free water and basic infrastructure. They have no bargaining power and they have nobody to bargain with.

Those of us who have been elected by these people, such as the ANC – my party - have the responsibility to ensure that the legitimate needs of the working class do not in any way lead us to compromise on the very legitimate and urgent needs of the bulk of the poorest of the poor. We made a commitment to achieve universal access to basic services earlier this year, and we also made a commitment to achieve some of our targets even before the timeframe set in the Millennium Development Goals. Our targets are for 2014 and, in fact, they are more ambitious than those of the MDGs. Regarding energy, water, sanitation, of course we are seized with focusing on delivering on those targets.

We would like to defy the prediction that all of Africa will not meet the MDGs targets. This is not an option for us in South Africa. We believe it is possible for us to meet our targets but we need to make sure that, in government, we get rid of our red tape. That is the greatest threat. It’s not resources that will stop us from delivering on MDGs.

Madam Speaker and hon President, I am now convinced that the work done by the Department of Provincial and Local Government, DBSA, Jipsa, the private sector; the excellent progress we have made in Home Affairs in facilitating permits so that we can recruit foreign skills; the returning South Africans from the diaspora; the South Africans that are returning from retirement, are actually paying off.

With this mobilisation of skills for municipalities, I am convinced that we will be able to tackle the challenge of a skills shortage in municipalities. We can even do better with added secondments. However, again, I would want to urge that our own red tape must not make it difficult for us to utilise the many skills of this kind that we are now mobilising.

Mongameli, nani nonke malungu ahloniphekile … [Mr President, hon members] … following the provincial visits we have been undertaking with Director- General Frank Chikane, we have gained further insight into the challenges faced by provinces and their commitment to do things right. The process of eradicating the bucket system remains a priority in all our provinces and impressive progress is being made. I would also like to thank the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for their contribution in this regard.

We have engaged frankly with colleagues in the provinces on the challenges. To date, we have visited the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and focused on the performance of provincial growth and development strategies, Asgisa projects, basic service delivery, human resource development, youth and women’s development and safety, social and governance issues. In each province we have been assisted by the DPLG and the affected province on the specific challenges that face those provinces.

Some of our general conclusions, at this early stage, from our visits, include the urgency to ensure that hospital revitalisation in all provinces is given all the support we can give it, especially where there are sound business plans that are already agreed to, and, of course, also the support for human resource development in health.

We have also noticed the need for the provision of quality education and the great need to ensure support at each of the 30 000 schools of our country, starting with the neediest schools. We have also identified the filling of vacancies and the need for better recruitment, retention strategies and a shared pool of skills, including secondments as well as the skills that we are recruiting from retirement and foreign skills as one way of addressing the vacancy challenges that many provinces are facing. But, of course, they must also take responsibility in this regard.

Financial management challenges continue to be one of the areas of concern. However, we have also observed that there is improvement. The involvement of the National Treasury’s municipal public finance management unit is beginning to make an impact in those provinces and municipalities where it is working; qhubekani [continue with what you are doing].

In local government development, planning capability is also a glaring challenge. We think there is a need to ensure that local economic development, LED, is aligned with macroeconomic opportunities. It must not mean that LED is just about small projects otherwise we will not be able to deal with high unemployment rates that many municipalities are trying to grapple with.

We have not seen enough utilisation of some of the government opportunities to initiate local business, for instance in areas like waste management. On a positive note, we have noticed improvement with regard to environmental assessment in most provinces, progress in the management of HIV and Aids, as well as greater efforts to manage tuberculosis. There is, however, a greater need for us to continue to support many in these provinces, as the Minister of Health explained in her Budget Vote.

There are pockets of improvement in infrastructure roll-out in almost all the provinces. Intergovernmental relations are much better and there is improved food security, especially because of the social grants. We noted the provinces’ progress regarding Asgisa projects such as the Dube Trade Port in KwaZulu-Natal, Umzimvubu in the Eastern Cape, the industrial development zone in the North West, and I am also aware that there is progress on Moloto Road as well as in the Northern Cape, concerning their diamond beneficiation initiative.

Jobs for Growth is an attempt to grow jobs at a very grass-roots level, with an ambitious target of creating jobs especially for women. We are thankful to the Independent Development Trust again for its support in this work. In this initiative, we have initiated training and we are now proceeding with developing the capacity to produce commercial articles by co-operatives and microenterprises.

The majority of these enterprises are in agriculture. We therefore need to diversify while we continue to grow more business in agriculture. This programme compliments the work of the DTI. The work in the area of SMMEs has to be in much larger scale than it is now, so that it can have the desired impact.

Sectors in the national industrial strategy and large businesses are a necessary link in the development of small businesses. We are waiting for the work on the set-asides for SMMEs and BEE projects from government, as well as work on the timeous payment of SMMEs by government to be completed as that will also enhance our work in this area.

Like the President, I find it hard to believe that our economy is not growing faster than the statistics indicate. Just the demand for energy tells its own story. I am sure these people need this energy for real use. However, I must add that we need to promote energy efficiency.

As we grow, the challenge, however, is that of unleashing growth opportunities for the people who live in the second economy in the most direct, quickest and most sustainable manner. As hon members know, the Office of the Deputy President is assigned to work on the complex matter of the second economy, together with all clusters in government, as this work cuts across all of government. This work is in progress and we will share with this House more details once it is ready. That does not stop us from continuously addressing the problems as we know them currently.

I am particularly pleased to see how, for instance, ICT companies are drawing in young people from rural areas and poor communities and providing them with cutting-edge skills in ICT. That enables many of these young people to buy their way out of poverty.

In the ensuing collaboration approach within Asgisa, we are seeing more companies and provincial governments intensifying training of engineers, artisans, project managers, ICT and financial professionals. These initiatives will augment the number of graduates expected from our universities as per the work done through the Department of Education.

I would like to thank the Jipsa secretariat for collaborating with our departments in this work. I would also like to thank the departments that are participating in the different initiatives of Jipsa. Let me thank in particular – in relation to artisans - the Department of Labour for the progress that we are now making. We must sustain the pace in relation to the regulations that will define what an artisan is so that we are able also to take advantage of the many opportunities that are there for training artisans. We must also bring to a close the issue of the national qualifications programme review so that we are able to enhance the pool of skills that is immediately available to us.

We also encourage all of you, hon members and the people in your communities, to participate in the mentoring activities, under the theme, “every child is my child” where young people and adults mentor young people and children. One such programme is the Big Brother and Big Sister programme driven by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the National Youth Commission. We have a big shortage of adult mentors in this programme, bantu [people]. The young boys have asked us to find them good male role models. Can all the good men in this House stand up and be counted? [Applause.]

We also encourage corporates to initiate their own mentoring schemes where their employees will become “the big” and we will supply them with “the small”, together with Umsobomvu and the many NGOs who are working in this area. All our children, especially the vulnerable and orphaned ones, need somebody to take special care.

We need more middle-class people to embrace this programme. We are greatly heartened by the number of people in our townships who are in this programme – ordinary mothers, ordinary “gogos” and many young people who are playing the role of big brother and big sister. Ngicela nibashayele izandla. [Clap your hands for them please.] [Applause.]

As the Leader of Government Business, we provide an interface between the executive and Parliament. I thank members of the executive and presiding officers for raising sharply the issues that continue to bedevil effective co-ordination in this area of our work. We are all committed to solving these problems in both Houses in order to work better, especially where there is legislation that needs collaboration between different departments and therefore different committees, and to shorten the time it takes to process such legislation.

I thank you for passing the Sexual Offences Bill in this House and we must also use the lessons we learned in the process of processing this Bill to work better and quicker. We must especially use that experience to expedite the Child Justice Bill, which the Department of Justice is bringing back for further consideration. Bridget asked me to make sure that I don’t leave this one out - but I share her concern and anxiety.

We appreciate the interest members show in the work of government through the questions posed to the executive, the President and me in the House. There is room for improvement to ensure that the questions that are tabled serve a useful purpose and serve the greater public good. I am pleased that Parliament is close to finalising its approach to its oversight work.

More work needs to be done from the executive side in ensuring that the executive responds to issues raised by Parliament in their oversight work and particularly in reports that are adopted in the House. However, we must also make sure that as we table the reports for adoption we work closely with the members of the executive. The Leader of Government Business unit in the Cabinet Office will be crucial in ensuring that we achieve these objectives.

I wish to thank Mrs Vanessa Calvert and Judy Cornish from the support office in Parliament of the Leader of Government Business for the important work they quietly do in this area. My Parliamentary Councillor, Mrs Dorothy Motubatse, is on extended sick leave and we wish her a speedy recovery. In her absence, John Jeffery, the President’s Parliamentary Councillor, provides excellent assistance and service to me and to the work of the President.

Madam Speaker, the fight for a healthier nation free of preventable diseases continues to be a shared vision of many South Africans. This has been aptly demonstrated through the vigorously restructured and reinvigorated standards. I would like to thank the leadership of the Department of Health, the Minister who was supportive even when she was on leave, the Minister who relieved her, Minister Radebe, the other national departments that participated, the professionals, civil society and all those who have contributed to this process that has led to the consensus that you now enjoy in the adopted national strategic plan.

Again, Madam Leader of the Opposition, we work together. We collaborate and we open ourselves up for criticism and that is why we have consensus on some of these crucial policy documents. I am certain that in both word and deed members will be found in the forefront of this battle against HIV and Aids, but in general in the struggle for a healthier South Africa.

South Africans must also work together on rebuilding our society. The majority of South Africans are committed to a shared and better future. We urge civil society and professionals to work for social cohesion to plough back into the communities in order to fight against the few in our communities who engage in criminal activities. We must support the police in their quest to keep order. We need to reclaim our neighbourhoods. The MRM initiative in our communities therefore deserves our support.

Like the MRM, the 2010 Fifa World Cup is rooted in a broader project of nation-building and social cohesion. Our President remarked in a letter to Fifa President, Sepp Blatter, that: “The fundamentals of this bid lie in our resolve to ensure that the 21st century unfolds as a century of growth and development in Africa.” The fact is that we can report that this Fifa World Cup is already the most successful World Cup ever. It has generated a massive US$3,2 billion in signed agreements, more than any other World Cup. Shayani izandla. [Clap your hands.] [Applause.]

In addition, Fifa has donated US$7 million towards the legacy programme. Our government has approved infrastructure spending worth R19 billion and South African companies have invested more than R700 million in this event. We stand in front of you today, proud in the knowledge that jobs that are being created are benefiting the poor around the country. Our hearts are warmed by a construction worker in Port Elizabeth who said that the job she has, building Nelson Bay Stadium, is her first since 1989. [Applause.] We rejoice in the statement of a worker at Soccer City who said that he was not just building a stadium, but that he was helping to build our country. That is the spirit.

We will unveil opportunities for SMMEs at the 2010 business opportunities conference to be hosted on 19 June 2007. Government will partner with Fifa and LOC in this event. Did you know that we chose our host cities one year ahead of schedule? Did you know that you completed our legislative programme to give effect to the government guarantees much earlier than any other host nation? Did you know that we are nearing the final stage of our selection process for the location of the international broadcast centre? [Applause.] I rest my case.

We will have an opportunity to repay this confidence when the world descends on Durban in November 2007, when the first big associated event will be held on South African soil. The preliminary draw will bring together nations from around the world after they have signed up in record numbers to participate in the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. No fewer than 204 countries have signed up for this competition – a record in Fifa’s book. [Applause.]

Ladies and gentlemen and hon members, I must also emphasise the fact that our President and The Presidency interact with a number of stakeholders. The President has a number of working groups, all of which demonstrate our commitment to consult and to work in collaboration. We have a youth working group - we have worked with young lions; we have a labour working group – we work with labour; we have a big business working group; we have a women’s working group; we have an agriculture working group; we have an ICT international working group; we have an international investment council; we have a black business working group; we have a higher education group; a religious working group … what more! [Applause.]

In conclusion, I would also like to remind the House that the people of South Africa have given us an overwhelming mandate to address the agenda of the poor while we unite the country. Moral regeneration remains a concern of all our people, rich and poor and the different race groups. We need to put our efforts together on this agenda. I have no doubt that the work that the Policy Co-ordination and Advisory Services, PCAS, is doing together with the social cluster in looking into comprehensive antipoverty as well as the wave of driving pro employment growth will emerge with second economy interventions that will respond to the needs of the poor. Nothing is more important to us than cracking this complex challenge that is not unique to South Africa.

I thank you, hon members and presiding officers, the Acting Chief Whip of the ruling party for your support, colleagues in the executive, our team in The Presidency led by Reverend Chikane, the advisory team, the excellent services provided by PCAS, led by Director-General Joel Netshitenzhe, the protection teams, Minister Pahad and the chief, our boss, and lastly my family and friends. Thank you. [Applause.]

Business suspended at 16:25 and resumed at 16:49.

Ms K R MAGAU: Motlatsa motsamaisi wa dipuisano, mookamedi ya kgabane wa Repaboliki ya Aforika Borwa, Motlatsi wa Mookamedi, Matona, ditho tsa palamente, baeti, ke a le dumedisa. [Deputy Speaker, hon President of the Republic of South Africa, Deputy President, Ministers, members of Parliament, guests, I greet you all.]

International engagement and solidarity is the ANC and South African people’s longest tradition. It derives from the organisation’s understanding that our fortunes as a nation are intimately interconnected with those of the region, the continent and, indeed, of all humanity. This notion is further entrenched in the Preamble of our Constitution, which says the following: “Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.” It is with this understanding that we in the ANC believe in the creation of a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world.

The Presidency, being the centre of the country’s government system, as well as policy implementation and co-ordination, has over the past few years unveiled a series of strategic objectives aimed at enhancing the manner in which government undertakes its work locally and internationally. This brief then seeks to highlight interventions and initiatives undertaken by The Presidency in the international arena, with special reference to the consolidation of the African agenda and South–South Co-operation.

Madam Speaker, the consolidation of this agenda serves as a pillar upon which Africa’s developmental goals will be achieved. These developmental goals will only be achievable through regional communities with viable regional economic communities. Our own regional community, SADC’s agenda, is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socioeconomic development through an efficient and productive system, deeper integration and co-operation, good governance, peace and security, in order for the region to emerge as a competitive player in international relations and the world economy.

It is within regional indicative strategy developmental plans that Nepad priorities and objectives find expression. We would like to welcome the commitment by The Presidency to ensure that in almost all summits the region remains focused and committed to the African agenda.

We have also seen the critical role played by The Presidency in conflict resolution within the continent. Examples here would be Burundi, the Comores Islands and the DRC, and all these have been undertaken within the framework of the African Union.

We also welcome the current assignment given to The Presidency by SADC, namely that of engaging with Zimbabwe. We hope that this will bring fruitful results, because we believe that peace is a critical ingredient for development.

On good governance, through the African Peer Review Mechanism, Nepad introduces a voluntary instrument for monitoring compliance with the Principles, Priorities and Objectives of the Constitutive Act and other decisions of the AU. It provides a mechanism for peer learning and the sharing of information and best practices.

Participation in the APRM is voluntary, 24 countries have thus far joined and South Africa is presently being reviewed. We await the report. Continentally, the AU is the vehicle aimed at driving Nepad. We acknowledge progress made in this regard, that is, key institutions have been operationalised, namely the AU Assembly, the executive and permanent representative committee, the Pan-African Parliament whose headquarters are in South Africa.

Having said that, it is also important to note that there is a lack of momentum-drivers regarding the development of the efficient infrastructure and services to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services across the SADC region. Also, adequate attention is not being given to the implementation of all SADC protocols.

There is also a need to accelerate work which is in progress in operationalising AU institutions, namely the African Central Bank and the Court of Justice, for we believe without these institutions our developmental goals will be delayed.

Mr President, as the head of state, it is perhaps about time that you give effect to the Constitutive Act which states that after five years the Pan- African Parliament can be given legislative powers. This we, believe, will accelerate the consolidation of the African Agenda and also assist with oversight and the intensification of the regional integration which we believe is critical. A better Africa in a better world is in fact a possibility. The fact that the G8 countries today regard Africa as a partner is a good indicator. Thanks to The Presidency for this positive move. However, a myriad of challenges still remain as far as their commitment towards Africa is concerned. For instance, the recent G8 Summit held in Germany concluded without any tangible outcomes towards Africa. We would then plead with The Presidency to maintain the momentum in order to ensure that the G8 lives up to their promises towards Africa.

African Renewal Co-operation is another clear commitment from the South African Presidency towards driving and championing efforts aimed at ensuring Africa’s cultural and political renewal as well as co-operation. Two projects worth mentioning under this underscore this commitment.

Firstly, there is the South Africa-Mali Project on the Timbuktu manuscripts. The aim of this project is to preserve the various manuscripts from the ancient Africa university town of Timbuktu which was a historical centre of learning in education. The South Africa-Mali project was declared an official South African Presidential project as it was endorsed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

In this regard, a fundraising campaign to raise funds for the work towards the construction of the archive centre has begun in order to ensure, indeed, that African indigenous knowledge is well preserved.

The second important project is the 2010 World Cup which hon Frolick will elaborate on.

Madam Deputy Speaker, The Presidency has also focused it efforts on strengthening bilateral relations with other regions of the continent. This is a means of improving ties for both political as well as economic interests. In this regard the government has concluded a number of bilateral as well as bi-national commissions.

It is true that through these relations with other countries and other regions that initiatives such as Asgisa will pave the way for the betterment of the lives of South Africans. We also believe that our ambassadors in all these other countries will be able to take this responsibility.

We also believe that there is a need for us as a country to identify anchor states - states that will walk the walk with us to give meaningful effect and desired outcomes to such relations in different international forums.

The President has played a leading role in the creation of the India-Brazil- South Africa forum –IBSA - a forum which brings together three key countries of the South, which are all grappling with common challenges of poverty, economic development and social inequity. It is hoped that through the IBSA important issues in global governance, such as further reforms in the United Nations on which we are a nonpermanent seat holder, should be advanced. These reforms must be introduced to ensure that the United Nations is the most universal and most representative organisation in the world.

IBSA members are aware of the growing sense of exclusion amongst some of the smaller developing countries that have long been marginalised from the global system. This then gives us hope that this forum will become a vibrant force to advocate for further reforms in the international institutions like the monetary institutions.

Despite recent studies showing improved economic performance in sub- Saharan Africa, over 40% of sub-Saharan African people live below the international poverty line of one US dollar a day.

Thank you. The ANC supports Budget Vote No 1. [Time expired.]

Ms M M MDLALOSE: Madam Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, moral regeneration is one of The Presidency’s special projects. We, as Nadeco, believe that this project requires more visibility as it is focused on enhancing the morality of our society. Thirteen years after the birth of democracy we, as a country, are collectively struggling with what it means to be a South African and trying to create a national identity that is both humane and inclusive.

Last year, The Presidency released its report on South Africa’s macro- social status entitled “A nation in the making”. This report posed the question of whether we can forge a common vision for South Africa given the extent of inequality within our society.

We can form a common vision for this country if we conduct it on a shared moral background. The restoration and strengthening of the moral fibre of our society can be achieved by ensuring that this project focuses on the youth, who are the future of South Africa.

Madam Speaker, we are all aware that the month of June is Youth Month and 2007 marks the 31st anniversary of 16 June. Young people today face another struggle - poverty. According to the statistics, the number of discouraged work-seekers is 3,7 million. Officially, the number of unemployed people is 4,3 million.

At the Expanded Public Works Programme National Youth Service Programme launch on 14 April 2007, the Deputy President stated that 48% of the unemployed are youth. This is indeed an issue of great concern, which requires government, business and civil society to work together to tackle the programme. I would like to read a poem by Sandile Dikeni, a South African youth. The poem is entitled “Love poem for my country”:

My country Is for unity Feel the millions See their passion Their hands are joined together There is hope in their eyes We shall celebrate

South Africa has great policies in place. However, these policies and their intentions are in vain if they are unable to protect the most vulnerable members of our society - women and children.

Women in all regions of the Third World do worse than men in terms of health, nutrition and education. Rural women are the most vulnerable. They are adversely affected by poverty, unemployment, lack of financial and capital resources and lack of technical and professional skills.

Policies arise out of a societal need; however we are not able to feed that need. They are not able to serve the people. Skills are in demand and required. We need to upgrade their skills.

We support Budget Vote No 1. I thank you. Ngiyabonga. [Thank you.] [Applause.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, there is always truth in the saying that the last will be the first. The Presidency is the anchor of all government and has the onerous task of overseeing and ensuring the realisation of the agenda of government. To this end, The Presidency has coped well.

It is very important to note that the awarding of national orders is a dignified nation-building event that is a result of inputs from members of the public.

The President has to be commended for standing up to those obsessed with name changes with complete disregard for our heroes and heroines. Calling on the eThekwini Municipality to refrain from changing the name of the Princess Magogo Stadium, speaks volumes about him and sends a message that names of those honoured through public participation should be held in the highest esteem.

As the father of the nation, the President’s word on the ongoing strike will go a long way. Now is the time, Mr President, for leadership to prevail.

We in the UCDP appreciate the efforts put into attempting to celebrate our humanity and human dignity, coupled with the commitment to emancipate all human beings through the Freedom Park Trust. We hope the controversy that surrounds this project as to whose or which names should be inscribed on the walls, will be quelled in the spirit of eyeball-to-eyeball negotiations. We argue that if this country surmounted the World Trade negotiations at Kempton Park, no problem can be too big to be resolved amicably.

While The Presidency is doing well, we would call on the Leader of Government Business to put some dynamite under some Ministries that take too long or fail to submit translations for Bills to be passed by the National Assembly. Such delays militate against the noble effort of setting up this office to ensure the smooth flow of work between Parliament and Cabinet. It further retards the accountability of the national executive to the National Assembly.

The UCDP takes note that our youth is our future but the plethora of youth institutions, referred to even by the both the President and the Deputy President, overseen by The Presidency, tends to be confusing. The National Youth Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the National Youth Service Unit are all set up to empower young people in this country, but they tend to be duplicating each other, if not at times being at cross purposes. We, however, have to await the findings of the Asmal ad hoc Committee on all chapter nine institutions in this regard. The magnificent projects and programmes mounted by government are less known because the Government Communication Information Services – GCIS - is found wanting, even on the admission of the Minister responsible as he answered questions in this House last week.

This service has to be improved to reach out to even those nooks and crannies of this country, situated far from the madding crowd. Electronics devices may be good but printed material is durable and can be read over and over again. We, however, commend the section for having put up a stand- alone website of The Presidency.

The UCDP support the Budget Vote. [Applause.]

Mr N T GODI: Madam Deputy Speaker, comrades and hon members, The Presidency, which is at the helm of the government, has identified, amongst others, the co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of government policies and programmes, as well as accelerating integrated service delivery, as its strategic objectives.

To realise the above, the PAC believes that a few challenges need to be addressed, namely: Firstly, the elimination of territorialism amongst government departments so that they can maximise efforts and synergise their programmes where applicable. Narrow departmentalism creates unnecessary tensions and slows down progress.

Secondly, there is a need also to deal with the capacity of the state or government to deliver. The lack of appropriate skills and high vacancy rates are a severe drawback to service delivery. The challenge of skills retention in government must be attended to as a matter of urgency if stated service delivery goals are to be achieved.

At least, South Africa has good laws and structures against corruption. But these have not prevented a perception of corruption, fraud and malpractices appearing to be in the ascendancy. Government must be seen to be vigorously crusading against noncompliance with laws, regulations and procedures.

A study done by the Public Services Commission entitled “Trends Analysis on Complaints Lodged with PSC” does not give a picture of departments taking complaints seriously. Of the complaints reported through the National Anti- Corruption Hotline, which the PSC referred to departments, in 77% of cases, there was no response - not even acknowledgement of receipt; in only 20% of cases was receipt acknowledged; and only in three per cent of these cases were there substantive responses.

Certainly, this is not a good picture. The liberation struggle imperative of improving the material conditions of our people cannot and should not be sacrificed on the altar of corruption, fraud and maladministration. Earlier this year, the PAC made a call on our government to be amongst the frontline states in pushing forward the integration of the African continent both politically and economically. We want to reiterate this position, hoping that at the July Accra meeting of the African Union we will push for the realisation of the United States of Africa as soon as possible without being reckless.

The PAC wishes you success in fulfilling the mandate of SADC on the Zimbabwe question. The PAC believes that the solution in Zimbabwe is the responsibility of the Zimbabweans, assisted by their neighbours, without the interference of countries with sinister motives. [Interjections.]

Mr M T LIKOTSI: Madam Deputy Speaker, I think there is a disturbance in the sound system.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, we are aware of that. We want the hon member to complete his speech. Would you please allow him to complete his speech?

Mr M T LIKOTSI: Should he be allowed to complete his speech even when the system is in this terrible state, Madam Deputy Speaker?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please sit down, hon member!

Mr N T GODI: Lastly, the PAC also urges our government, with concern for others, to keep the issue of Palestine high on the international agenda. The destruction, death and misery which has been visited upon the Palestinians cannot be ignored forever.

However, I wish to humbly counsel our Palestinian brothers and sisters that they should follow the slogan: ``Peace amongst the Palestinians, war against the enemy.’’

The PAC supports the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon members we didn’t stop Mr Godi because he was audible - not horrible. We managed to hear everything he said up to the last sentence. But we do think that we are experiencing a serious sound problem. Allow us to suspend the business of the House. But please do not leave the House because we think that it is a problem that can be sorted out quite quickly. As soon as the bells ring we shall resume the debate - not tomorrow. We are still working this afternoon. The House is temporarily suspended.

Business suspended at 17:12 and resumed at 17.24.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Hon members, we continue with the debate. We apologise for the second break that you did not ask for. We have a serious problem with the sound system but we promise that it will be attended to speedily. Mr C T FROLICK: Madam Deputy Speaker, His Excellency the President of the Republic, Deputy President, members of the Executive, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, in a letter contained in South Africa’s Bid Book to Fifa in 2003, President Mbeki said:

We want, on behalf of our continent, to stage an event that will send ripples of confidence from Cape to Cairo – an event that will create social and economic opportunities throughout Africa. We want to ensure that one day, historians will reflect upon the 2010 World Cup as a moment when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict. We want to show that Africa’s time has come.

With this resolve, the President committed the people of Africa and South Africa to work tirelessly towards hosting the most successful World Cup ever. The strategic plan of The Presidency for the next three years thus correctly emphasises the need to maximise this rare opportunity to the benefit of all the people of our continent. A successful World Cup will enhance the image of African countries as reliable partners that can deliver on undertakings given and that can stand tall in the family of nations. Failure is not an option.

Hon members, many economic opportunities are presented by hosting the event. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip by without leveraging it towards the levelling of the playing field in both the dual nature of our economy and infrastructure. We need to ensure that local entrepreneurs and those people trapped in the second economy are assisted and prepared to tap into the opportunities provided by the event.

I’m convinced that our country is well on its way to ensure that all the commitments and guarantees given to Fifa will be met before the agreed deadlines. This is evident in the remarkable progress government is making in ensuring that infrastructure projects, such as stadium and transport construction are approached with competence and efficiency.

In all instances construction is way ahead of schedule and will be completed within the stipulated deadlines in time to host the Confederations Cup in 2009. Visits to construction sites display the nation at work where South Africans of all ages and from all walks of life are approaching their tasks with enthusiasm.

Colonialism and apartheid have left a permanent scar on the spatial patterns of our cities and towns. The construction of new infrastructure will in a small but meaningful way change the face of the apartheid city – where new points of integration and assembly are ingrained on the physical landscape. The long-term benefits of this spatial change are immense and will contribute to nation-building and instilling national pride.

The strategic plan also identifies the need to encourage the development and implementation of a vision for our national soccer team. Such a strategic plan is long overdue in football. The South African Football Association must grasp this as an opportunity to transform itself into a national asset that all of us can be proud of.

There seems to be a new sense of urgency, Mr President, and vibrancy in local football. This is judged from the performance of some of our national teams over the last few weeks. The under-14 team won the World Championship, Banyana Banyana and the national under-23 teams are well on their way to compete in the Olympic Games in Beijing next year, and the national team tops the log in their group to compete in the All Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana next year.

In our schools and communities we need to do more work. We must build the momentum to ensure that more young girls and boys participate in sport. Sport remains an important vehicle to ensure the social transformation of our society.

At the same time there is a cry from the youth of our country for basic facilities to ensure sport for all. In this respect the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme should be relocated to the Department of Sport and Recreation to achieve this objective.

The hosting of the 2010 World Cup also demands a better organised football league in each African country. Furthermore, better performing African teams at home and abroad are a must. Federations and players must avoid getting involved in unnecessary squabbles that prevent us from fielding our strongest possible national teams.

Irrespective of the progress we are making we are still confronted, Mr President, by obstacles such as doubt and resistance which is not of our own making. It comes from certain sectors in our own society. Last week I was standing behind a fellow citizen at a security check point at Cape Town International Airport and he was clearly irritated by the slow pace of movement in the queue. Unable to contain himself, he quipped: And they still want to host 2010.

Immediately, I thought to myself, who are the “they” that he is referring to? Is he not as much a part of us as the “they” he is referring to? Is the “they” perhaps the Local Organising Committee, the ANC-led government, or the people or certain sectors in South Africa? I tried to solicit a response from him but he was very unco-operative.

Has it not become a common occurrence where there are delays caused by positive things, road construction, airport renovations and upgrades and so forth - that one hears this comment? Why do we still have, in this day and age, certain people who continue to harbor these feelings and what informs them, is it fact or fiction? In my opinion it is the latter.

It seems as if the rest of the world is more excited than certain South Africans by the tremendous progress made in the construction of stadiums and the rollout of infrastructure.

At the meeting of Sports Ministers in Addis Ababa, fifty-three countries committed themselves to vigorously oppose the vicious and in certain instances very well-orchestrated onslaught against our country from certain sections of the media.

On 15 May 2007, a similar resolution was adopted by Fifa at its meeting in Zurich. This indicates the groundswell of support and confidence from the international community.

Irrespective of this, hon members, we continue to face these onslaughts. The latest that has emerged is a strategy that certain people in society use to calculate how many houses could have been built for the poor and how many houses could have been provided with basic services and they compare this with the costs associated with hosting 2010. Such prophets of doom have a very narrow view of human dignity and the totality of life. They seem to believe that the poor will remain poor and have no aspirations to transcend their current situation.

The pro-poor policies and commitment of the ANC-led government in fighting poverty and unemployment is conveniently sacrificed on the altar of cheap political gain. Together we need to respect the human dignity of all human beings; we also need to speak of the need to embrace the principles of ubuntu, compassion and human solidarity.

Hon members, in light of the large amount of negativism and pessimism that is going around, I am reminded of an abstract from the speech of the President in the 2007 state of the nation address when he said:

We are duty bound to ask the question – have we all fully internalised our responsibility in building social cohesion and promoting a common sense of belonging, reinforcing the glue that holds our nation together?

It is my submission, hon President, that we must continuously work towards the creation of a national identity that is fundamentally focused on the creation and strengthening of our sense of belonging. It is clear from our experiences that national reconciliation and social cohesion will not happen on its own. It requires visionary leadership and demands from all of us to focus on the bigger picture!

In this respect, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to quote an extract from a poem called “I am an African” by Wayne Visser. He wrote: I am an African Not because I was born here But because my heart beats with Africa’s I am an African Not because my skin is Black But because my mind is engaged by Africa I am an African Not because I live on its soil But because my soul is at home in Africa.

This sense of belonging to the continent of our birth is certainly the glue that should hold us together and that will allow us to prove to the rest of the world that indeed Africa’s time has come. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr R B BHOOLA: Deputy Speaker, hon President, the MF welcomes you and applauds your inspiring team for its dedication and commitment to organise the governance of South Africa into a progressive and fast-growing democracy.

The Presidency budget is consistent in the six priorities identified by the department. The MF notes that this is not a service delivery vehicle but instead is responsible for organising the governance of the country.

In view of the constraints on the capacity in The Presidency, the MF expresses concern about the vacancies that remain unfilled in the department. We would like to know what progress has been made in this regard and whether funding has been earmarked for this. How does this affect the capacity-building programme and that of the graduate data base that has to be consulted to service the shortage?

The MF supports the Cabinet programme and the assistance it will render to the communication between members in the Cabinet. We see that there are no funds projected for shifting to the programme of the Department of the Public Service and Administration. Noting the problems The Presidency had in implementing the project, we would like to know what progress has been made by shifting the project and when it will be reshifted to The Presidency?

We also note that as a result of the delay in the Cabinet project a R3 million saving was reported in the 2006-07 Adjusted Estimates of Expenditure and redirected to the South African Women in Dialogue Conference. The MF would like to know whether the conference did take place in 2006-07 and its outcome. Details as to the cost attached to this event would also be greatly appreciated.

Drawing attention to Programme 2, the MF is pleased that this expenditure is consistent to The Presidency’s strategic priority of leading and facilitating participatory democratic governance that serves to mobilise society into nation-building and social cohesion. The MF is especially interested in the progress made to enhance izimbizo and as to whether any challenges have emerged from the imbizo programme.

With poverty alleviation and transformation being at the top of the South African agenda, we would expect the prioritisation of the needs and challenges of vulnerable groups to be a primary focus. Programme 3 shows that the Offices on the Status of Women, Children and Disabled Persons receives the second smallest allocation and no real increase.

Even though it is not a service-delivery department, the MF feels that it plays a critical role in co-ordinating, monitoring and evaluating the mainstreaming of gender, disability and children’s issues in policies and programmes of all government departments.

This morning’s news, hon President, revealed that 100 million children globally and approximately 170 000 South African children are induced into child labour from as young as five years. In any, case this is where the Offices of the Status of Women, Children and Disabled Persons a pivotal role to play. The MF requests that the department be capacitated with more funds so that it may execute its mandate effectively.

Hon President, let us anchor our democracy in the greatest depth of equality, freedom and protection of our people. We have the greatest confidence in you, hon President, as the captain of our democracy and your impeccable crew that will steer us further and further away from the rough seas of poverty, inferiority, imbalance and social degradation.

We hear of warfare around the world, the Middle East and our own Africa. It was Mama Africa that went through the trenches of colonialism together and when South Africa was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by the legacy of apartheid, our brothers and sisters of Africa heard our cries and supported us through to our liberation. Free South Africa now hears cries very similar to the cries that once rang out from us. Hon President, we need to soothe its cries and we support you, our leader, in bringing peace, love, liberation and freedom to our rich Africa.

However, South Africa too is still crying and there is fear, hon President. The MF will support the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon members, before we proceed, I just want to request that you reduce the number of meetings taking place. We are dealing with the Budget Vote of The Presidency. The only challenge we have is the sound, which we have now restored. We have Plan B that is working very well, but with your continued meetings, it makes it very difficult to follow the speakers on the podium. Are we agreed that we will give them the audience they deserve? The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Madam Deputy Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, today we are confronted with the most urgent need to consolidate, protect and advance the gains made by our national democratic revolution. There are critics on the ultra left and the right who have wittingly and unwittingly made common cause as they attack our hard-won freedoms, as they spread disinformation about our socioeconomic gains since 1994.

They accuse us of corruption, centralisation, narcissism, intolerance and of being unresponsive to the needs of our people. All of these claims, unfounded in reality, are based on a faulty understanding of the institutional and administrative arrangements which make for efficient and effective policy development, policy implementation, service delivery and monitoring and evaluation as well as the institutional arrangements that are needed to meet the central challenges of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014 and building a nonracial, nonsexist, socially cohesive and prosperous South Africa.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that success in the fight against poverty requires a strong, democratic developmental state which exercises its role in policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Let us be very clear that a strong developmental state, committed to realising the people’s contract, must not be confused with a despotic state, and those who seek to sow this confusion in the minds of our people are disingenuous. The seeming confluence of the ultra left and the right at this critical juncture in our second decade of democracy requires us to undertake an analysis of that one word that so dominates the lexicon of our critics - ``power’’.

One has to wonder why they view the exercise of power by the legitimately elected representatives of the people of South Africa as intrinsically bad. Power exists within the context of relationships between people, things and patterns of ownership and control. Power does not exist in a vacuum. It is not inherent in individuals. Power and power relationships can – and as our own experience tells us – and do change.

This is something that the Official Opposition has not fully understood. They hold onto outdated notions of power, deliver a parliamentary opposition which places itself within the intellectual tradition of Lord Acton, which opposes the national and democratic revolution led by our government. Their reliance on Acton is explicit in a speech on Youth Day, 16 June 2004, by the former head of the DA, Tony Leon, where he set out his philosophy and the DA’s vision, which one can only hope the new leader will abandon. [Interjections.]

In the philosophical section, Leon gave the final word of his conclusion to Lord Acton. Leon said …

Ms D KOHLER-BARNARD: Hon Leon! Hon Leon!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Hon Tony Leon said that the democratic South African government, and I quote the hon member:

… seeks not to limit power, but to concentrate it in the hands of the ANC - and in reality, in the hands of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, which is dominated by the President.

And the more that power is concentrated in the hands of any powerful institution, the less freedom there is for individuals.

He went on:

I should emphasise that it does not matter that the ANC might wish to concentrate power in its own hands, to extend its hegemony’’, for good reasons, or in pursuit of noble aims, such as theemancipation’’ of the African majority.

Because accumulated power concentrated in the hands of a few party bosses is a dangerous thing, irrespective of their reasons for wanting that power.

Power corrupts’’, as Lord Acton pointed out long ago,and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’’

[Interjections.] In the following articulation of the views and positions of Acton, I draw extensively on the forthcoming book by Ronald Suresh Roberts, Fit to Govern: The Native Intelligence of Thabo Mbeki. Leon misquotes Acton, who really said that Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’’ He went on,Great men are always bad men.’’

Drawing upon the worst traditions of the rhetorical polemical repertoire, the South African liberal analysis converts a tendency into an ironclad rule. Acton, incidentally, did not apply his dictum against absolute power to the Pope, whose authority, he agreed, was absolute, and who, he acknowledged, was incorruptible and infallible.

Certainly, power unchecked by the rule of law, by a constitution and by a social compact with the citizenry can slide down a slippery slope, but the link Acton makes between power and corruption is ironic, considering that Acton sat as member of parliament for Carlow, a famously corrupt, rotten borough, and was vilified for his lack of diligence.

Lord Acton, the hero of the DA, supported slavery, seeing it as a bulwark against the evils of socialism. He said, and I quote him: Slavery operates like a restricted franchise …

[Interjections.]

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: Listen -

… operates like a restricted franchise, attaches power to property, and hinders socialism - the infirmity that attends …

[Interjections.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon members!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY:

... the infirmity that attends the truer democracies.

Thus slavery stood against socialism, just as apartheid later stood against communism.

The Secretary-General of the Congress of SA Trade Unions, Zwelinzima Vavi, argued at the National Union of Mineworkers’s 20th anniversary celebration that:

Reports of an economic boom in South Africa were government propaganda, similar to that of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. [Interjections.] Deputy Speaker, can you ask them to shut up for a minute here?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Continue, hon Minister.

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: For Vavi, our government is using its power in a manner consistent with that exercised by the most abhorrent regime of the 20th century. Is Vavi turning full circle to link with the DA, suggesting that the power exercised by our government, based on a mandate given to it by the overwhelming majority of South Africans, is so absolute as to be dictatorial?

Is this not what he actually said in May 2006 when he likened President Mbeki to a dictator? He said:

Dictatorship never announces its arrival. It won’t, like drum majorettes, beat drums and parade down the street to announce it has arrived.

[Interjections.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon members, please!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: The DA which eulogises Acton – now listen very carefully, you lot - should know that he was a racist and an admirer of Aryan despotism. In 1877, Acton argued that: Wherever we can trace the earlier life of the Aryan nations we discover germs which favouring circumstances and assiduous culture might have developed into free societies.

That’s your hero!

Would it be far-fetched to at least argue that ultra leftists, by drawing these invidious comparisons, are making common cause with slothful intellectuals and opponents who draw their sustenance from the Lord Actons of the world? Their reckless attempts to discredit our government and its achievements over the past 13 years place them objectively on the side of those opposed to progressive policies in our country. Politics does make very strange bedfellows! [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon Minister, please address the House, and not a few members of the House!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: The sad reality is that the DA speaks from both sides of its mouth. It said in a local government by-election in Ermelo that:

Negotiating with the ANC is a waste of time.

However, in Parliament, the DA, through the hon C M Lowe, proceeded to ask the hon President for a meeting to discuss issues of poverty and unemployment - either he or as a delegation of people - to sit down and come up with some constructive solution for all the people in South Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki, in a spirit of inclusivity, unequivocally answered, ``Yes, we are prepared to meet to flush us out of our partisan spaces to really address these matters as national challenges rather than a promotion of particular parties and agendas.’’

Power, as we have always held it to be is ``Amandla ngawethu’’ – power to the people. This understanding of power is closest to what many call empowerment, the exercise of power with people, not over people. [Interjections.]

In this understanding, power is shared. It is about increasing the capacity of our people, and unleashing their talents to engage constructively in co- operative governance. Our fundamental premise, therefore, is that since power can expand and can change, empowerment as a process of change becomes a meaningful concept.

For us, the central task of the developmental state in the contemporary period, characterised by globalisation, centres on wealth creation and distribution as well as social protection. The developmental state is essential to the NDR and to promoting and protecting democracy. The developmental state is about actively supporting economic development and about forging partnerships with key stakeholders to pursue objectives. It is about strategic leadership in the fight to eradicate poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment.

The democratic developmental state has to ensure, amongst other things, that democracy is respected and advanced, the Constitution and the rule of law are safeguarded, the market in key and critical sectors is regulated, and market-generated inequalities are addressed, because investing in people is as essential as investing in roads and stadiums, water, sanitation and electricity. It also deals with the legacy of apartheid, which includes massive socioeconomic inequalities and maldistribution of ownership and resources through, for example, promoting pro-poor growth, rural development, and women-centred development.

The exercise of power, in the name of our people and with their consent, takes two primary forms in our country: political and administrative. It is our responsibility to exercise these judiciously and with a view to realising our national development objectives.

We need civil servants who are professional and who practise the principles of Batho Pele. As our President recently said:

We must do much more to train and create a Public Service that meets the highest professional standards, that is proud of the fact that it exists to serve the people, that is patriotic and selfless, and that fully understands the historic significance of the esteemed position it occupies as one of the principles of a nonracial, nonsexist, prosperous and egalitarian South African.

So, the centre must be strong as it has the overall responsibility for ensuring improved service delivery and ensuring that the mandate of the government is fulfilled.

Let us not, like others, confuse a strong government that exercises its responsibilities with confidence, fully aware that it has the overwhelming majority of the people on its side, with a despotic government that oppresses and represses its own citizenry.

In the pursuit of the developmental objectives, there may develop a tendency for the developmental state to become authoritarian. We understand it, and this is why our government binds itself to a citizenry through deep respect for a sovereign constitution and a people’s contract. It is the People’s Contract that is one of the most effective antidotes to the exercise of unbridled power.

The People’s Contract is a fundamental recognition that all social relations, including political relations, are inevitably power relationships and the power exercised in the name of the people must be shared with the people. This is the essence of good governance.

The notion of power as both the development of the capacities and talents of the citizenry and the capacity to implement in partnership with the citizenry sees power as a process occurring in relationships that gives us the possibility of empowerment.

The notion of empowerment embedded in the People’s Contract is a multi- dimensional social process that helps our people gain control over their own lives. It fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities and their society by acting on issues that they define as important.

Our commitment to a People’s Contract, a compact in which we govern in the name of and with our people, found interesting expression recently when I went to a local imbizo in Lentegeur, Mitchells Plain. There I met Ms Somaya Cassiem and Ms Ann Timotheus, both of whom were present earlier in the gallery. These two remarkable women are deeply concerned about the high levels of substance abuse in their community and have embarked on an innovative community campaign to fight drug abuse and rid their communities of drug lords.

This, Madam Deputy Speaker, is what we mean by people’s participation in governance – acting in concert with the democratically elected representatives to deal with one of the most pressing problems facing the youth of our country. We applaud the initiatives of these two women working assiduously to improve the lives of young people in their communities.

June is Youth Month and we remember with sadness and pride the enormous sacrifices our youth made in 1976 during the Soweto and related uprisings. In this month it behoves us, as the President as well as the Deputy President have said, to reflect on the challenges faced by the youth of our country and rededicate ourselves to working to improve their conditions of life.

Youth make up 41% of our population and they face challenges of poverty, marginalisation in the rural areas, unemployment, unacceptably high school dropout rates and health issues, including HIV/Aids and other communicable diseases and infections. All of these are exacerbated by conditions of poverty.

As a government, we are concerned about our youth for they are our future. A well resourced, streamlined, effective, efficient and motivated National Youth Commission is an essential and indispensable agent to the work of government in its efforts to improve the well-being and conditions of life for youth in our country. The NYC is autonomous and its engagement with The Presidency is premised on the execution of its mandate - to facilitate, co- ordinate and monitor policies and programmes that promote youth development.

The work of the NYC in fulfilling its mandate in the upcoming year will be greatly enhanced by the restructuring exercise it is currently undergoing. We are fully confident that out of the exercise the NYC will emerge a stronger organisation. To date the absence of a fully fledged national youth policy has hindered the ability of the NYC to secure buy-in from government with regard to fulfilment of its mandate.

Last week the Presidential Youth Working Group met to exchange views on the important challenges faced by the youth of South Africa. A Draft National Youth Policy was presented. There is still more work to be done on the draft policy before it is finalised and presented to Cabinet. Already, discussions around the draft policy have restimulated interest in the work and the mandate of the NYC.

Taking the concerns of our people seriously means placing the needs of vulnerable groups – women, children and youth and people with disabilities – at the very heart of our institutions and our policies. It is about strengthening the work of the national gender machinery and the national machinery on children’s rights. This ensures that the issues of critical importance to vulnerable groups and communities are not left to a single line department but are dealt with in a holistic, integrated fashion. This, we believe, is the most effective approach to ensuring that policies related to vulnerable groups are not consigned to the margins of government work.

Our government locates the Office on the Rights of the Child, the Office on the Status of Women, the Office on the Status of the Disabled and the Youth Desk in The Presidency precisely because we believe that mainstreaming and applying a GDCY lens can be best accomplished and monitored in The Presidency, working in close co-operation with other national department, with provinces and with local municipalities. This is not about centralisation of power and resources. It is about democracy and accountability and it is about ensuring cross-cutting responsibilities in good governance.

Madam Deputy Speaker, the offices and the Youth Desk all play a vital role in four important respects. Firstly, they engage in a very dynamic way with civil society organisation in their respective sectors. Secondly, they play a critical mainstreaming role. Thirdly, they interact with their provincial and local counterparts to ensure that national policies are translated into action in the other spheres of government. Fourthly, they identify the challenges and curbs in policy development and implementation and offer solutions that can be readily implemented. In this way, they act as a vital two-way transmission belt, linking government in a dynamic wave of vulnerable communities so as to ensure that the quality of life of members of those communities improves. The Office on the Status of Women notes that in 2007-08, in order to continue to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality, it will, firstly, co-ordinate and promote the implementation of the national policy framework and an action plan on women’s empowerment - gender equality. Secondly, it will more effectively mainstream gender equality into government programmes and the legislative process. Thirdly, it will fast- track the training of public service officials at all levels to deliver on gender equality and identify ways of holding them accountable for the delivery of gender equity. Fourthly, it will ensure that by 2009, 50% of the senior decision-makers in the public sector are women.

The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons will work diligently to, firstly, strengthen the disability national machinery so that it is effective in co-ordinating disability programmes; secondly, monitor more closely the implementation of a well-co-ordinated, integrated disability policy and measure the progress of service delivery; thirdly, begin collecting comprehensive statistics on disability in South Africa; fourthly, ensure by 2009 that 2% of workers in the public sector are people with disabilities and fast-track the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability, which this Parliament has now ratified.

The ORC will identify the need to, firstly, develop reliable data on vulnerable children and in this regard the ORC will partner with Unicef to conduct South Africa’s second situation analysis of the state of children in South Africa; secondly, facilitate the development of a comprehensive national policy framework for the protection and development of vulnerable children in South Africa; thirdly, strengthen an awareness of existing child rights policies and resources by, among other things, developing essential material to promote and advocate for delivery on children’s rights and responsibilities and collaborate with countries in the region and internationally in regional and global child protection and development initiatives.

All the programme areas have noted that they will work to, firstly, increase awareness of what gender, disability, children and youth mainstreaming means and how it is to be accomplished; secondly, conduct a GDCY analysis and implement a GDCY monitoring and evaluation framework developed and informed by the Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System; thirdly, strengthen ties with civil society in their respective sectors; and, fourthly, report on the fulfilment of our regional, continental and global obligations.

Our government is deeply committed to ensuring the well-being of all South Africans, especially of those who are vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalised.

Before I conclude, let me offer my congratulations to Ma-Botha for having been elected to the position of the Leader of the Opposition. You do have a very, very difficult time controlling those unruly people behind you, but I wish you the very best. As the head of the Office on the Status of Women, I am very happy that at last the DA has understood that the only thing that might help them are women. Good luck to you and congratulations. [Interjections.]

Mr W J SEREMANE: [Inaudible.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Mr Seremane!

The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: One day in this House I am going to tell them the truth about you and who you gave evidence against. Just be patient!

In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to the Director-General, the Rev Frank Chikane, and the Head of the Policy Co-ordination and Advisory Services, Mr Joel Netshitenzhe, the CEO, Mr Trevor Fowler, as well as the entire staff at all levels in The Presidency for their dedication, commitment and hard work over the past year. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Ms M J J MATSOMELA: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President of the Republic, hon Deputy President, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, the standard of living of any nation is not only defined by the level of economic growth or education, but also by the level of health and health standards. Therefore, the health of a nation cannot be left to private individuals and organisations.

Government has a decisive role to play in the policy formulation and execution of health-related matters. Health matters are not only the responsibility of the line Department of Health but all other departments, institutions and the private sector. This is the case if you want to take health beyond medical and nursing care.

In this regard, the activities of the executive co-ordination programme within The Presidency are very important for co-ordination, strategic support, policy advice, monitoring and evaluation. They are even more important for the health agenda of our nation.

We want to recognise the fact that The Presidency has reinvigorated the SA National Aids Council to take head-on the HIV and Aids epidemic. We want to acknowledge that, within The Presidency, it has been realised that any kind of epidemic cannot be isolated from the people who affect it and are affected by it. Under the Deputy President and government, Sanac has a leadership comprising the Departments of Health, Education, Transport, Agriculture, Minerals and Energy and Social Development. Outside of government, Sanac has representation from people living with HIV and Aids, business, academics, labour, faith-based organisations, the youth, disabled people and nongovernmental organisations, amongst others. This illustrates that, in dealing with the epidemic, government has not isolated other entities and structures. This also illustrates an acknowledgement that health-related epidemics affect the nation as a whole and do not discriminate against persons. We also compliment these structures and civic bodies on their willingness to work with government.

This national strategic plan aims to provide comprehensive care and treatment for people living with HIV and Aids as well as to facilitate the strengthening of the national health system. What is encouraging about the plan is that it serves as a departure point for departments, the private sector and civil society to develop their own HIV and Aids strategic and operational plans. These interventions will go a long way towards disproving the argument and perception that The Presidency is less concerned about the HIV and Aids epidemic.

This is a very practical plan to fight the epidemic in a collaborative manner. The government’s HIV and Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections Strategic Plans for 2007-2011 are a step in the right direction. Service delivery is at the core of all government programmes. If service delivery is not forthcoming, every health programme that is supposed to improve the quality of life of the people fails downstream.

Government came up with a cluster system so as to synergise its programme of action. If one entity in the cluster is not putting the requisite effort in to realise the programme of action, it amounts to self defeatism since the cluster system is meant to co-ordinate all complementary activities, including health-related issues.

We are convinced that, within the executive co-ordinating programme, The Presidency can entrench the philosophy of distributive justice, so that the ANC’s slogan “ A better life for all’’ can and will work for the vulnerable constituencies, that is, older persons, children, people with disabilities and women as well as the unemployed. Our focus should be on increasing the life expectancy of the people, especially in the labour market, and pulling out all the stops on the draining child and youth mortality rate.

The labour market assists the world economies to sustain themselves. As the pool of skills stabilises, the more gains are achieved in the socioeconomic arena. Also, a decline in the child mortality rate creates a catchment area for future skills and a stable economy. This national strategic plan on HIV and Aids is an excellent document, but South Africa needs a full child survival strategy because only 34% of under-five deaths are caused by HIV and Aids. The remaining 66% of deaths are caused by diseases of poverty such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.

A child survival strategy must include a maternal survival strategy because maternal survival is not on track. Too many mothers die either because of HIV and Aids or because of obstetric difficulties. Keeping mothers alive prevents children from becoming orphans, and numerous studies have shown that children are more likely to die if they do not have mothers to care for them even in an African context in which extended family members step in to help.

Another cause of child mortality and mortality of mothers is violence. Five per cent of child deaths are from injuries, many of which are due to violent crime. The Deputy President has championed the 365 days campaign against violence, but this needs to be accelerated to ensure that domestic abuse, rape and child abuse are no longer common in South Africa.

If we attend properly to matters of health as a nation, and stop criticising the Department of Health, then we could make rapid gains in the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa. If all the five clusters of government follow the leadership of our President and our Deputy President as they drive the nerve centre of government, a healthy South Africa can derive the happiness that comes with freedom, as our President eloquently put it in the 2007 state of the nation address.

Talking about the state of the nation address, I would like to draw members’ attention to the 2006 state of the nation address where the President referred to the assessment of state capacity to help accelerate the process of social transformation. The President said and I quote:

The government will make the necessary interventions to address the issues raised by these assessments, bearing in mind the critical role that government must play as one of our country’s most important developmental agencies. We cannot allow that government departments become an obstacle to the achievement of the goal of a better life for all because of insufficient attention to the critical issue of effective and speedy delivery of services.

May I add that health-related delivery is necessary and important with all its various components as well? If we build together, assess our shortcomings and strengthen our capacity in health issues of the nation, I believe that there is no hurdle that we cannot overcome.

The effort to build capacity includes reopening the nursing colleges which were closed in order to increase the number of health professionals, as promised again in the 2006 state of the nation address, and this will help improve the health system.

The brain drain is also crippling our health system. The challenge of the brain drain is not only pertinent to the health profession but also in all other essential disciplines where we compete with the private sector. We therefore wish to express our support for the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition to bring back the recent South African diaspora to our motherland. We wish The Presidency every success in the transformation of both the public service and the country at large.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that health issues are not only the Department of Health’s problems. They are an environmental, economic, cultural, educational, religious, infrastructural and facilities problem. In short, they need a South African approach by the nation, the ruling and the opposition parties. The ANC has given a lead. Let the opposition follow. We support the Budget Vote of The Presidency. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr P J NEFOLOVHODWE: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President and hon Deputy President, allow me to start with a reference to the country’s Constitution. Many scholars state that the South African Constitution is unique in its anti-poverty focus as it entrenches rights of access to adequate housing, health care, water, land and education as well as social security. Furthermore, the Constitution compels the state to take reasonable measures to give effect to the fundamental rights, subject to available resources.

What is not stated is what is meant by ``available resources’’. In other words: How do we measure the availability of resources in order to move towards giving effect to these fundamental rights? Put differently, who decides that the resources are now available? The answer to this question is relevant to the millions of South Africans who are still experiencing poverty and inequality.

A survey conducted by the SA Participatory Poverty Assessment revealed that poor people consider good education, water for domestic purposes, housing and support for self-employment, electricity and child care to be their priorities. There is also some consensus in South Africa that poverty indices should take into account the non-material aspects of experiencing poverty, such as vulnerability to crisis, homelessness and chronic illness and social exclusion. It is this non-material experience of poverty that is very difficult to eradicate.

The Income and Expenditure Survey of 1995 indicates that 62% of rural dwellers are poor compared to 32% of people living in small towns, 23% of those in secondary cities and 13% in major metropolitan areas. We may no longer have discriminatory laws but the economic relations and structures inherited from apartheid that perpetuate material and non-material forms of discrimination exist, some in different names and forms and, for that matter, economic power is still in the hands of whites.

For example, this country is entitled to do away with all symbols, geographic features and names and characters of apartheid exclusion. This is important as part and parcel of getting rid of the non-material oppressive experiences that our people have lived under for many decades. Unfortunately, some of the municipalities have dealt with this important matter in a manner that is not even consistent with the laws that were passed by this Parliament.

Finally, Azapo supports your mediation role in Africa, because we know that Africa needs peace and stability in order for its people to pursue a developmental agenda. Of course, Azapo has heard voices of some South Africans opposed to this effort. Azapo is convinced that the attack on your mediation efforts is rooted in the fear of the uncertainty about political dominance by blacks. I thank you. Azapo supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]

Mr C D KEKANA: Madam Speaker, hon President, ladies and gentlemen, we listen to the debate and at times I feel sweat all over my body; but you know, there is just one big thing about South Africa: You ask yourself when there is this heated debate: what is happening to South Africa? You end up telling yourself that South Africa is a success story. That is the greatest achievement in our country, and that Africa and the international community consider us a success story. That is why there are so many Africans in South Africa who are looking for greener pastures, illegally and legally. [Laughter.]

While the debate takes place, the fact that we are successful gives hope to some of us and all of the disabled, when they see the success that is in their country, know that there is indeed a bright future for them.

Thus speaking about disability, we wish to support the Budget Vote. The Desk of the Disabled is in the President’s Office. That was so in 1999 and actually in 2000 the United Nations declared that the disabled in South Africa live under very bad conditions and experience extreme poverty. We take pride that before the United Nations made that declaration about the disabled living under extreme poverty, our government had already elevated the desk of the disabled to the highest office in the country, the Office of the President. [Applause.]

We then looked at all kinds of solutions that can be attached to disability. There are actually two definitions of disability based on two models. The first one is what is called biomedical or philanthropist, in other words, you cure disability if you can or you give it grants, but basically disability is dependent on the state.

The second form of disability is sociological, based on the social and economic participation of disabled people in society. This one states that one should remove all the discriminatory barriers and stigma that are attached to disability, and all the prejudice that is attached to disability, because the world we live in is socially constructed in such a way that it is suitable for the needs of able-bodied people.

If we can create a world that allows participation of the disabled in the social and economic spheres, then the disabled can be able to sustain themselves and actually contribute to the economy of their country. That is the second definition which says that disabled people do not have to be dependent all the time. They can actually contribute and participate in the community, but one should design the social construct so that it creates an enabling environment for them to participate.

We are happy that our government, through The Presidency, is making that effort to empower disabled people so that they are not beggars in the trains, but they can use their potential to the fullest. [Applause.]

In The Presidency there is a call for inclusion in schools and for the first time disabled children will be able to attend normal schools from primary up to tertiary level. In the past they used to go to particular schools that are designed for them, but they need to be integrated because ultimately when they look for jobs they will be employed by able-bodied people. It would be better if disabled children compete with able-bodied children in class and beat them in mathematics and other subjects. [Applause.] The grant from government has been extended to children with disabilities. The biggest challenge that still remains is employment. And as we know, according to Asgisa, this is a general problem in our country. The problem with unemployment among the disabled is that the quota system wanted the public and the private sector to employ at least 35% of the disabled nationally. That has declined 0,5%. This shows the big task that still faces the disabled desk within The Presidency. Our employers are not willing to employ disabled people. This is because of attitude and the psychological approach that needs to be changed.

I want to end by saying that the economy that we have so much celebrated has grown. When at times I have sleepless nights because of hardships that are still there in our country, I can console myself that our economy is growing. We could worry about distribution but remember that if there was no economic growth there would be nothing to distribute. Thanks very much. [Applause.]

Mr S SIMMONS: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President and hon colleagues, the hon President has since his first days in the House focussed and elaborated on, amongst other things, the issues of nation building and cohesion amongst all South Africans. The most recent strategic plan of The Presidency makes reference to a focus on strengthening a sense of belonging.

Unfortunately, 13 years into our new political dispensation it is clear that what is said on occasions such as the state of the nation address and that of grass-roots experiences are world apart. This is aggravated by members of this Cabinet, notably hon Minister Mdladlana, who made a remark which was nothing short of racism when he said: “This thing about coloureds is your problem and not ours.”

What is worse, hon President, is that you did not see fit to condemn this racist remark after I brought it to your attention during the state of the nation debate earlier this year. The UPSA subsequently came to the conclusion that the hon President concurs with the hon Minister’s sentiments, thus putting a question mark over the hon President’s call for cohesion.

This utterance by the hon Minister of Labour came after I attempted to put on the table the issue of brown or coloured people not experiencing a sense of belonging. This was preceded by a request to the hon President to allow for an opportunity to discuss this issue around brown people.

Sadly, according to the hon President’s counsellor here in Parliament, hon, no one sees fit to discuss the issue of coloured people. But, of course, when hon members of the FF Plus request the hon President to discuss issues about Afrikaners, there seems to be very little hesitation to have lengthy discussions. We are dealing with double standards. Despite all the negative experiences by coloured people, the UPSA will strive for the achievement of true, nonracialism and true equality, seemingly a myth in the new South Africa. I thank you, sir.

Ms S P RWEXANA: Madam Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members, it gives me great pleasure today, as an African woman, to stand here proudly and debate advances in the status of women, achieved through reinstating our pride, equality, peace, freedom and dignity, justice, solidarity and democracy.

I would like to welcome and acknowledge the NGOs and all the people who are fighting for gender equality. I hope that today you will sample all that has been put in place by our government in mainstreaming gender equality. During the past decade the ANC-led government has developed, enacted and implemented a comprehensive legislative framework that gives effect to the right of women to be free from gender-based violence.

We need to strengthen the participation of the private sector, the churches, traditional leaders and the community at large. We cannot effectively address gender equality issues under different instruments unless action is taken on many fronts.

Once again, we are here in Parliament, representing the interests of our people. Since the dawn of our democratic government it has been our duty to ensure that the policies that we implement are complementary to the concerns and opinions of our people. We have managed to do that through constituency work and public hearings, which are aimed at making Parliament accessible, closer and transparent to the people.

The Presidency has played a vital role in the promotion of the national gender machinery, which is another aspect of our Constitution that has contributed to the direct promotion of equality for women. This principle of gender machinery is enshrined in the equality clause of the Bill of Rights and can be used to bring about social justice between women and men.

We are proud that South Africa has the necessary tools to implement equality. We therefore want to further strengthen our machinery so that this does not stop at being paper work. As women of South Africa we note with pride the fact that our government has put in place the Office on the Status of Women in The Presidency. Furthermore, we have gender focal points in all the government departments, even at municipal level.

Our government has once more put in place constitutional institutions to strengthen our democracy, such as the Commission on Gender Equality. The CGE, with its broad mandate, works with the government, civil society and the community at large to strengthen gender equality in South Africa.

The Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women in Parliament was established primarily to monitor the implementation of gender-related policies and budgets, and to monitor the implementation of international instruments and protocols.

Hon President, it would therefore be unfair for all of us to ignore the fact that our country has gone the extra mile in the area of the promotion of women’s rights in particular.

Madam Deputy Speaker, this Parliament should be aware of the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development that was signed in 1997, in terms of which heads of state committed member countries to achieving the target of at least 30% of women in political and decision-making positions by 2005.

I’m proud to attest that our government has managed to go beyond the targeted 30% quota, through the equality clause that led to the implementation of various pieces of legislation on the advancement of gender equality.

Mr President, we would like to appeal to you to ensure that in SADC summits the issues of gender equality are given the necessary attention. We have noted that in this region it is only the countries that subscribe to the Peer Review Mechanism that have been able to meet the 30% quota. This Parliament should also be aware that since the ANC-led government came to power, all those laws that discriminated against women have been declared null and void.

South Africa plays a role in various global and regional human rights instruments, which include the African Charter on Human Rights and the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development. Our government has committed itself to implementing the recommendations of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 by taking measures to achieve gender equality within South Africa and the continent.

Once again, we need to reaffirm the principle of promoting gender equality as enshrined in the African Union and in Nepad, which underline the commitment of African states to ensuring full participation of African women as equal partners in Africa’s development.

In conclusion, I must say that to achieve the promotion of human rights and gender equality, it is our duty as parliamentarians to ensure that laws are well-drafted without ambiguity, are reviewed from time to time and, where necessary, are repealed to match the changing times.

Mongameli, singamakhosikazi oMzantsi Afrika sithi … [Hon President, as South African women we say that …] “… today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today”. Ayabulela amakhosikazi. Malibongwe! [The women are grateful. Let their name be praised!] The ANC supports Budget Vote No 1. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr L M GREEN: Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Ministers and members, some of the key challenges mentioned in the latest strategic plan of The Presidency are to promote greater national unity, to improve the sense of national identity and to build on our common national values. It is a matter of concern that South Africa is still battling with the idea of national unity, given the positive growth in our economy over the past few years. We believe that the President is serious about leaving a legacy built on sound economic foundations to develop our country. There are of course mixed reactions on the approach to achieving a developmental state.

Recently the international ratings agency, Moody’s investors service, upped South Africa’s ratings from stable to positive, because of our country’s excellent fiscal policies. Global finance agencies such as Moody’s show confidence in our capacity to repay our debts, yet that confidence appears to be short-term, depending on what happens with regard to the presidential race in 2009.

However, what we are yet to achieve is the confidence among South Africans that our national identity is firmly rooted in a common value system of solidarity, nonracism, service quality, equality and a tangible age of hope where everyone believes in a fair share to the opportunities of our country. There seems to be an unfortunate divide between economic progress and national solidarity.

The Presidency has indicated that there is an increased need to build capacity in its senior management structures. The increase in The Presidency’s budget also caters for the transfer of funds to the National Youth Commission. In fact the commission gets its largest share of funding from The Presidency, which increased from R13,5 million in 2003-04 to R22,6 in 2009-10. The Youth Commission has a vital role to play in the future of this country, especially in the building of national unity.

However, we may probably be very surprised as to the kind of future envisaged by the youth. The youth may in future not be divided on issues of race or identity, but on economic issues, access to global technologies and skills. The stability of our society in the future may largely depend on whether a large section of our youth can compete in the economy of our country and whether access to the economy is guaranteed and follows an equitable path.

Our continent is in need of good governance and a more robust civil society. One way we can further the cause of civil society is for The Presidency to set up a civil society organs office to aid and strengthen these organs and to promote this idea, which doesn’t exist amongst other parliaments throughout Africa. With these words, the FD supports The Presidency Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr B M MKONGI: Deputy Speaker, Mr President, and hon members, our contextualisation and that of youth development is informed by the historical realities that have shaped South Africa and its democratic vision. Ours is based on the principles of social and economic justice, human rights, empowerment, participation, active citizenship, the promotion of public benefit, distributive and liberating values.

Youth development also needs to respond strategically to the socio-economic forces that shape global and regional development in the 21st Century. This means placing youth at the centre of national development. This attitude is in the context of our democracy and our social development approach to public polity.

Youth development is central to the process of building a non-racial, non- sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. It should be approached with the same vigour as all other priorities of transformation. It must be aligned with government’s approach to addressing poverty and underdevelopment. This must be undertaken through comprehensive, integrated, cross-sectoral and sustainable policies and programmes.

Young people must become both active participants in the process of national development and beneficiaries of development. Their social and economic inclusion is a critical priority in ensuring their participation. At the same time, the specific needs and conditions of youth must be addressed through cross-sectoral public policies and programmes that can bring about a better life for all young people. This progressive approach recognises and reinforces that young people can be agents of their own development and not mere recipients of government support.

Mr President, between 1994 and 2007, South Africa has developed and implemented a range of youth policies and programmatic interventions, and everything that should be developed and implemented so as to fast-track and intensify youth development should be built on the foundation of a decade and a half of democratic-era policy and programmatic interventions.

There is ample evidence that unfolding youth policy initiatives and strategic interventions have made considerable progress towards meeting their objectives and addressing the problems of their target audience amongst young people. However, the unfolding process of transformation has also revealed policy gaps and problems that remain unsolved.

Targets change, whereas policies and strategic interventions do not always match the original objectives. We should support everything that is intended on closing these policy gaps; anything that will make further strides towards youth development and that enables young people to assume their rightful place in building the South African society of the future.

It is important to look at the possibility of centralising all youth work in The Presidency for effective and efficient co-ordination of youth development programmes. Centralisation of the youth development institutions should be a priority. Resourcing youth development initiatives and programmes should be taken into consideration.

We should look at the work done by the National Youth Commission and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, and the SA Youth Council. We must look at capacitating the NYC and strengthen it with specific powers in order to empower it to fulfil its mandate. We should also look at re-aligning the NYC with all provincial youth commissions. We should also look at reviewing the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the possibility of centralising it in The Presidency.

The mid-year population estimates of South Africa by Stats SA 2006, reveals that South Africa’s population is predominantly young. Youths between the ages of 15 and 34 years, constitute some 37,3% of the total population of South Africa. About 69% of the total population is under the age of 35. Stats SA uses two definitions of unemployment, namely a strict and a broad definition. In 2005, broad unemployment stood at 38,8% while narrow employment was 26,7%.

The strictly unemployed are those people within the economically active population, who, firstly, did not work during the seven days prior to the interview; secondly, want to work and are available to start working within a week of the interview; and thirdly, have taken active steps to look for a job or to start some form of self-employment in the four weeks prior to the interview.

However, the broad or expanded definition of unemployment excludes the third criterion, namely those who have taken active steps to look for a job or to start some form of self employment in the four weeks prior to the interview. Therefore, it is important that South Africa opens up a national dialogue on the definition of unemployment.

According to Stats SA, South Africa is not using an internationally recognised definition of unemployment. This non-recognised definition of unemployment is distorting the unemployment rate in South Africa. We must also look at countries in the world that are similar to ours, but able to deal strategically with unemployment. The example in place is countries like Brazil, and so forth.

The International Labour Organisation generally views youth unemployment as an important policy issue and that youth employment is important for national and international development. Unemployment at these early ages may harm future employment opportunities and damage social cohesion and create unrest.

If the vast majority of youth continue to stay unemployed for too long, they will not be able to enhance their employability or develop their careers. This in turn will lead to a host of social problems. Youth unemployment has a national and global impact. Notably it increases violence, crime and political instability.

It is believed that many of the most unstable countries in the world are those with very high youth unemployment rates. If provided with an enabling environment and opportunities, youth in both developed and developing countries can be key agents of social change, economic development and technological innovation.

Gone are the days of the tendency that business is a business of business; and the attitude that this is my own business; and the mind your own business mentality. Equally, we must be harsh on government departments that are still sitting on huge vacancy turnovers, whilst our country is faced with huge unemployment challenges.

We must also deal with issues of affirmative action and the Employment Equity Act; that the majority of African youth is unemployed and not promoted; and that the majority of white youth is still promoted. We must be harsh on that, and make sure that in the definition of black people, Africans in particular, should be viewed as a priority.

As a response to the issue of unemployment and skills, the National Skills Development Strategy was adopted in 2001 to improve the skills levels in the country, through organisations like Setas – Section Education and Training Authorities; and the NFS – National Skills Fund. The Setas did their work, but there are still challenges in a few of them. Better alignment between the Setas, business and the education of training sector has resulted in a more demand-driven strategy.

The strategy is also aligned to and supports Asgisa and the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition – Jipsa. Three quarters of people who had completed this training were employed in fulltime or part-time employment. According to Abedian in his presentation at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in March and I quote:

The private sector can easily absorb over 1 million learners if the firms, large and small, come to fulfil their roles.

He went on to say that the only obstacle to this is not money, but commitment.

The private sector seems not to be concerned, despite the recent initiative by Business Unity South Africa or Busa, to fast-track the implementation of the skills development legislation. Learnerships should not be using youth as photocopying machines or as people who must go and buy lunches for managers, but it must be a strategic response to skill young people, and give them an opportunity to advance themselves. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Mr C M MORKEL: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Mr President, Madam Deputy President, members of the Cabinet, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, in the President’s reply to the debate on his state of the nation address, he asked us to consider our common vocabulary, when he responded to hon Bantu Holomisa’s proposal on seeking consensus on issues of national importance.

In this context, as at the time of its establishment, the PIM asked itself to what extent the vocabulary we choose reflects our tone, attitude and style of debate - by both those who are in government and those who are not. The word and concept “opposition” stems from the verb to oppose.

We must ask ourselves whether the framers of our Constitution, who gave birth to this developing democracy on Freedom Day in 1994, intended to use the word opposition to denote and promote multi-party democracy or did they intend, as IFP Leader, the hon Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on 9 March 2007 that, and I quote: The word ‘opposition’ itself is loaded with gladiatorial connotations. Confrontation is inferred. Seizing the initiative often means waiting for the government to stumble or exposing some scandal or irregularity.

In other words, that the word opposition should not imply that a losing party undermines the winning and governing party, and spends the rest of its days name calling, blaming and shaming without really contributing constructive criticism, intellectual honesty and viable alternatives.

The new leader of the DA, Helen Zille, also seems willing to review the style of her party somewhat, when she said in her election acceptance speech that, and I quote:

… the true meaning of ‘ubuntu’ is being prepared to understand each other, to share ourselves with one another, so that we may help each other succeed.

Without derogating from the constitutional prescripts on promoting multi- party democracy, the PIM therefore believes that we need to review our Constitution’s references to the word ‘opposition’. We should change our common vocabulary, as the President asked of us, so that it would reflect our common patriotism, by replacing the word ‘opposition’ with the words ‘non-governing party’.

The examples of New Zealand and Sri Lanka also help us somewhat as their democracy is also developed out of the Westminster Model. In these two democracies they refer to parties who do not govern as non-governing or non- government parties. But this change in our common vocabulary should only be the start of our renewed and refocused efforts at seeking consensus, nation building and reconciliation to achieve social transformation, besides the other objectives of a developmental state.

The PIM hopes that our proposal will contribute to deepening the debate around the title, “Leader of the Opposition”. We have already made our constructive and critical contribution with proposals during the Budget Vote on Safety and Security, Minerals and Energy, Education, Public Enterprises, Communications amongst others. We will continue to make our contribution to the debate. We thank you.

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Hon Deputy Speaker, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members of this very august House, let me first congratulate Mr Morkel on raising the very important issue that our President emphasised during this Budget Vote speech of today. One of the things he mentioned was that if we changed the names of political parties, we might walk towards the unification of our country and the building of a sense of belonging for all of us.

I thought this was very important because it takes us out of the myopia of thinking that the identification of one small group precludes the belonging of the small to the large. It precludes the inclusion of the minorities in the programmes of the majority parties in a particular country. I really want to associate myself with those sentiments.

I also want to remind the new leader of the DA not to quickly forget the history of our country. You see, when she says that there is political interference in sport during this period of our government that is selective remembering in my view. This is because there was no time in the history of sport in this country when it was ever nonpolitical.

As a matter of fact, what was alluded to as meritorious selection, only referred to the meritorious selection of the few to the exclusion of the rest of our society. These are very important historical facts, which, if we are to build this sense of belonging, we must always take along because they must never trip us up as we go along.

South Africa’s pursuit of the Fifa World Cup is firmly located in the set of principles that gave birth to the new South Africa in 1994, which is not unrelated to what I have just said above. Our nation’s emergence from almost 400 years of intense struggle to assert our fundamental right as a productive member of the community of nations necessarily had to entrench the quest for equality and promotion, as well as the protection of human rights as enshrined in our own Constitution.

This was necessitated by the country’s isolation stemming from the dehumanising policies of years of apartheid, and this included the sports sector. As such, sport cannot be excluded from the transformation programmes of our state.

Security was a very important factor in hosting the World Cup for 2010, but Fifa reiterated its commitment to bringing the World Cup to South Africa. They have included a fourth option, in that there are options A, B, C and D in South Africa, said the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, at the Fifa congress two weeks ago.

So, securing the right to host this cup was therefore a logistical progression of the reintegration of our country into the family of nations and a contribution to our progress on the road to economic, political and psychological reintegration into that community.

The reintroduction must also rely on the country’s transformation through consensus - which seems to be growing with Mr Morkel here – around respect for equal rights, respect for the creation of opportunities for all. As the Deputy President has already said, the pursuit of the 2010 Fifa World Cup is squarely rooted in the broader nation-building agenda and consensus that we must achieve as a nation - a better life for all and the building of a strong foundation to ensure future prosperity.

There can be no better way for the first nation outside continental Europe to play the modern version of football than hosting the Football World Cup in 2010. This affords us the opportunity also in sport to compete with the best in the world. It contributes to the unfolding of the 21st century as an African century of growth and development.

The committee of sports Ministers declared last week in Addis Ababa that our hosting of the 2010 World Cup as a country was an important building block for the African Renaissance and the African century. It brings hope not only to South Africa, but to all the people of Africa. We note with concern, though, that the doubt that continues to be promoted by our detractors does not seem to go away. Worse still, it seems to be prodded also by fellow South Africans.

Hon members, I want to give you – as the Deputy President has done today – our assurance, not for the first time, that we are well on track to hosting a memorable World Cup in 2010. This morning I received a letter, Mr President, from the City of Cape Town. The Minister in The Presidency has a copy of it. This letter assures us one more time that the building of the Green Point stadium is not only on track, but is ahead of schedule. [Applause.]

Our detractors complain that we should not invest so much in sport. What these people miss is that football is not just about 90 minutes of kicking the ball during a game. They have not listened to the people of the townships and the rural areas and they also have not listened to their own members.

We have just delivered our budget speech in the NCOP, at which MPs of the DA and of FF Plus pleaded with us – the Deputy Minister was there – to intervene and bring facilities to their communities, bring integration to the teams of South Africa, and intervene where problems are clearly discernible in the employment and selection patterns of our federation. They said that this afternoon; here, next door, in the NCOP. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

The 2010 World Cup is not about providing world-class facilities only; it is also about providing world-class transport, world-class development skills, world-class IT systems, and world-class football for the African continent – as well as world-class Ministers. [Laughter.] We also use this opportunity to place first-class facilities in the hands of most of our people who have never had this opportunity, and to place this opportunity in the hands of our football administrators precisely because this is the most played sport in our country and it is the most followed sport in our country numerically speaking. Nothing is more developmental than this strategy.

The legacy programme of 2010 brings together the highest profile people from across world institutions. In the world we have been joined by the European Union, we have been joined by the United Nations, and, indeed, Fifa has already contributed its first US$70-million donation towards the legacy that this tournament must leave behind for the children of Africa.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, hon Minister! Your time has expired. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Two minutes …

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I now call the hon Tsenoli.

Mr S L TSENOLI: Madam Deputy Speaker, Comrade President, Comrade Deputy President, the organisation of the state has been one of the most complex assignments this government has faced over the past 13 years, especially because of the backlogs in service delivery that confronted us, but also because of the need for and importance of maintaining those services that existed in areas that were supplied previously. The question of how this should be done and done effectively, is a crucial one.

There are two or three points that I am going to raise with regard to this issue, Comrade President. One of them is the length of service that is served by officials in municipal, provincial and national government. This is a factor in effective service delivery. I shall quote two interesting studies. One of them is slightly older but I think its findings remain valid for consideration in assessing this question.

The first study was done by a former director-general of correctional services in Canada and his adviser. They published the 1998 study in a book called Three Pillars of Public Management. They had studied a number of government departments and other institutions in the public sector that were very successful. They set out to make the point that the public service has capacity, has possibilities for creativity, and has demonstrated this, and so they looked at those that have shown this in real terms.

They conducted concrete analysis of concrete situations. In Africa they did not go to many countries and departments, but they did speak to a number of experts who worked with the public sector, including donor support organisations. They found that those organisations that were most successful were those that had long-serving officials in their departments, and often those officials came from the ranks of those organisations, which is a very interesting observation.

The other point they made in that study concerned the value of serving the public. Indeed, some of the most creative ways of handling business can be learned from how the public service does its work. These are the two points they made.

This view is also supported in a study quoted in a book that is generally popular in the private sector, called Built to Last. The authors studied 11 companies, and they claim it is also valid in the public service that long- serving senior managers tend to produce the sort of results that we would like to see in organisations.

We are raising this, Comrade President, because findings have emerged more recently, for example in the nodes, that suggest there is a problem with the poor continuity of officials, the frequent changes, irrespective of the, in some instances, valid reasons for the changes. In many instances the lack of continuity at that level has a negative effect on service delivery. Isn’t there a case to be made for reviewing this and looking at it afresh to see whether we cannot do it differently?

The second point I would like to make about the capacity of the state relates to the nine principles contained in Chapter 10 of the Constitution. Chapter 10 states that these principles must be applied to people who work with the public in all three spheres of government, but the Public Service Commission is limited to provincial and national government only. There is no constant kind of work that the Public Service Commission does at local government level. It might well be correct that a single public service initiative offers us the opportunity to extend the mandate to do that work at that level, and I think this speaks to the validity of centralisation.

All evidence worldwide suggests that there is value in both centralisation and decentralisation. The two are not necessarily mutually contradictory. They can serve important purposes. In our country we have the Constitution which says certain things must be done by local government, because they are best placed there. But there are also things which must be done at regional level because they are best served there. So we must centralise in that area. But, most importantly, we say we would like to see coherence across the public sector, and therefore the values that we would like to inculcate in public servants can best be served at that level.

Who would have a problem with officials having mobility to operate at local, provincial or national level, or in public entities for that matter, under similar conditions of service, bound by the same values that we would like to see demonstrated?

My final point: We cannot call integrated development plans integrated as long as we don’t see similar passion by all of the national departments. We really support the road show of the Department of Provincial and Local Government to all departments. Some of the Ministers are here. The road show is putting a little energy and a little fire behind all the departments to sow that passion in supporting municipal integrated development plans. We cannot call them integrated development plans if you are not there.

A related point is capacity building. We went with Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi to Madrid last November to a conference on capacity building organised by the United Nations Development Programme. One of the most persuasive arguments was that capacity-building should be integrated into those integrated development plans. It will then have meaningful impact, promptly, within the periods of evaluation that must be done on a regular basis, and therefore we suggest it must equally be integrated in the growth and development strategies. If any of those development programmes do not show how they are going to deal with capacity-building that is relevant to their implementation, they are not integrated development plans.

We put a lot of money into the training and capacity-building initiatives, but unfortunately they remain rather fragmented and not yet integrated. That is the platform we have said represents the integrated development plan pools for all government planning, and that is the basis on which we support this Vote and especially its work in dealing with issues that relate to the organisation of the state. I thank you. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That concludes the speakers’ list for today and the business for the day. The President will reply tomorrow. Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 19:09. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

                        MONDAY, 11 JUNE 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Classification of Bills by Joint Tagging Mechanism

 (1)    The Joint Tagging Mechanism, in terms of Joint Rule 160(6),
     classified the following Bills as section 75 Bills:


     (a)     Co-operative Banks Bill [B 13 – 2007] (National Assembly –
         sec 75).


     (b)     Astronomy Geographic Advantage Bill [B 17 – 2007] (National
         Assembly – sec 75).

TABLINGS

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson

   The Speaker and the Chairperson, on 30 May 2007, called a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, as follows:

            CALLING OF JOINT SITTING OF PARLIAMENT
   

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms B Mbete, and the Chairperson
of the National Council of Provinces, Mr M J Mahlangu, in terms of
Joint Rule 7 (2), have called a Joint Sitting of the Houses of
Parliament for Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 14:00 in order for His
Excellency, J Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo to
address the Joint Sitting.

_______________________             ________________________
B MBETE, MP                              M J MAHLANGU, MP
SPEAKER OF THE                           CHAIRPERSON OF THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY                   NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Assembly

1. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Public Service Amendment Bill [B 31 – 2006] (National Assembly – sec 76) dated 8 June 2007: The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, having considered the subject of the Public Service Amendment Bill [B 31 – 2006] (National Assembly – sec 76), referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism as a section 76 Bill, reports the Bill with amendments [B31A-2006].

                     TUESDAY, 12 JUNE 2007
   

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Introduction of Bills

Please note: The following item amends the entry “Introduction of
Bills” (English text), published on page 1027 of the Announcements,
Tablings and Committee Reports of 7 June 2007:

 (1)    The Minister of Finance


      a) Taxation Laws Amendment Bill [B 18 – 2007].


          Introduction in the National Assembly (proposed sec 77) and
          referral to the Portfolio Committee on Finance of the
          National Assembly, as well as referral to the Joint Tagging
          Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of Joint Rule
          160, on 7 June 2007.


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


      b) Taxation Laws Second Amendment Bill [B 19 – 2007] [Explanatory
         summary of Bill and prior notice of its introduction published
         in Government Gazette No 29961 of 1 June 2007].
          Introduction in the National Assembly (proposed sec 75) and
          referral to the Portfolio Committee on Finance of the
          National Assembly, as well as referral to the Joint Tagging
          Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of Joint Rule
          160, on 7 June 2007.


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

1. Translation of Bill submitted

Please note: The following item amends the entry “Translation of Bill
submitted”, published on page 1027 of the Announcements, Tablings and
Committee Reports of 7 June 2007:


 a) umThetho Oyilwayo Wenkampani Yeehambo Zomoya [Um 35B – 2006]
    (National Assembly –sec 75).

     This is the official translation into isiXhosa of the South
     African Airways Bill [B 35B – 2006] (National Assembly – sec 75).

1. Membership of Committees

(a)     The following changes have been made to the membership of Joint
     Committees:

Budget
Appointed:   Stephens, Adv J J M
Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women
Appointed:   Vos, Ms S C (Alt); Zikalala, Ms C N Z

National Assembly

1. Membership of Committees

(a)     The following changes have been made to the membership of
      Portfolio Committees:

Correctional Services
Appointed:   Cupido, Mr H B

TABLINGS

National Assembly

1. The Speaker

 (a)    Report of the Public Service Commission (PSC) on Measuring the
      Effectiveness of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH),
      2007 [RP 19-2007].


 (b)    Report of the Public Service Commission (PSC) on an Audit of
      Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes and Projects – February
      2007 [RP 11-2007].

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Assembly

1. Report of the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology on the Business Strategies (Budget and Strategic Plans) for 2007/2008 of the Department of Science and Technology and Entities, dated 12 June 2007:

   The Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology, having considered and examined the Business Strategies of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and its Entities accountable to it: the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Human Science Research Council (HSRC), the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), the National Advisory Council of Innovation (NACI), TSHUMISANO TRUST and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), reports that it has concluded its deliberations thereon.