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THURSDAY, 22 APRIL 2010
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
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The Council met at 14:01.
The Deputy Chairperson (Ms T C Memela) 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
(Policy debate)
Vote No 27 — Economic Development:
Vote No 28 – Energy:
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, Minister Peters,
hon members, ladies and gentlemen, Lubala is a small settlement
about 35 km from Lusikisiki, and a bit more than an hour’s drive
from Port St Johns.
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The road to Lubala cuts through the green hills of Pondoland, with
occasional stray cattle sharing the space with cars on the road. The
settlement has 83 households, and has been described as one of the
poorest areas in one of the poorest provinces in our country.
Last week I was part of the team that, with Deputy President
Motlanthe, visited Lubala where government’s antipoverty strategy
was launched in 2008. The area remains poor and underdeveloped. Our
team visited about a quarter of the households and spoke to fellow
South Africans who live without electricity, without running water
and without modern sanitation or refuse removal.
Nomantombi Mhluthwa is a 74-year-old grandmother, who is the head of
a household of three children. Her story of struggling under
bitterly poor conditions was repeated by grandmothers in
neighbouring households. Health care and educational opportunities
for her and for the people of Lubala are limited.
The residents of the little village rely largely on income from
social grants and some limited subsistence farming to feed their
families. The village consists mainly of children and old people.
This is the story of many, many rural areas.
Young people in Lubala struggle to find jobs in their village or in
the surrounding areas and often leave as soon as possible, in many
cases sending very little money back to Lubala. About 400 km from
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Lubala is the industrial town of Dimbaza. A decade ago it had about
140 factories providing work for people from neighbouring villages
and towns.
By last year there were only four factories left in Dimbaza. As
Dimbaza was deindustrialised it left poverty and development
challenges in its wake. Many of those displaced by the contraction
of economic activity have not found sustainable alternative
employment; some have remained unemployed years after losing their
jobs in Dimbaza.
In highlighting the challenges that Lubala and Dimbaza pose for us,
hon members, we stare our reality, the South African reality, in the
face. We seek through our policies and our implementation to change
this reality.
There are opportunities to grow the Eastern Cape economy and expand
its industrial base. Let me mention one example: The Eastern Cape
currently produces about 20% of the country’s milk; so,
statistically, every fifth glass of milk you drink comes from the
Eastern Cape. Almost half of that milk is processed outside the
province.
My staff in the department are now working with the milk producers
organisation and government agencies to determine whether there is a
viable case for more agri-processing capacity in the province. We
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need to assess how much of this apparent imbalance is due to poor
infrastructural development or lack of support for enterprises and
how much is due to what you call bottom-line economics.
Hon members and Chairperson, I have spoken about the challenges of
one little village in the Eastern Cape and one industrial town, but
you will know from your experience that these stories are not unique
to that province. Throughout the country in the provinces that each
of you come from, as the official unemployment and income data
shows, we face significant and, in many cases, very similar
challenges.
The Economic Development department strategic plan and budget has to
make a difference to the lives of residents in areas such as Lubala
and Dimbaza and those in each of the provinces. I believe that the
budget we have tabled and gone through today, together with the
provincial and local budgets for economic development, can make a
positive difference in the lives of our people. The Economic
Development Department, EDD, budget allocation is R418 million,
which covers the work of the department and certain entities that
report to the department.
We have proposed the distribution of the budget as follows: The
amount of R25,8 million for economic planning and co-ordination;
R18,2 million for policy development work; R11,2 million for
economic development and for dialogue; R44,8 million for
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administration, the work of the Ministry and capital expenditure;
R152 million for small business funding through transfers to Khula
and the South African Microfinance Apex Fund, Samaf; R102 million
for the competition authorities to strengthen their work; and
R64 million for trade administration and promotion to the
International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa, Itac.
Hon members will see that the larger part of the budget, namely
R318 million of the funding, will be transferred directly to
entities that report to the Economic Development department. An
important part of our capacity will be the partnerships we forge,
particularly with provinces and local governments, to tap into the
wider pool of knowledge, people and money that exists out there to
address the country’s challenges.
Last week, I met with members of the Select Committee on Economic
Development when we presented our strategic plan and budget. I would
like to thank the chairperson, hon Freddie Adams, and members of the
select committee for the stimulating and fruitful engagement. I
don’t know why I’m coming in so infrequently to the NCOP when the
engagement is so fruitful. I advised the select committee and we
have done some work on the economic development budget of each
province and of the main metros for a report that we shared with the
members of the executive council, MECs, for economic development. We
called them to Pretoria and we said on a PowerPoint presentation,
“This is each of your budgets”.
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Last year, these two levels of government, the provinces and the
metros, which excludes many of the smaller local authorities,
budgeted R6,7 billion for economic development. I’m excluding here
the allocations for tourism – only economic development — with the
metros accounting for R2,1 billion of this figure. For each three
rands that we spend below national level, one rand comes from the
budgets of the metros for economic development.
The point of this study was to determine the full value of potential
resources for our joint mandate and to work with each other to
improve this impact of our spending. If you add the budgets of the
national Departments of Economic Development, Trade and Industry,
Science and Technology, and Tourism as well as the development
finance institutions, we have a potentially large funding resource
available and this has to be focused on our priority of development
and decent work.
However, economic development is not only promoted through the
spending of line departments responsible for this function. The full
Budget of the country is a resource we need to tap into.
My colleague, the Minister of Finance, announced in his Budget
Speech in February this year that government in all spheres plans to
spend R907 billion this year, and R2,9 trillion over the medium
term. Over half of this amount goes to provinces and municipalities
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for education, health, municipal infrastructure and human
settlement.
Now, clearly, this money is intended for these functions, but how we
spend the money has a dramatic impact on economic development. We
can do more for our people if we identify additional opportunities
for local procurement by all three levels of government and by other
public entities and state-owned enterprises.
To this end we have set funding aside and put it into the economic
development budget to establish an office on local procurement and
we have budgeted R3,8 million for work in this area. Through the
department’s programme on planning and co-ordination, we intend to
ensure greater synergy in economic development across the different
spheres of government.
Our work in partnership with the provinces may be of interest to hon
members. We seek to identify the competitive advantages in each
province; maximise the employment impact of these provincial
strengths and benefit all provinces through exploiting the economic
linkages between them.
Some of our work will identify or strengthen corridor opportunities
across provinces and projects for economic clusters across sectors
and regions. We have built greater coherence between national and
provincial development agencies; we have built a strategic
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relationship with the South African Local Government Association,
Salga, and metropolitan councils; and we have worked closely with
the National Planning Commission and Minister Manuel to develop
special and sector economic development plans, including those for
the distressed sectors and regions.
Our work on sector policy will also support the Industrial Policy
Action Plan, Ipap, announced by Minister Davies two months ago, as
well as rural economic development initiatives. By the end of this
financial year, we intend to have reviewed or produced at least five
sector plans and ten special plans. National government manages key
levers of economic development, including funding for small business
development.
On 1 April the Economic Development department, EDD, assumed
responsibility for three development finance institutions, namely
the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, Khula and Samaf. If we
join their budgets they have in excess of R16 billion available for
industrial development, a portion of which will go to business
support. Our work will be to ensure that the R16 billion is spent
wisely with the best development and decent work outcomes.
We recently announced the R2 million industrial development bond at
very attractive interest rates that the IDC placed and which will
allow it to expand its resources for job creation. This development
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bond has been fully taken up by the Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF,
which has placed surplus funds with the IDC.
Nelie Kok and his wife live in Keimoes, a town on the biggest island
in the Orange River. They are members of a co-operative consisting
of 82 members, which supports 450 people. They are Fairtrade
accredited and their products are sold by Fairtrade all over Europe.
Their chief export is raisins and they would like to expand to make
use of the 2 000 ha of land that they have, of which only 600 has
access to some kind of an irrigation system. What is significant is
that they would like to have more control over the value-adding
process. In the period ahead, we will examine how well we have
assisted entrepreneurs such as Nelie Kok to realise their potential
and to create more jobs.
The EDD guides the work of three economic regulatory bodies, namely
the Competition Commission of South Africa, the Competition Tribunal
of South Africa and the International Trade Administration
Commission of South Africa called Itac. The commission agencies have
had considerable success in recent months with their investigations
and actions against companies that are involved in price-fixing and
collusion. Over the past decade, about R1,1 billion has been
collected in penalties from companies that have been found guilty of
anticompetitive behaviour.
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The global economic recession has had a damaging impact on
employment in South Africa. Even before the recession, our economy
was struggling to create sufficient jobs for those South Africans
able and willing to work. Faced with these realities and the
challenges of very high inequality and deep levels of poverty, we
are working on ways to improve the employment performance of the
economy and create many more decent work opportunities and better
social outcomes.
This work we group under our policy work and we call it the
“development of a new growth path”. The central idea of this
developmental growth path is to enhance the labour-absorbing
capacity of the economy; to build the lower carbon emission economy;
and to find ways to connect knowledge and innovation to the
challenges of jobs and growth.
Through this work we’ve identified a number of areas where we
believe new jobs can be created, namely infrastructure development;
the green economy; the manufacturing sector; the knowledge economy
activities; the rural agricultural and agro-processing sector;
tourism and business process services; the social economy, which
includes co-operatives; public sector growth; and the continental
and regional economy. We are now working on bedding that down into
real opportunities and identifying the provincial dimension.
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The green economy, for example, has huge potential for employment
creation in the energy, agricultural, manufacturing and service
sectors, including ecotourism. Government departments, working
together, are pursuing these opportunities in solar, wind and
nuclear energy generation; solar heating geysers; biofuels and cogeneration; repairing environmental degradation; ecotourism; smart
manufacturing; waste management; the regulation of energy efficiency
of commercial buildings; and the installation of more energyefficient equipment.
It is apposite that my colleague, Minister Peters, follows
immediately after me because she’s been a leading proponent of
turning the energy challenge into a green economy opportunity.
In our own budget, we will allocate R2 million for work on the green
economy and green jobs and we will mobilise additional resources for
investment. The IDC is already investing in a number of green
economy projects ranging from solar power plants to manufacturing
activities in the green economy.
We are conscious of the number of policy challenges; one of them is
in skills development. We are a country with a relatively weak
skills base for the modern economy that we are seeking to build. We
need to produce more engineers, artisans, technicians and
agricultural specialists to strengthen the economy and improve our
competitiveness.
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By the end of this year, we plan to have the core of an economic
development institute in place, which will draw together leading
economists and development practitioners. It will commission
research, seminars and workshops; and create a database of global
economic development initiatives and institutions. We will make its
resources and ideas available to provinces and use it as a means to
develop a common knowledge platform across government.
I believe that there is no contradiction in advocating strong and
vibrant competition in the private sector on the one hand, while
supporting joint planning, co-operation and sharing to promote
economic development, on the other hand. Competition and cooperation are not mutually exclusive; it’s about finding the
balance. One big part of our work, therefore, will be social
partnerships to draw in the ideas of business and labour and to
share that with communities.
Last year we hosted a very successful policy platform on rural
development in KwaZulu-Natal. By the end of the financial year we
will hold an economic development conference, which will also
deliberate on the special dimensions of economic planning and coordination. For the year ahead, we are planning to develop social
dialogue on growth and social equity issues at sector and workplace
level so that we can build partnerships at the very heart of the
wealth-creating machinery of the economy.
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We have established a subprogramme to address the role of
productivity, innovation and entrepreneurship in driving economic
growth and development. The department will promote workplace
productivity agreements and foster entrepreneurial endeavours in the
economy, particularly among black entrepreneurs.
In the first month that the EDD was officially established, it took
responsibility for co-ordinating government’s work within the
framework of South Africa’s response to the international economic
crisis. We have now launched 20 actions in this programme. One
example is the training layoff scheme as well as the funding that
the IDC is providing to companies and sectors in distress.
I spoke earlier of the challenges of the recession; we are confident
that we can repair the damage of the recession and build an
inclusive economy. We will maximise the economic development impact
only by working together. Each of us has a role to play because the
economy is about all of us, and employment growth and development
are in the interests of all of us. I thank you.
The MINISTER OF ENERGY: Chairperson, Minister Patel, hon members of
this august House, the National Council of Provinces, in September
last year, working together with Ezinqoleni municipality in KwaZuluNatal, we launched the Safe Illuminating Paraffin Stove Project in
the town of Ezingolweni.
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As we did that, we were once again reminded of the scale of poverty
and underdevelopment that characterises our communities. In
particular, what stood out was the plight of one resident who barely
had a house to live in, let alone the bare necessities for survival.
Working together with business leaders in the area, we were able to
offer the lady and her two teenage sons a home and a sense of hope
for a better tomorrow.
There was also a story that was shown on television last year of the
death of three children from KwaZulu-Natal, who died when the
generator they were using exploded. This happened after they had
travelled for 10 km to watch the soccer game between our national
soccer team, Bafana Bafana, and Uruguay.
It is these tragic events that continuously remind us of the
enormousness of the tasks that face the democratic developmental
state as it seeks to usher in a new era in energy planning,
modelling, forecasting and service delivery.
Tomorrow, 23 April, I will be travelling to Grahamstown at the
invitation of our national oil company, PetroSA, to participate in
the opening of classrooms at a primary school that was established
by the nuns of the Anglican Church in 1844. The new structure will
provide a science and computer laboratory for about 200 children.
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We are also going to offer these children a sense of hope and a
promise of a better tomorrow. To date, PetroSA, a subsidiary of the
Central Energy Fund, has spent a total of R260 million on such
initiatives throughout the country.
For us to achieve social justice, we will continue with the
implementation of the Integrated National Electrification Programme
as a vehicle for social change. In spite of the challenges facing us
as a department in relation to the implementation of this programme,
we have made significant progress. I must indicate that, out of the
237 local municipalities, 128 of them will eradicate existing
backlogs with regard to the electrification of formal households by
2011 and 2012.
The majority of these municipalities are in Gauteng, North West, the
Western Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
Accordingly, my department will prioritise the extension of the
rural electricity network capacity to ensure that the rural
communities of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape achieve
the same level of electrification as the provinces mentioned above.
To indicate our commitment to the goal of making sure that we
prioritise these provinces, 64% of the total allocation of
R2,8 billion has been allocated to the three provinces. In this
regard, we have identified the municipalities that have backlogs of
less than 5 000 to achieve universal access to electrification.
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In the Eastern Cape, we are targeting about 14 municipalities with a
backlog of less than 5 000; in the Free State it is 17; in Gauteng
it is 4, in KwaZulu-Natal it is 11; and in Limpopo it is 18. In
Mpumalanga it is 4 municipalities; North West, 11 municipalities;
Northern Cape, 26; and the Western Cape, 23.
You would have understood that these are the municipalities with
backlogs of less than 5 000. Those with backlogs of more than 5 000
are as follows: In the Eastern Cape it is 24; Free State, three;
Gauteng, eight; KwaZulu-Natal, 40; Limpopo, seven; Mpumalanga, 14;
North West, 10; Northern Cape, one; and the Western Cape, two.
Out of the totals, there are 128 municipalities with a backlog of
less than 5 000, and 109 municipalities with a backlog of more than
5 000. As regards the total budget for these municipalities in the
year 2011-12, the Eastern Cape will receive about R167 million; Free
State, R198 million; Gauteng, R80 million; KwaZulu-Natal,
R180 million; Limpopo, R270 million; Mpumalanga, R35 million; North
West, R216 million; Northern Cape, R94 million; and the Western
Cape, R186 million. This makes a total of about R1,426 billion.
All metros have been left out of these arrangements, except
Ekurhuleni, where 64 000 formal households still have to be
electrified. In this regard, the rest of the metros will work on
eradicating their backlogs and this they will do through the
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Breaking New Ground programme of the Department of Human
Settlements.
I am pleased to report that restructuring of the distribution side
of electricity has gained tremendous momentum over the past year.
The state of readiness for the consolidation of the 187
municipalities and Eskom distribution systems into single, viable
regional electricity distributors, REDs, as directed by the Cabinet
decision of 25 October 2006, has reached its highest level ever.
Working together with the SA Local Government Association, Salga,
our mayors, councillors and officials of the 147 municipalities out
of 187 that distribute electricity, EDI Holdings has signed
accession to co-operative agreements with these entities. They have
subsequently committed themselves to actively participate in the EDI
restructuring process.
Furthermore, over 30 municipalities, which together with Eskom
constitute about 90% of the entire electricity distribution in the
country, have undertaken the process of ring-fencing their
electricity distribution assets in preparation for incorporating
their electricity assets into REDs. Thus far, EDI Holdings has spent
about R62 million to assist municipalities and Eskom with the ringfencing exercise.
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The huge backlog in maintenance, refurbishment and investment in EDI
infrastructure, which is estimated at no less than R27 billion,
continues to be a major challenge. This continues to have a negative
impact on service delivery. The government has established an
Interministerial Committee on Energy to urgently redress this
situation, amongst other things. The process of integrating this
programme into the overall Local Government Turnaround Strategy is
under way.
The main focus in the months ahead for my department and its
implementing agency, EDI Holdings, is to ensure that all
stakeholders agree as soon as possible on the implementation plan to
ensure the acceleration of the establishment of the six wall-to-wall
REDs as agreed upon by Cabinet.
We expect the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
to finalise the processing of the proposed Constitution Seventeenth
Amendment Bill after which we will be able to table the RED
Establishment Bill.
Members of the National Council of Provinces are the ones who
actually understand better than those of the National Assembly the
impact of electricity distribution on municipalities, because you
are the ones who are dealing directly with municipalities and
provinces. You would know the challenges that municipalities have in
relation to decaying infrastructure, where in some instances there
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is electricity, but people would be sitting without lights going on,
primarily because the network that leads to the household is unable
to provide that service to them.
It is important, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, that all parties
who have the interests of South Africans at heart should support the
Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Bill so that when people switch
on the lights, there will be light.
As electricity tariffs increase, our main concern is the impact on
the impoverished, the poorest of the poor. We will mitigate the
adverse impact of tariff increases on the poor through a number of
mechanisms over and above the free basic electricity programme.
The first mechanism is based on inclining block tariffs, and the
second one is related to savings on the electricity bill which are
derived from the solar water heating programme. For example, the
tariff increase applicable to the indigent will be the lowest part
of the block tariff proposed by the National Energy Regulator of
South Africa, Nersa, and this is minus 10% for year one for
consumption below 50 units per month, followed by 5,4% for year two
and 5,5% for year three.
The highest increase is applicable to customers who consume more
than 350 units per month, which is in line with the user-pays
principle. If you are sitting in this House and your lights are on,
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your pumps are on, and everything is running, you must pay for that.
You must also pay for what you waste, even for the electricity that
you are not using. You will have to pay for that.
We will work with the Department of Co-operative Governance and
Traditional Affairs, Cogta, and the National Treasury to sort out
the funding of municipalities in so far as electricity distribution
infrastructure is concerned. We need municipalities on our side as
energy champions, and we call on them to apply surcharge increases
in a manner that is sensitive to the circumstances of the indigent.
We also appeal to the hon members of this House to support the
restructuring of this sector.
You will remember that municipalities – and I am sure they have come
a number of times to this House — indicated that they rely on the
electricity revenue to be able to sustain themselves. Unfortunately,
while electricity is providing the revenue, that money is not being
used to sustain the infrastructure for electricity. It is being used
for other services that municipalities need, so that is why we are
appealing to you to engage with the finance committee.
You should be able to motivate for a better funding model for
municipalities, so that they do not rely on what we call low-hanging
fruit, which is easy for them to get. The increased electricity
surcharge means increased revenue for municipalities.
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However, that also works against energy efficiency, because if
municipalities have to rely on the electricity charges, they would
motivate people to use electricity so that they can have more
revenue. It also works against their own challenge of revenue
collection, because they are not able to collect the full revenue.
So, as people use more, municipalities would believe that they would
get at least half of that from electricity tariffs in order to
sustain their programmes.
In order to encourage energy saving, a financial incentive scheme,
to be known as the standard offer, will be introduced. In terms of
this, project developers will be able to claim a rebate in respect
of the amount of energy they have saved from the electricity system.
It is expected that these interventions will emanate from, firstly,
the residential sector, by the replacement of incandescent lighting
with energy-saving bulbs; secondly, the industrial sector, through
the power conservation programmes in terms of which industrial
customers will be able to claim incentives due from less energyintensive production methods; and lastly, the commercial sector,
with energy efficiency interventions like improved insulation in
buildings.
We intend to intensify energy efficiency in the estimated 100 000
public buildings, which will be retrofitted to comply with energy
efficiency standards. We urge the Department of Public Works to
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ensure that all provincial governments participate in this project.
We once again call upon the hospitality industry to embrace the
spirit of this campaign.
We would also like to congratulate the Department of Arts and
Culture for working through the SA National Energy Research
Institute, Saneri, on making Robben Island one of our major greening
projects.
Solar water heaters are one of the key interventions in energy
efficiency and demand-side management, EEDSM, in terms of which we
are making a commitment to progressively deploy solar water heating
for water heating in all residential dwellings. The outcomes of this
programme are expected to include electricity demand reduction of
about 3 600 megawatts, and localisation of solar water heating
technology, design and production.
I am sure you have heard the Minister of Economic Development
indicating the type of interventions his department will make to
ensure that we emphasise and support localisation and the production
of this technology locally. Issues of climate change mitigation and
job creation as well as skills development are further expected
outcomes.
As you may be aware, next week on 28 April President Zuma will
launch the first massified solar water heater project in
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Winterveldt. This is a precursor to numerous other projects, which
will ultimately result in the displacement of coal by the sun as an
energy carrier for water heating in this country. Very soon, we will
also be launching 5 000 units with the Sol Plaatje municipality.
We will also be working with the Departments of Public Service and
Administration and Public Works on a framework to roll out solar
water heating systems to public servants. We want to take this
opportunity to thank the Japanese Embassy for being the most energyefficient foreign mission in South Africa. We also want to
congratulate the Legacy Group’s Da Vinci hotel in Sandton for its
retrofitting, from conventional water heating to solar water
heating.
This year, the department will be launching the Working for Energy
programme, with the primary objective of using the feedstock created
from clearing alien biomass vegetation to produce power. We are
happy to announce that we are working with municipalities, the
Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Economic
Development with regard to waste-to-energy projects. You heard the
Minister announce the green economy initiatives.
Chairperson, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to
establishing more integrated energy centres, IECs, throughout the
country in order to reduce the impact of energy poverty. This
programme is one of the vehicles that the department is using to
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contribute to government’s commitment to rural development and
sustainable job creation.
An integrated energy centre is a one-stop energy shop owned and
operated by community co-operatives and organised as a community
project. The IECs act as community information hubs and energy shops
that sell illuminating paraffin, liquid petroleum gas — which is LPG
— candles, petrol and diesel from oil companies directly to the
community at more affordable prices.
The department, working together with the affected stakeholders, is
currently reviewing the IEC sustainability strategy that was
developed in 2005 in order to ensure that these IECs are achieving
the desired results.
Discussions are under way with the Department of Rural Development
and Land Reform to ensure that the IEC programme is aligned with the
Comprehensive Rural Development Programme. This year, we intend to
launch two IECs, in King Sabata Dalindyebo and Mbizana Local
Municipalities in the Eastern Cape.
My department is also actively involved in assisting operating IECs
in places like Ratlou in the North West, Mutale in Limpopo and
Moshaweng and John Taolo Gaetsewe municipalities in the Northern
Cape.
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Through this House, I would like to appeal to you to engage with
municipalities to make sure that they can process applications for
land, in particular for sites for the IECs as quickly as possible,
because the IECs are an instrument with which we can deal a blow to
energy poverty.
Illuminating paraffin is the most commonly used and purchased fuel
source for low-income communities in the country. It is used in
varying degrees in almost half of all South African homes. Like all
other fuels, illuminating paraffin is a hazardous substance which,
when not properly handled or used, can result in unacceptably high
levels of harm to humans, with financial and economic consequences.
To address this problem, the department together with the Central
Energy Fund has embarked on a pilot programme to test the efficacy
of new, safer illuminating paraffin appliances in areas previously
devastated by paraffin-related fires. These areas are: Alexandra in
Gauteng, with 350 beneficiaries; Ezinqoleni in KwaZulu-Natal, with
350 beneficiaries; Mbizana in the Eastern Cape, with 150
beneficiaries; and Imizamo Yethu in the Western Cape, with 350
beneficiaries.
The monitoring and evaluation consultants will issue a close-out
report to the department in June 2010, and I believe that we will
also be reporting back to this House on matters related to the
outcome of this investigation or pilot programme.
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Chairperson, out of the 15 400 licences lodged in the petroleum
industry so far, 12 431 have been processed. For the 2009-10
financial year, 3 041 licences were processed. From 1 April 2010,
all regional offices were opened and running, and applications can
now be lodged in the regions.
I have instructed the department to process licence applications
within the stipulated time of 90 days, with the ultimate aim of
reducing that time. The licensing of petroleum business activities
also assists the department to monitor and enforce the economic
empowerment of historically disadvantaged South Africans, as
outlined in the Liquid Fuels Charter.
I also want to use the platform of this House to request members,
through their constituencies and also through engaging with
municipalities, to encourage municipalities to look at ensuring that
people are not given sites for trading in petroleum products before
getting their licence from the department. It happens at times, and
then the licence application is turned down, which creates a problem
for the particular individual. This is especially true of people who
are just emerging in this particular industry.
The national oil company, PetroSA, is pursuing a number of strategic
initiatives aimed at enhancing the national security of energy
supply. One of these initiatives is Project Mthombo, the main
objective of which is the construction of a crude oil refinery in
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Coega. My department is currently evaluating information which will
enable government to take a decision on proceeding with the frontend engineering and design phase.
The GTL, gas-to-liquids, refinery is PetroSA’s main revenue
generator and supports a total staff complement of about 1 800
workers. It has generated thousands of jobs in and around the Mossel
Bay and greater Southern Cape region, leading to a massive direct
and indirect impact on the local economy. It continues to provide
support to the local business community and has generated income
through wages and salaries for most of the families in this area.
There is a continued search for oil and gas resources, with the
primary aim of further sustaining operations at the Mossel Bay GTL
Refinery beyond its current estimated economic life. To this end,
there is ongoing exploration off the coast of Mossel Bay. Thank you
very much. [Applause.]
Mr F ADAMS: Chairperson, hon Ministers and MECs, the president of
the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, Sadtu, colleagues and members, I
don’t know when the hon Harris was appointed as the official
timekeeper of this House, but I see him rising every time. I don’t
know if he has a new position or portfolio that we don’t know about.
[Interjections.]
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Let me thank the Minister of Energy for being here today after
getting up from her sickbed to deliver this Budget Vote. That speaks
of commitment and we thank her for that. We wish her a speedy
recovery from her illness.
This debate is all about new ways of doing things in order to
improve on them, especially new opportunities with a focus on the
threat of global climate change, such as alternative, cleaner and
renewable fuels or energy sources. This is very true regarding
energy. Our brand-new Department of Economic Development is
presenting its first full budget before this Council.
On behalf of the committee I want to thank and congratulate both
Ministers and their departments on the hard work they have done in
preparing and presenting these budgets under the present economic
climate. They have also done a sterling job in enlightening us on
the content and details of these budgets.
Both departments are affected by the quest to seek greener, cleaner,
meaner and other energy sources for our daily use and sustainable
development.
In line with the ruling party’s Polokwane resolutions, emphasis is
placed on the utilisation of alternative sources and on the clear
intent of our government to find a way of gradually replacing fossil
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fuels with new and better alternatives; and also to create green
jobs to tap into the new green economy. [Interjections.]
I know now why the hon Sinclair is making a noise, because his party
has no resolutions. [Interjections.] So that’s why he is making that
noise, as well as the hon Gunda, who doesn’t even have a policy.
I wish to commend the Ministers and their teams for the strides they
have made to advance the use of better technology as regards
existing energy sources, such as coal and liquid fuels emitting
undesirable gases. The focus on the preferred solar carrier for
water heating or even wind energy is much needed, but our country
also has extensive coastal areas where wave power could also be
investigated, not to speak of thermal, ground or earth energy from
our vast land areas which could be tapped to our advantage.
[Interjections.]
Yes, hon Plaatjie, many countries have taken leading roles in the
further refinement and development of alternative energy sources,
such as the sun and wind, with technologies that are becoming
cheaper and easier to implement.
Minister Peters, under your guidance and leadership, South Africa
may become a world leader in harnessing natural powers such as the
eternal movement of our coastal waters and energy from below the
surface of the ground.
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I wish to point to the objectives of driving back poverty and
growing the opportunities of a new, green economy. Yes, it is
understandable that more nuclear capacity is needed to supply the
bulk demand, but to reduce the demand-side needs by employing more
alternative options for small-scale individual and even remote users
is the way to go, hon Gunda.
In this regard solar cookers and other safer and cleaner methods of
household use such as biofuels should be further explored to help
the poor and especially marginalised people on farms in remote
areas, where people up to now have had to prepare food using animal
dung. This will go a long way in assisting our women and more
specifically marginalised African women.
We can employ the latest technology or even improve on some
internationally developed gadgets to be used to improve the lives of
our poor people in rural areas and reduce energy poverty, but it can
also create much-needed job opportunities to promote decent work for
our people.
In the past, South Africa was a world leader by developing and
inventing various products here. If we use the brain power that we
already have, we may even develop new products for the prime
international markets to the benefit of our people and our country’s
economy. We may even consider strategic partnerships to reach our
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goal also with other countries and those neighbours within our
developing region, hon Gunda.
Our government should also further investigate the possibilities of
agriculturally produced fuels, especially in the more arid or
marginal production areas, with crops that are less prone to the
consequences of climate change. [Interjections.]
I wonder, Chair, if the hon Gunda knows what climate change is, but
we will leave that.
We welcome the announcement of a solar park, but would like to see
more alternative uses all over our country. We also know that our
electricity sector is vulnerable and under pressure. With soaring
prices and huge dependency it is understandable that Cabinet
resolved that 30% of new energy generation should come from
independent energy producers.
Mr J J GUNDA: Chairperson, I would just like to ask if the member
will take a question.
Mr F ADAMS: No, sir. Maybe next week, but not now, sir.
But we could also have more people becoming independent of grid
supplies, or at least reducing their dependency on it by consuming
fewer units from the grid. This is possible if people have installed
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their own mini producers or have tapped into natural sources with
alternatives such as solar and wind technology.
It is also to be welcomed that feed-in back into the grid be
investigated. This will also ease the demand for more kilowatts to
be generated as well as the capital needed to finance very expensive
operations. We also welcome the proposed regulation by the hon
Minister Peters of the price of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, or gas
for residential consumers.
The hon Minister’s plans for abalone farms in stricken coastal towns
are most welcome. I urge the Minister to expand this cultivation
programme to benefit more towns that have a very high unemployment
rate and to explore other species, such as the large-scale
production of mussels and even crayfish — if the hon Plaatjie knows
what that is.
New life could be given to agricultural and rural areas if some
green industries could be developed there. In this regard,
stimulation of cottage industries along international practice lines
could assist many people in the second economy to be mainstreamed.
Expanding rail transport holds enormous potential for rural
development and should receive priority to open up these areas
economically.
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Lastly, I want to thank everyone for the work done to fight and
eliminate the unacceptable and exploitative practice of price—
fixing. I thank the Ministers, the DGs and departmental staff who
have always been available to assist the committee, as well as the
committee members for a good and fruitful debate, as the Minister
has already pointed out.
These Budget Votes are fully supported by the Select Committee on
Economic Development. I thank you.
Mr R A LEES: I approach this House with some trepidation. I am due
to debate the Budget Vote for a department that we believe should
not exist at all. Essentially we believe that there should be no
funds appropriated for the Department of Economic Development and
that the department should be stillborn and fade into history as
soon as possible.
A year ago this department did not exist at all. Is there something
new, as hon Adams seems to say, that this department is doing, or is
it simply making up for the dysfunctionality of the Department of
Trade and Industry? There is no place in a modern global economy for
the kind of centralised economic planning and consequent economic
ruin that characterised the now defunct Soviet bloc, and still
lingers on in today’s failed states such as North Korea and
Zimbabwe. There is far too much regulation already in our economy.
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Hon Chairperson, the more you treat people like children unable to
control their own destiny, the more they will behave like children
and require the services of a nanny state. This approach stifles
initiative and condemns people to lives of mediocrity.
What is required is a deregulation of the economy in such a way that
opportunities are created for people to take control of their own
lives and become drivers of economic growth and thus wealth in South
Africa.
We have no doubt that South Africans of all communities and
backgrounds are capable of initiating new ideas and hard work. What
they need are the opportunities for them to achieve their potential.
Few, if any, of our people, wish to be dependent on social grants
with no real hope of any chance of self-fulfilment or advancement.
All our people want a better life for themselves and in particular
for their children.
It should be self-evident that there are key areas which the state
should prioritise. Probably the most important of these areas is
education. There is no way in which we, as a country, can possibly
compete globally with the largely abysmal education system that we
have in South Africa today.
There can be no doubt that economic development can only take place
on the scale that is required in South Africa if our people are
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healthy and an excellent health system is in place. We agree
wholeheartedly with the ANC on this. Unfortunately the ANC has
reduced health care in South Africa to a state of near collapse with
whoever can afford it clamouring for the services of the private
health care sector.
Then there is the rampant crime which our people face every day of
their lives. This includes fraud and corruption as well as violent
crimes such as hijackings, assault, rape and murder. No amount of
gung-ho, “shoot to kill” bravado will solve this crime crisis.
Hon Chair, the Department of Energy has as a result of poor planning
had to concentrate on stabilising and increasing the supply of
electricity. In order to achieve this ability and increase the
supply of electricity, Eskom was given the authority to build coalfired power stations as well as the Ingula Power Station near
Ladysmith.
We are all aware of the involvement of Hitachi in the coal-fired
power stations, but we have been informed that Hitachi is also a
supplier for the Ingula Power Station. If this is true then this is
an additional source of profit for the ANC through Chancellor House,
and yet another conflict of interest.
The ANC must come clean with the people of South Africa and tell us
exactly the extent to which Hitachi is involved in the Eskom
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projects. In addition, Hitachi must divulge the extent of dividends
which will likely accrue to Chancellor House, and thus the ANC, as a
result of all the contracts awarded by Eskom to Hitachi.
It is irrelevant what the ANC wants done with these dividends as it
is Chancellor House, as the shareholder, who will be due these
dividends and not any third parties who may or may not be nominated
by the ANC to receive them.
Eskom has also been given the authority to proceed with a
concentrated solar power, CSP, project, a commendable source of
clean and renewable energy. However, this simply puts more
generation of electricity in the hands of Eskom which already has a
monopoly. If the CSP project is a condition of the World Bank loan
then it should be put on the market for other players to enter the
electricity-generation industry.
The most obvious solution for new generation capacity would be the
sale of existing power generators. However, this has been rejected
and as a result consumers are going to have to pay massive increases
in the cost of electricity.
Hon Chair, I have another four or five pages, but I see my time is
now down to 23 seconds and I cannot say much more. Thank you so
much. [Applause.]
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Mr K A SINCLAIR: Hon Chairperson and Ministers, according to Prof
Haroon Bhorat, using the Gini coefficient index as an indicator,
South Africa has overtaken Brazil as the country with the widest gap
between the rich and the poor. South Africa is now the most unequal
society in the world and the gap continues to increase.
This must be a wake-up call for all of us, especially the ANC
government. The government is doing something wrong and certainly
failing the mandate given to them by the electorate, a year ago
today.
Chairperson, what are the realities of South Africa today? First,
South Africa moved in 16 years from a race-based to a class-based
society, with a majority of poor, neglected and forgotten citizens,
who only become important during the run-up to elections.
Secondly, South Africa is no longer a developmental state but a
welfare state, where the majority of especially the rural poor
survive only on the monthly grants paid by the SA Social Security
Agency, Sassa.
Thirdly, the current spatial development frameworks and patterns are
not addressing or supporting the urgent and dire challenges of
especially the poor and the rural areas.
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In striving to address these challenges, economic development and
energy are the flipsides of the same coin. This ANC has the
privilege to decide if this coin can be a valuable gold coin or a
meagre 50c coin. Currently, according to Bhorat, this coin is not
even a 10c coin.
These two departments are indeed central and instrumental in
building a sustainable and prosperous nation. These strategic plans
have the ability in theory to enhance the five priorities in
government’s electoral mandate.
Chairperson, the current realities, however, remind us that if the
government continues on the road they have embarked on, especially
regarding energy, more questions will remain than answers. The Eskom
monopoly, blackouts, secret deals, the Chancellor House debacle and
the World Bank loan are proof of that unfortunate legacy that seems
to haunt South Africa.
Alan Zarembo said, and I quote:
Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is the crackcocaine of the
developing world.
On World Earth Day that we celebrate today, it is essential to
acknowledge that the future must be green. Alternate thinking and
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energy resources must be the guiding imperatives that abort fossil
fuels as the considered form of energy.
The key focus of economic development on partnership-building with
social partners and within sectors is the right one, but
productivity, entrepreneurship, innovation and social dialogue must
be the cornerstones of these activities. Key to these developmental
opportunities, Chairperson, must be the energy needs of our country
and region.
A relook at the spatial developmental framework of South Africa must
put the Northern Cape, as an example, on par with Gauteng in terms
of economic development. Gauteng’s economy must be stabilised, but
we need to grow the rural and marginalised areas of our country.
Chairperson, only then will the 10c coin that we currently have,
according to Bhorat, be transformed into a gold coin — even with a
Mandela face on it! Collectively we owe that to the poor and
forgotten people of our country. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr B A MNGUNI: Chairperson, hon Ministers, colleagues, ladies and
gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure for me to debate the first ever
budget of this department that has a great responsibility for
transforming the economy that the country inherited from the
neoliberals or after 40 years of National Party rule.
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We should take cognisance of the fact that the policy that we
inherited was capitalistic in nature and thus embraced the free
market ideology. Therefore, the department has its work cut out in
turning around the economy to address the socioeconomic ills that
the democratic government has been grappling with for the past 16
years.
We have a few programmes in the department, including the
administration programme. I should say that key appointments still
need to be made, and other vacant posts need to be filled for this
department to run smoothly. It is, however, encouraging that the
department intends to use as few consultants as possible in all of
its activities in order to save money.
It is also noteworthy to mention that the Minister will ensure that
he has competent and skilled staff who will ensure that delivery is
not compromised.
I would, however, like to make the Minister aware that cadre
deployment of competent and skilled party loyalists to carry out the
mandate of the people as espoused in the manifesto is not a sin. It
is a developmental state that needs to implement policies that
realise the objectives and aspirations of the populace.
Hon Lees has had the guts to say that our economy is overregulated.
He forgets that we were able to weather the storm of a financial
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crisis because our regulations were still in place. Most countries
that went for deregulation, that liberated the economy — wholesale
liberalisation — are today facing an economic crisis; they didn’t
escape the storm of the financial crisis.
However, because we as South Africa were careful about liberalising
our economy and we were careful about keeping some of the
regulations in place, we were able to weather the financial storms a
year or two ago.
I should also point out that the programme on economic development
is key in order to make our economy viable. The bulk of the funds
are put into this economic planning and development and one of the
core functions of the programme is policy co-ordination. We are,
therefore, looking forward to a seamless policy implementation
within and between government departments in the near future as the
department of policy development takes off.
However, it is worrying that most of the funds or the bulk of the
funds in this department are channelled or transferred through to
the development finance institutions, DFIs. Now, the DFIs have a
history of not serving the needy, of not serving the poor, because
at the end of the day they are chasing profit.
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We do believe and hope that the mandate of these DFIs will be looked
at and that the funding models will be changed, so that they address
the needs of the poor and the economically downtrodden.
I think hon Sinclair is aware that his moving from the ANC to Cope
was a mistake. He is well aware that the ANC is central — or the
majority of the people are central — in making policy within the
ANC. Cope still has to sit down and attend their conference to have
their policies in place.
I think it’s a hangover or, rather, he finds it very cold in Cope as
they are unable to come up with policies that can take Cope or this
country forward. The doors are still open so that he can come back
home; he’ll be much more welcome.
South Africa has never been a developmental state. He said that the
developmental state is no more, but I would like to make him aware
that South Africa has never been a developmental state. We took a
conscious decision when we took over this Fourth Parliament that
South Africa needs to be a developmental state.
Now, what is a developmental state? A developmental state is a state
that makes sure that its citizens, its populace, benefit from the
economy of the country. One of its key issues is to make sure that
it deploys its cadres into key government institutions to make sure
that the policies of the movement are implemented. So, we are not
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ashamed to say that the Minister should look into cadre development,
deploying cadres who are skilled and competent to make sure that our
policies are implemented.
Therefore, one should take solace in the fact that the government is
in good hands and has a visionary leadership that knows what the
needs of the people are. The leadership we are talking about is the
people who are sitting here, those who are in Luthuli House, who are
looking into policies to make sure that this country goes forward.
Thank you. [Applause.]
Dr M B KHOZA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon
members, first of all let me express a word of gratitude from the
KwaZulu-Natal province for being able to take part in this policy
debate on Budget Vote No 27 on Economic Development.
We are meeting at a time when in KwaZulu-Natal we have had some
exciting things happening on the economic development front. We have
the King Shaka International Airport that is about to be opened. We
are already beginning to see the Dube TradePort, which has a 60-year
vision, showing signs of success.
We are also grappling with some of the challenges because we are
forward-looking in KwaZulu-Natal; and, finally, we are also now
looking at post-2010 sustainability issues because the reality is
that we had a lot of investment towards 2010.
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I just want to share with the House that economic development
actually should not be taken for granted. South Africa is a country
that has a lot of contradictions. If you go to one part, you feel as
if you are in a developed country. When you go to another part, you
feel, well, I am in a developing country. But as soon as you move to
the periphery, you actually find that you are in an underdeveloped
country.
Therefore, economic development should not be taken for granted,
because it is there to bridge that gap and to facilitate policy that
is going to enable those who were disadvantaged by racial capitalism
to fully participate in our trade and industry and not as
survivalist participants.
I also want to say, Minister Patel, in your budget speech you stated
that some 5,8 million people are unemployed or no longer looking for
employment. Indeed, there is no way we can simply think that these
people, without any support from us as government, will be able to
see the light of day. It is important, therefore, that all budgets —
the budgets of national, provincial and local government – should
make a difference.
I am very encouraged, and I know my province is very encouraged,
that we are beginning to see intergovernmental relationships begin
to work. We are no longer working in our own silos, but we have
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begun to leverage on the strengths of all the different spheres of
government.
We also have the challenge, though, that as you have said, we have
R380 million that is transferred to agencies. This is also important
to us because even in KwaZulu-Natal, 65% of our economic development
and tourism budget goes to public entities.
What becomes important is how we do oversight of these public
entities, because at the end of the day it is clear that a large
part of our deliverables will be happening at that level where a lot
of money is going to. So, it becomes important that we actually
begin to focus on that.
We are also encouraged by the fact that the department is focusing
on a development path. This is also important, because there are
signs that an economy that is driven by super greed has led us to
the global recession that we now have.
Therefore, it is very important for the state to be able to have a
balancing act where you balance the role the market forces can play
but also protect your own citizens in the way that we have done.
Noam Chomsky describes that as “profits before people”, and I would
love to believe that we as this government would like to put people
before profits, because we know that super greed can be
catastrophic.
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The KwaZulu-Natal government led by the ANC is putting people first.
We have a “one home, one garden” campaign. This campaign is very
important in revitalising people’s belief in themselves so that they
become their own liberators.
They have to recover from disillusionment and despair and see the
beautiful day that comes with being alive. Therefore, it’s very
important that we do not simply accept that people have become
withdrawn. We should be worried about why people are withdrawn and
we should be finding something with which to encourage them.
We also feel strongly that we need to invest in reviving the African
merchant who was squeezed out by apartheid segregation policies.
There are limited economic activities in most African townships. It
is even worse if you go to the rural settlements.
In order to grow a sustainable economy we need to focus on the areas
where most of our people reside and create economic activities in
those areas. We cannot speak of economic development if our people
have to travel many kilometres, sometimes hundreds of kilometres,
and end up spending their very meagre wages on transport rather than
food.
Co-operatives are very important, but are meaningless if not coupled
with access to markets. Our lesson in KwaZulu-Natal is that we have
had a 95% failure rate of co-operatives. The study has come out very
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strongly in making the point that the failure of those co-operatives
was not because they did not have the quality of produce, but the
problem was access to markets. Therefore, access to markets becomes
a very important point.
I also want to share with you that I met a woman from
KwaHlomendlini, in one of the rural settlements in KwaZulu-Natal,
who had singly farmed dry beans that were almost filling half of her
rondavel. These beans were not stored properly, and most of them
went to waste because they started to have iinunu [worms].
Yet South Africa imports most of these dry beans; so now the
challenge for economic development is how we begin to identify these
people who are there and are making up the statistics of
unemployment, because they are not registered. They are registered
as unemployed, but these people have the skill and the ability.
However, they probably have inadequate or no exposure to how markets
work and how to send their products to the markets. We need to
identify these people in an organised fashion and we will certainly
bring down unemployment statistics. We may, in fact, review our
definition of “unemployed”.
Local economic development remains central in developing, growing
and sustaining our economy. Every investment or every disinvestment
happens within a municipal area of jurisdiction. I am glad that in
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our province the premier, hon Zweli Mkhize, is very much involved
with the municipalities. MEC Mabuyakhulu is also working very
closely with municipalities to make sure that local economic
development begins to become an expression of provincial
development.
I am encouraged by Minister Ebrahim Patel’s commitment, as was well
illustrated in his budget speech, that the Department of Economic
Development will promote workplace productivity agreements. It will
foster entrepreneurial endeavours in the economy, particularly those
of black entrepreneurs. I think that with regard to the black
entrepreneurs, we should really be declaring this a decade of black
entrepreneurs so that we begin to encourage that culture. To survive
in the market one has to have that resilience.
Finally, Chairperson, I want to remind us in this House that each
one of us has a responsibility to grow this economy and to sustain
it. Remember, the moment you employ one person you are already
beginning to play a role in promoting the economic activity in your
area. You are also beginning to reduce the statistics on
unemployment. I thank you very much, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Ms B V MNCUBE: Chairperson, hon Minister Patel has highlighted,
throughout his speech, the importance of employment creation and the
plight of the people in our country, who, through their inability to
find work, cannot support themselves or their families. This
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resultant unemployment of 5,8 million people affects the poverty
status of people as well as causing inequality.
The Minister has highlighted the precarious existence of South
Africans, with inadequate jobs and far too high a level of working
poor. The 2009 ANC electoral manifesto highlighted the importance of
creating decent work through inclusive, labour-absorptive economic
growth.
The focus on decent work is an important approach of the ANC
government, geared at creating work and decreasing inequality while
gradually alleviating poverty.
Hon Sinclair, this is a result created by the previous apartheid
regime of the National Party to which you once belonged. You jumped
to the ANC and now to Cope.
The national department plays an important role in developing
policies and guiding the framework within which the provincial
departments align and act as the operating arms of the national
department. The Gauteng provincial department of economic
development is fully aligned with the strategies and policies as
outlined by the national Minister.
The primary mandate of the Gauteng provincial department is to
create decent work, through inclusive, labour-absorptive economic
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growth that promotes sustainable livelihoods and alleviates poverty
and inequality. However, the provincial government has been
innovative, and bold in the manner in which this priority is
achieved.
The provincial department has acknowledged that there is structural
unemployment, where unemployment rates have never broached the 21%
level in the province, despite an average economic growth rate of
nearly 6% over the period 2005 to 2007. The recession has
exacerbated unemployment rates and poverty levels.
The department has focused on addressing the mandate of the
provincial and national government by focusing on transforming the
provincial economy through improved efficiency; sustainable
employment creation; increasing economic equity and ownership;
investing in people and sustainable communities; and social
cohesion.
There are a series of short—term interventions as well as medium- to
long-term interventions that will be implemented over the next year
and over the medium term. The short-term interventions aim to
address the structural unemployment and the impact of the economic
recession, while the medium- to long-term interventions aim to
progressively transform the Gauteng provincial economy.
Hon Sinclair, do you hear what Gauteng is going to do?
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The phasing-in is important, as is the vision to develop a growth
path that focuses on the primary and secondary sectors, on the
formal and informal sectors, on institutions ...
Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I was just going to ask the hon member
if she is aware that many of the people who are sitting in the ANC
were also members of the National Party. [Laughter.]
Ms B V MNCUBE: Key short- to medium-term interventions include the
following. Firstly, there are the increased public employment
programmes that target people excluded from mainstream economic
activity or formal employment, particularly in rural areas, informal
settlements and townships. This contributes to an employment safety
net and is a form of employment guarantee.
Secondly, there are the youth employability programmes.
Thirdly, there are active industrial and sectoral development
strategies to support labour-absorptive sectors and sectors in
distress, while encouraging exports as well as localisation.
Fourthly, there is financial and nonfinancial support to small,
medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and co-operatives in the formal
and informal sectors of the economy.
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Fifthly, we have pilot projects that focus on green jobs and green
technology investment in the areas of energy efficiency, waste
management and rural agricultural development and food security; and
sixthly, increased strategic, socioeconomic and bulk infrastructure
investment, encouraging infrastructure-led growth and effective
spatial planning that unites the economy.
Furthermore, the infrastructure investment needs to focus on
developing the necessary networks that bring people in the province
closer together and address the backlogs in service delivery.
Thus, much like the national department, the Gauteng provincial
department of economic development aims to promote a vision of an
inclusive and sustainable Gauteng economy that promotes a
developmental and equitable society, hon Sinclair. This is to be
achieved through a series of short-, medium- and long-term
interventions that will set Gauteng on an endogenous growth path
that will create decent jobs and enterprise opportunities in an
economy that is innovating, inclusive and green. I thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr J J GUNDA: Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members, this
Ministry needs to be more than just an economic think-tank. It must
possess the machinery and political will to ensure that the
necessary interventions are driven through all government
departments.
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Laat my toe om die Minister te bedank dat Nelie Kok ten minste
aandag kry. Ons het vyf jaar baklei. Die provinsiale regering het
dit al die pad geïgnoreer. Hulle het die potensiaal om vir hulself
werk te skep, indien u hulle werklik gaan help. (Translation of
Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Allow me to thank the Minister for at least giving attention to
Nelie Kok. We have been fighting for five years. The provincial
government ignored this every step of the way. If you truly intend
helping them, they will have the potential to create jobs for
themselves.]
Many government departments failed to implement the measures
required from the first industrial policy and created bottlenecks in
the system. This cannot be allowed to happen again for the simple
reason that delays serve only to worsen the inequalities in our
society.
In this regard, I would like to quote Andile Mngxitama, the
publisher of New Frank Talk, who wrote in the Sowetan, and I quote:
The truth is that most blacks experience increased poverty,
disease, bad education and health care ... Economic racial
inequalities lead to racism in the everyday interaction between
blacks and whites. Basically, life for blacks remains an
experience of humiliation.
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I believe that the extreme wealth of a few black individuals does
not make the humiliating day-to-day poverty of 20 million black
South Africans less bad.
My onlangse ervaring in Limpopo met “Taking Parliament to the
People” is dat die mense wat in die omgewing van ’n myn bly nie
mede-eienaars van die minerale is nie.
Die Onafhanklike Demokrate glo dat die enigste manier om armoede te
verlig, is om mense aandeelhouers te maak in die betrokke myne waar
hulle werk en in die omgewing waar hulle bly.
Die Noord-Kaap het baie minerale soos diamante, ystererts en
mangaan, maar die mense het nie ’n aandeel in die rykdom van hul
provinsie nie. Dit is baie vreemd.
Al wat ons in die Noord-Kaap het om te wys vir die lang jare van
mynwese, is mense wat siek is van asbestose. Dit moet eindig.
(Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[My experience recently in Limpopo with “Taking Parliament to the
People” is that the people who are residing in the vicinity of mines
are not co-owners of the minerals.
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The Independent Democrats believe that the only way to alleviate
poverty is to make people shareholders in the particular mine where
they work and in the vicinity where they live.
The Northern Cape is rich in minerals like diamonds, iron ore and
manganese, but the people do not have a share in the wealth of their
province. This is particularly strange.
The only thing we have to show for all the years of mining in the
Northern Cape is people who are sick as a result of asbestosis. This
must end.]
This government that claims to be implementing policies according to
the Freedom Charter must prove that “The people shall share in the
country’s wealth!”
Where is the wealth of this country? It is only in the hands of the
old white elite and the new black elite.
Hoekom moet mense hof toe gaan oor hul eie rykdom, soos die
Richtersveld se mense? Hoekom moet ons mense in die hof gaan baklei?
[Why do people have to go to court for their own wealth, like the
people of the Richtersveld? Why do our people have to fight in
court?]
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It is the apartheid regime that has done it. So, I want to ask the
question: Hoekom moet die mense hof toe gaan? Dankie. [Why do the
people have to go to court? Thank you.]
Mr F ADAMS: Chairperson, this is a debate on energy and not mineral
resources.
Mr M C WALTERS (Western Cape): Chairperson, Ministers, hon members
of the NCOP, thank you for the opportunity to speak. Some things
emerged during the debate that I would like to bring especially to
the attention of the Ministers; both Minister Patel and Minister
Peters referred to rural families who are burdened by extreme
poverty.
If there is one case of neglect by the ANC, it is the neglect of
those people. Thirty per cent of the highest-potential soil in South
Africa is situated in the former homelands. That ANC government —
from Derek Hanekom — has been given the technology to develop that
land. With that technology you could double South Africa’s maize
yield; those people who are suffering rural poverty can be helped
very easily and cheaply with known technology.
However, that soil was created by the good Lord and needs to be
developed. Countries across the globe continue to struggle to
rebuild their economies following the worst crisis since after 1929.
After the past 18 months many people have been thinking about the
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issue of development and we have seen some very good examples in the
speeches today — they have been making their voices heard!
A powerful new ideal has taken root and you have heard much of the
green economies. It is an ideal that says we will fight pollution;
we will take climate change seriously; we will intensify our efforts
to identify and produce cheaper forms of energy; and we will commit
ourselves – all of us — to building a better life for all,
especially the poor people of the world.
At this point I would like to touch on the question of energy in our
country and the role played by Eskom in its production and
distribution. In February, at a media briefing to set out
government’s view of the massive tariff increases, national Energy
Minister Peters fell prey to a serious bout of what one could call
gobbledygook.
After stating that the positives of the decisions far outweighed the
negatives, the Minister added that the time had come to consider
energy intensity in the relative context of the jobs that we can
create, in comparison to other less energy-intensive industries.
Then she said that without energy security, the levels of economic
activity necessary to create new jobs could not be achieved.
Perhaps the Minister needs to revisit the old Eskom plans for the
Congo River, the second largest river in the world after the Amazon.
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Its hydroelectrical potential, as is known, is sufficient to power
all of sub-Saharan Africa and bring energy security to all Africans.
This should have been a major focus of the Nepad policy, but it has
never been addressed.
I want to be quite blunt about this: The increases granted to Eskom
will prove to be calamitous for small, medium and micro enterprises.
And, should anyone have forgotten, let me remind you that SMMEs have
long been regarded as an essential element of the South African
economy.
Indeed, recent studies have shown that small and medium enterprises,
especially, have overtaken the corporates in the provision of
employment opportunities for the people of this country.
My question is: Where to now for small businesses? Perhaps the
national government should tell us what they intend doing to
alleviate the plight that awaits those small businesses. What we are
seeing here is small businesses with their backs to the wall and
with their knees squeezed tight against a steel gate.
It would, therefore, simply not be good enough to advise them to use
less electricity. And it would be as tactless to pull out the
tattered notepad containing that overused, scribbled sentence that
says: “Our electricity is still the cheapest in the world”.
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The question that the people of this province and South Africa want
answered is: When will our standard of living start to improve
again?
Chairperson, I would like to raise another question about Eskom. In
its present form, in this day and age, should it be entrusted with
the responsibility of running the South African grid?
This is why I am asking: There is an increasing belief among
proponents of a green economy that Eskom is far too unwieldy to be
an effective, modern distributor of electricity. It was great for
the 1980s, but in this second decade of our third millennium, it has
become like a sumo wrestler sprinting against a Jamaican athlete.
At a time when energy institutions around the world have become
renowned for innovation and a commitment to finding green sources of
energy, Eskom continues to soldier on regardless. Perhaps it is time
for those who judge performance and who make these decisions to have
another look at the model.
There is a good reason for being critical of Eskom, just as there is
a good reason for my party’s criticism of national government’s slow
progress in developing a green economy for South Africa — in spite
of the encouraging words that we have heard here this afternoon.
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The DA acknowledges that there is some wonderful talent in South
Africa, and of course, especially in the Western Cape. We know that
there are thousands of people who want to give something back to
this country. All of us must encourage them to contribute by
creating the conditions that will enable them to continue playing a
positive role.
We believe that it is crucially important to promote a can-do spirit
in South Africa and to unite to crush the will-take culture that
seems to continue to raise its head. The DA takes its role in
opposition at national level and as a governing party in the Western
Cape very seriously. We do not believe in criticising for
criticism’s sake; wherever we can we will try to offer alternatives.
The DA believes that the Western Cape has the potential to become
the green technology hub of Africa, especially with regard to
alternative sources of energy. There are a number of things that we
believe count in favour of our province.
If we look at how successfully wind has been used to generate
electricity in several countries around the world, it’s quite easy
to understand why people become excited at the prospect of
generating wind-powered electricity all along our West Coast.
That is not all: High energy, coast wave-generated electricity is a
big possibility; within 150 km of Cape Town we have the Karoo
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starting, with its possibility for utilising the sun to generate
electricity; and then bio-energy as well.
The rise of a global green economy has sparked a number of
international developments of which I would like to mention just
two. The first is the traditionally poor and in some cases very poor
countries, which have embraced and developed green opportunities.
The second is the way information flashes across the globe.
Perhaps we can look at Bangladesh and the microcredit arena where
Grameen Shakti has launched a programme to bring renewable energy
technologies to rural households. Since its launch, Grameen Shakti
has installed photovoltaic solar systems in 205 000 homes across
Bangladesh. Every month an additional 8 000 homes are fitted out,
and by 2014 they contemplate 7,5 million such homes.
Grameen Shakti has also installed 6 000 biogas plants which can
utilise dung and organic litter, and can generate gas for cooking as
well as for electricity and organic fertiliser.
The same thing has happened in Germany where 280 000 jobs have been
generated through renewable energy and offshore wind parks. Here we
are looking at another 30 000 jobs. The retrofitting of buildings
has been mentioned. I hope that the government and national
government will pursue that with great energy.
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Recycling in the USA is a US$236 billion industry and certainly
something that South Africa must emulate and the government must
stimulate to the maximum of its capacity.
I would like to just quote Mark Swilling, a South African academic,
when he referred to what Gordon Brown had written:
... governments across the world have made green investment a
major part of their economic stimulus packages. They have
recognised the vital role that spending on energy efficiency and
infrastructure can have on demand and employment in the short
term, while also laying the foundations for future growth. ... the
economies that embrace the green revolution earliest will reap the
greatest economic rewards.
I think, for the sake of our children, Chairperson, that this is
something that the national government and all provincial
governments should pursue with the greatest energy. I thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr A J NYAMBI: Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members, DGs,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I will be failing if I
do not assist you, hon Walters. I was impressed that you were
quoting and it is clear that you are interested in learning.
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I will pose questions to you as homework. Who created the current
challenges? Who created the homelands you are talking about today?
Hon Gunda, I was checking with the DG on that side and she was
surprised: “Who is this one?” You are the only one from one party
who has never attended our meetings. No wonder the confusion.
Hon Lees, what an insinuation about the department of Education!
Yesterday, we were told here that it is a fact that there is an
overhaul of these further education and training, FET, colleges.
There is a serious focus on engineering.
And hon Sinclair — hopping and jumping as he spoke here! My advice
to all of you is that here in Parliament you can register for a
basic economics class instead of blaming the department, and
Parliament will pay for that.
Chairperson, it is an honour to be afforded an opportunity to
participate in this debate on this historic day. It is on this day
last year that the majority of the citizens of this country gave the
ANC another opportunity to lead the fourth democratic Parliament.
After going through the department’s strategic plan, indeed, we
agree with you, hon Minister, that the decision taken by the
President in May 2009, in this fourth democratic Parliament, to have
a dedicated Energy department, has imposed enormous responsibilities
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on you to take on your mandate with the necessary dynamism and
vigour.
Chairperson, allow me to quote the President of our country, His
Excellency J G Zuma, while addressing the Copenhagen Climate Change
Conference. He said, and I quote:
Climate change is a practical matter for the developing world ...
Developed countries are historically responsible for 80% of the
current emissions in the atmosphere. Developing countries are most
affected by climate change and are least capable to adapt to the
impacts. As they justifiably pursue their own development paths,
it is expected that developing countries’ emissions will increase.
In recognition of the reality of climate change, the ANC Polokwane
conference resolved to recognise that climate change is a new threat
on a global scale that places an enormous burden upon South Africans
and Africans as a whole.
In recognition of the undisputed reality, the conference resolved to
set target reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. This is part of
the ANC’s responsibility to protect the environment and promote
sustainable development, and to participate in sharing the burden
with the global community under a common framework for action.
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The Constitution makes it important for the state to “... respect,
protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights”, thus
imposing upon it the obligation to protect the rights of the
citizens to a healthy and clean environment.
In that regard, government is enjoined to ensure that the impact of
climate change is rolled back and that alternative forms of energy
are forthwith explored and added to the energy grid in a negation
tactic progressing towards the total elimination of fossil-fuelbased energy production. This should be done either through coal
combustion for electricity production purposes or industrial
production inventories.
In complying with that imperative, we are pleased with the strategic
plan and the speech presented today in taking the country forward
despite the challenges identified.
Hon members, the budget as presented is in line with what has been
identified by the ANC and the Minister of Finance, to mention but a
few examples: support for labour-intensive industries through policy
interventions, skills development, public employment programmes and
a rural development strategy.
The Minister of Finance, in taking these things forward, further
highlighted the obligation to assist industries to manage scarce
resources more efficiently and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
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through the appropriate pricing of energy. He saw this as a
requirement for enabling investment in sustainable technologies. In
this regard, he said, and I quote:
Green economy initiatives will create new opportunities for
enterprise development, job creation and the renewal of commercial
and residential environments. This must play a part in our new
growth path.
The demand for green energy in South Africa cannot be an opportunity
for other countries to increase their exports to our country, whilst
turning our economy into nothing more than a warehouse for
assembling and distributing finished goods. It is incumbent upon our
government not only to ensure that intermediary and final goods are
produced by South African firms, but also to ensure that the skills
needed to produce such inventories are produced and used locally.
In that regard, South Africa will indeed create jobs, attract
investment as a result of increasing her use of clean energy and in
the same vein, be able to ensure sustainable energy supply.
The ANC is committed to ensuring a sustainable economy, where all
South Africans, present and future, realise the right to an
environment that is not harmful to their health and wellbeing. In
doing so, the question of energy utilisation should be explored
further in order to ensure that posterity is neither burdened with
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energy liabilities nor deprived of energy reserves due to
overutilisation of energy resources.
The ANC is further committed to mobilising the public, business and
other players to act responsibly and save energy, both collectively
and as individuals, including through a mandatory national energy
efficiency programme.
Hon Minister, your strategic plan commits the department to the
continuation of the electrification programme to effect socioeconomic development, job creation and poverty alleviation as well
as addressing the past imbalances. The strategic plan views this
programme as a vehicle for the department to achieve universal
access in formal households by 2014. Indeed, on the programme of
Taking Parliament to the People, what we have seen and the outcry of
the people of the Greater Tubatse Municipality in Limpopo, will
definitely be a thing of the past.
Energy plays an important role in the lives of the people who use it
in different forums for various purposes. However, the disparities
in modern energy provision brought about by the lack of access to
infrastructure impact largely on poor urban and rural people. In the
rural areas, women are the main users of fuel wood. Woodlands have
been depleted in many areas while in others they are under heavy
pressure.
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The campaign for communities to save energy through using few
appliances will assist the communities not only through savings in
energy consumption expenses, but also in lowering the demand for
electricity. On the other hand, human settlements, including the
rural ones, should be electrified to ensure their integration into
the main economy. [Interjections.]
Chairperson, we indeed commend what has been done for the people of
Ezingolweni. It is indeed important that reliance on paraffin and
other such unsustainable yet expensive sources of energy should
indeed be phased out and replaced with universal electrification. In
this regard, a case is for the building of more production capacity
by Eskom and other envisaged players in order to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and be responsible global neighbours. [Interjections.]
In conclusion, Chairperson, allow me to conclude by quoting the
Minister on her strategic overview statement ... [Interjections.]
The ANC supports the budget. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr F ADAMS: Chair, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for
another member to refer to a speaker and say that he is lying? Hon
Gunda is shouting here, saying: “He is lying”.
Mr J J GUNDA: Hon Chair, I did not say the hon member is lying. That
is why I asked him: “When?”
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The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Which member are you referring
to? Because I do not have the benefit of having heard hon Gunda. May
I first establish something? Hon Gunda, is it true that you said to
the hon member that he is lying? Hon members, can we just refrain
from using words that will undermine the decorum of the House and
allow the member to conclude his debate, please?
Thank you very much, hon member. May I, therefore, take this
opportunity to call on hon Minister Patel to conclude the debate.
[Applause.]
The MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Hon House Chairperson and hon
members, a number of very helpful ideas and many supportive comments
have been made in the debate, and there appears to be a wide
consensus on the importance of the green economy.
Hon Adams has cautioned us to go beyond abalone. I am happy to
report to him that the programmes that we have in a number of areas
will attempt to focus on the broad range of aquaculture and we hope
that this can be an important part of job creation in coastal
communities.
He also referred to the importance of acting firmly against price
collusion. I am happy to advise hon Adams and members that we took
action over the last number of years and eight motor vehicle
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companies have paid R51 million in penalties as a result of the work
of the competition authorities.
Four airlines have paid about R108 million and three companies were
levied with penalties totalling a combined R340 million for fixing
the price of bread.
Hon Lees has said he is not convinced that we need economic
development departments. I am happy to advise that in the province
where the DA is in government, it does indeed have an economic
development department. I am also happy to report that that
department has asked us to work closely with it in addressing the
economic challenges of the province.
More seriously though, hon Lees has raised the question about
economic planning. I would like to point out that we put ideology
aside and look at the facts out there in the world. Some of the
fastest-growing economies in the world, that of China, India, Korea
and other countries, have very substantial economic planning
capacity that is available to the modern state and, therefore,
outperformed many economies that have not had that capacity.
Finally, I would suggest to hon Lees most respectfully that simply
repeating the mantra of deregulation doesn’t constitute coherent
policy. The experience out there in the world has been that
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countries and governments have to grapple with the right balance
between the state and the market.
To find that balance is an evidential issue; it is based on the
evidence before us. Indeed, the simplistic cause for deregulation
lies at the very heart of the global economic crisis. The failure of
government to effectively regulate financial markets has caused
enormous damage to growth and to our joint efforts to address the
challenges of poverty all over the world.
I have taken note, hon members, of the various comments that have
been made with regard to particular provinces. In respect of the
Northern Cape, I would say to hon Sinclair that the province is
depending very highly on the primary sector. We need more balanced
economic growth in the Northern Cape, but we have to do this while
being mindful of the locational and physical challenges of the
province.
We think there is an enormous opportunity for a major energy
initiative. My colleague, Minister Peters, has spoken about the work
that her department and others are doing to bring a large solar
generating capacity on stream. We are now conducting studies to see
how feasible this is.
A number of members have spoken well about the challenges of jobs.
The hon Mnguni and hon M B Khoza have elaborated on aspects of this.
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I would like to make a point in support of what the hon Khoza has
said. Take a photograph of Sandton and Lubala and compare them: one
country, two realities.
What that points to is that economic growth, important as it is, is
not sufficient. We need high and sustained economic growth. You need
development policies that ensure that the growth takes place
equitably across the country and that growth draws in opportunities
for decent employment for the poorest South Africans. I believe the
comments made by hon Khoza are particularly appropriate to that
challenge.
You have also pointed, hon Khoza, to the importance of the economic
agencies in KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere. We have a challenge as far
as economic agencies are concerned. Economic agencies are part of
the machinery that is available to the public sector, but some
degree of disconnection has begun to develop between the plans of
Cabinets, whether it is a national Cabinet or a provincial cabinet,
and the programmes and activities of many of the agencies. We need
to find ways in which we can reconnect these so that we develop
accountability.
Accountability would have at least four or five characteristics to
it. Firstly, it would be to ensure that we have proper and tight
oversight. Ultimately, the shareholder, the public sector, must take
responsibility for the agencies that act in the name of the public.
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Secondly, there must be clarity on the mandate; if the agency knows
what it is that the government expects from them and what their
shareholder expects, then their conduct must be aligned to the
requirements of their mandate.
Thirdly, we need to address the funding models of a number of the
agencies to ensure that we have the sustainable capacity to finance
the industrialisation and other economic development challenges. We
have done some work now, looking at Brazil and Germany, to see what
the underlying industrial funding model is that these economies are
using to grow their manufacturing sector faster.
Germany is arguably the world’s most competitive and advanced
manufacturing sector. So, we are learning from their experience and
seeing how we can catch that experience and share it with our
development finance institutions, DFIs, and how we can get the
Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, and other institutions to
benefit from that.
Finally, it requires a regular evaluation of the impact of our
development agencies at national, provincial and municipal level.
Also, perhaps we can share a lot more of the joint work on this
issue.
Hon Walters made two comments; one was on the importance of the
green economy and I’m glad that hon Walters is supporting the
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government’s thinking on the green economy. However, hon Walters has
said, or certainly implied, that rural poverty had been caused by
what he calls “the neglect of the ANC”. This is a stunning denial of
our history and disrespect for the facts because it implies a model
that says that under apartheid, before the ANC came into power,
there was a wealthy, prosperous and happy rural population in the
homelands.
The reality is sadly not so. We sit with the legacy of migrant
labour, poor infrastructure, weak skills and land dispossession. Our
challenge as government is to reverse all of that. If we are saying,
and if our paid people are saying that we must make this a greater
priority than it has been in the past, then as the government we
agree completely.
We have five priorities and we have elevated rural development to
one of those five. We have created a dedicated Ministry to address
this issue and we are working collegially to strengthen rural
development.
In conclusion let me say that the challenges that we are facing
cannot be addressed only at national level. They require
fundamentally a better and a more effective system of
intergovernmental co-operation and co-ordination. When national,
provincial and local government work well together; when we take our
separate resource envelopes and we try to find ways in which we can
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synchronise that; when we find ways of avoiding waste and
duplication between the three levels of government, we can release
the resources to address the challenges of our people.
We owe that to the people of Lubala, we owe it to the people of
Dimbaza and we owe it to the people in each of your provinces. Thank
you very much. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF ENERGY: Chairperson, I think I need to indicate here
that I thank all the participants; and particularly the chairperson
of the select committee for the way in which he drives the work that
is intended to make it possible for us to do what we have set
ourselves to do: to create a better life for all.
In particular, in this instance we are saying that we would work
with all the progressive forces to make it possible that we can do
much more to improve the lives of our people.
Chairperson, I would be failing in my duty if I did not indicate
also what the department is doing in relation to issues of the
targeted groups like gender and the youth. I just want to indicate
here that the department has started facilitating aggressively to
show the participation of young people and women in the energy
sector.
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I need to indicate that because of the work that the department is
doing in the energy sector, and by also encouraging the skills
development programme and so being able to produce quite a number of
young people who are interested in the nuclear sphere, we are going
to be the host of the International Youth Nuclear Congress, which is
going to be held immediately after the World Cup in South Africa.
This will bring all the young people who are interested in the
nuclear field together on the shores of South Africa to make it
possible that we can discuss the future of nuclear energy and make
sure that we can produce electricity; that we make it possible to
use nuclear energy for medicinal interventions and to get people
fresh water and sustain household food security.
The department is also pleased to announce that it has already
started to enjoy the benefits of its efforts in facilitating the
empowerment of women through their participation in an energy and
oil project in Bethlehem. This project is called the Bethlehem
hydroelectric power scheme and was duly launched by the Deputy
Minister of Economic Development, Ms G L Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
I also want to indicate here, ladies and gentlemen, that we are
committed to ensuring that as South Africa we participate in
ensuring that we make a success of this green economy. Those who
were monitoring the economic developments around the economic
meltdown would have realised that stats indicated that more jobs
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were created in the energy sector whilst the other sectors were
shedding jobs. It would be wrong for us as South Africa not to grab
this opportunity with both hands.
I want to indicate once more that it seems that some of the members,
when they don’t belong to the ruling party, become selective in
their listening. I just want to say that listening is a skill. If
you listen you will hear well.
I don’t know why, hon Lees and hon Walters, you speak about Eskom’s
monopoly. We have said it several times — including last year when
the President said it in his state of the nation address when all of
you in this House were present — that we are establishing an
independent system and market operator to be almost like a
competitor to Eskom. This is because we are trying to break the
monopoly of Eskom, a state entity.
Where have you seen that government actually says that they realise
that we cannot have a state entity being a referee and a player! We
are going to create another entity that is going to buy this power
from the independent power producers. This will make it possible for
everybody and every stakeholder to have access to the grid.
So, I just wanted to indicate that we are busy with legislation to
make it possible that this state entity is established. We did
indicate that within the next six months we are going to have an
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interim arrangement that will make it possible to start signing up
the power that is generated through the wind and other energy
sources that will be coming to the fore.
As I have said, I will indicate here that listening is a skill. We
did indicate that we have done the feasibility study with the
Clinton Climate Initiative in the Northern Cape for concentrated
solar power. We are going to make it possible for the independent
power producers also to participate, because if we create an
industrial solar park we will be creating one zone where everybody
will participate.
This is almost like creating a Coega in the Northern Cape, but for
solar power in this instance. So, whoever is interested would not be
doing environmental assessments because it would have been done for
the entire industrial zone. We are saying that we are also creating
this opportunity for all those who are interested to come and buy
into this initiative.
The Minister of Trade and Industry released the new Industrial
Policy Action Plan Part 2, Ipap 2, within which are located issues
related to the green economy. The Minister of Water and
Environmental Affairs has released indicators of when exactly the
green economy policy documents will be released so that we will then
be able to know the exact areas that have been identified for these
green initiatives.
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This is because a green economy is an indication that we are alive
to the environment, we do want environmental sustainability and we
want to protect the environment for generations to come. We know
that we are custodians of this earth for the generations that are
yet to be born.
We, therefore, are responsible leaders who are saying, “What can we
do so that we don’t have the challenges that we have today that were
created by climate change, because of reckless industrial
development?”
We are actually saying that it would be wrong for us not to learn
from the mistakes of the developed countries, in terms of driving
development greedily and selfishly. As my comrade has said, super
greed created the challenges that we have today. So, we are saying
that we need to be responsible and think about those who are still
going to come after us.
When we were holding the Climate Change Conference here in Cape
Town, there was a child who told us that he doesn’t want to go and
live on the moon or somewhere else on a planet that he doesn’t know.
And so he asked us to protect this planet so that even his
grandchildren could also live on mother earth – a nine-year-old! So,
it is up to us as leaders to make sure that we are alive to the
challenges of the environment.
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The hon Walters also spoke about the majestic Congo. Remember that
we are in South Africa and the biggest rivers we have in South
Africa are the Vaal and the Orange Rivers. We are also working
together with the Department of Water Affairs to make it possible
that going forward – whatever dam development there is – we are
going to ensure that there is integration in terms of hydroelectric
power generation.
However, we cannot have a situation where we as South Africa can say
that we are going to bulldoze our way into the Congo and build a
hydro scheme there. We need the partnership of the Congolese and
that is why we are working together with the other four countries,
including the Congo, to be able to develop the Western Power
Corridor, Westcor, initiative. We are working with them.
I am saying that we are doing it because we want to make sure that
within the Southern African power pool, South Africa is an equal
partner with the DRC and the other Southern African Development
Community, SADC, members. We would like to make sure that all the
water on the continent and particularly in the region would be used
for the benefit of creating energy.
However, we cannot just go in there without getting the support,
without working together with the Congolese, because we cannot only
focus on using that water for hydro schemes. We need to be able to
look at a continental or a regional integrated plan.
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Now, on the 29th there will be a meeting of the Ministers of energy
in the SADC region. One of the key agenda items will be Westcor,
under which Inga 3, the Kunene River and the majestic Congo fall; so
it is important that you understand that issue.
You would also remember that in the case of the Amazon River no
single country can benefit from it without making sure that the
seven other countries that share the waters of the Amazon River also
benefit from it. So, members should not come to the House and raise
issues that they know are not true.
Chairperson, I just want to take this opportunity to thank the
chairperson of the select committee, members of the committee,
departmental officials, my colleagues in Cabinet and President Zuma
for his foresight in leadership to ensure that energy can be
central.
We know that energy is the lifeline of all socioeconomic development
imperatives. Without energy one would not be able to give birth to a
healthy child, and without energy one would not even have a decent
funeral. So, it is important that you understand that from
conception to the grave we would be part of your daily life.
That is why it is important that when we debate and participate here
we should remember that this is about people’s lives and the life of
economies. And it is about making it possible that we can grow the
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economy. That is why in working together with the Minister and his
team we are going to make it possible to create the number of jobs
that we set for ourselves. We set ourselves a target of 10 million
jobs in the next couple of years that will come directly from
energy.
It is important that we understand that energy will make it possible
to live, but that it can also contribute to the quicker degradation
of the environment. That is why we say that it is important that we
become holistic, integrated and look at every other aspect of our
daily lives.
I want to thank members for participating in this debate. We should
also continue with the debate about electricity generation in South
Africa, and about how much it costs before we can come here and talk
about Hitachi as if we are so fixated on Hitachi.
Hitachi gave their story; why don’t you listen to them? Why don’t
you listen to Chancellor House? Why don’t you go to the ANC and get
their side of the story about this thing? [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
APPROPRIATION BILL
(Policy debate)
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Vote No 36 — Transport:
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson, hon members and the MECs who
have been able to come here, the MEC for transport in the Western
Cape, hon Carlisle; the MEC for transport in KwaZulu-Natal, hon
Willies Mchunu; and the MEC for transport in the Eastern Cape, Ms
Barry, I thank you very much for gracing this debate.
It is now only 49 days to the start of the World Cup. This is an
African World Cup. To begin with, all 53 African heads of state will
be part of this World Cup. They have been formally invited.
Secondly, for the first time in the history of Fifa, six countries
from Africa will be participating in the World Cup. Plans are
already under way for the transportation of general spectators from
Algeria, Cameroon, the Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria when they
arrive in South Africa, and throughout the tournament. Already the
six African Ministries of transport participating in the World Cup
are co-ordinating plans on how all the spectators will be
transported. This will be finalised in Ghana next month when we meet
all the participating countries from Africa.
A number of participating teams will be using SADC member countries
as base camps. This has vast transport implications and will
culminate in an update at the SADC Ministers of transport meeting to
be held in Maputo next month. Through the Local Organising
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Committee, we are co-ordinating with all the participating countries
to ensure smooth and efficient transportation of fans.
As you know, Chairperson, the backbone of any World Cup is the
massive participation of the host country. In this regard South
Africa will not disappoint and transport will not disappoint.
A command centre based in Gauteng with co-ordinators in all the nine
host cities will be operating by the end of May. Two days ago,
President Zuma officially opened the O R Tambo International Airport
upgrade. This is a R2,3 billion investment. Later that day, we
launched the country’s transport plan for the World Cup.
The transport plan is a statement of our readiness to transport fans
to stadiums in all nine host cities and to all corners of our
country, during and after the World Cup. After the World Cup, the
infrastructure left behind must change forever the way we travel for
leisure and business. After the World Cup, infrastructure and
services left behind must benefit the rural and urban poor in urban
and rural areas.
Notwithstanding the progress we have made over the the 15 years, we
are facing challenges with regard to the maintenance of our
secondary road network. Nothing best indicates a country’s state of
development than the condition of its roads. The following figures
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indicate how much we still need to do to become a fully developed
country.
The numbers give a summary of schools which are without any road
access in South Africa in 2010. In the Eastern Cape 859 out of 5 401
schools are not accessible by road. In the Free State 28 out of
2 472 are not accessible. In Gauteng — which of course is our
developed province — out of 2 202 schools, only 2 are not accessible
by road. In KwaZulu-Natal, out of 5 331 schools, 403 are not
accessible by road. In Mpumalanga, out of 1 793 schools, 17 are not
accessible. In the Northern Cape, out of 473, 9 are not accessible.
Out of 4 131 in Limpopo, 129 are not accessible. In North West out
of 2 257, 47 are not accessible. Lastly, out of 1 577 schools in the
Western Cape, 16 are not accessible by road.
Add to these figures a total of 31 clinics in the country which do
not have reliable access by road: 21 out of 695 in the Eastern Cape,
five out of 485 in KwaZulu-Natal and some provinces have one or two
clinics without access by road.
In addition to the lack of access roads, we have challenges with
regard to maintenance backlogs. The total paved and gravel network
at provincial level is 184 816 km. At least 40% of this network has
reached a crisis point. The total paved and gravel network at
municipal level is 339 849 km. We are developing a means to quantify
the backlog at the municipal level so that we can have accurate
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localised numbers. What we know is that our country needs R75
billion over the next five years to arrest this decline.
This year we are addressing these challenges by implementing an
integrated national maintenance programme and a rural transport
strategy for South Africa. This is not a new programme. Successive
Ministers of Transport from 1994 have spoken out for the increase of
the budget for road maintenance. The absence of roads defines who we
are, either as a developing country, a developed country or an
underdeveloped country.
This leads me to the next intervention that we are making — the
provision of road infrastructure in our rural areas. The rural
access improvement programme is part of a comprehensive rural
transport strategy for South Africa which aims to do the following:
to build bridges and nonmotorised transport facilities; to develop
and implement the integrated public transport networks for regular
transport services; to develop and upgrade the airport network with
a proper road-link infrastructure; and to revitalise rural railway
operations by expanding rail passenger services and freight
operations to the rural areas.
Furthermore, through the Expanded Public Works Programme, we will
contribute to job creation through the implementation of labourintensive projects. To kickstart this process, we have secured
initial funding of R1 billion dedicated to rural road
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infrastructure. We will also be institutionalising our rural
infrastructure and services portfolio through the establishment of a
dedicated agency.
This, hon MECs, will be over and above what you have in your
budgets. A project management team and unit have been appointed to
drive this programme.
In many municipalities and provinces we have identified the lack of
dedicated funding for road maintenance, poor asset management and
capacity challenges as the causes of poor road conditions.
Insufficient investment in maintenance of the road infrastructure is
a huge challenge. To address this, we are planning to develop a
ring-fencing mechanism through the creation of a maintenance fund.
Road maintenance cannot happen by accident.
This strategy is not only about sourcing additional funding for
maintenance, but also about ensuring that existing funds are used
for the purpose they were intended for. The strategy is also about
better management of our road assets. The advantage of this
programme is not only that it will arrest the decline of our
infrastructure, but that it will also create thousands of jobs in
the process.
The Department of Transport has the responsibility to address access
and mobility challenges facing learners who daily walk more than 3
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km in a single trip to school. The primary project beneficiaries are
learners in rural, semirural and peri-urban areas who have no access
to public transport. Provinces are required to prepare business
plans for the identification and selection of schools. They are also
required to enter into agreements with municipalities to put control
measures in place. The Department of Transport will procure and
distribute bicycles to the provinces.
South Africa experienced a rail tragedy yesterday. On behalf of our
government and our people, we would like to express our sincerest
and heartfelt condolences to the families of the bereaved. Yesterday
I was able to trace two of them and I spoke to the survivors.
Personal safety remains a priority to ensure that rail continues to
regain its market share in the public transport sector. So far, our
co-operation agreement with the SA Police Service has seen the rollout of more than 2 000 rail police officers in our provinces.
We have to come to terms with the fact that the passenger rolling
stock fleet has reached the end of its economic life. The average
age of the coaches is between 35 and 40 years, with a maximum
economic life of 46 years. Ours is now far beyond this lifespan. Let
us state this very clearly: If we do not act now, that is, to
recapitalise our rail fleet, the urban passenger rail system could
collapse in all our cities within the next decade.
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An efficient, reliable and affordable public transport system is at
the centre of our transformation agenda. Our role as government is
derived from our belief that the provision of public transport is
primarily a public responsibility, and not for gain.
We use various instruments: licensing, municipal transport planning
and subsidies to ensure universal access for commuters. The
operating license is the central instrument for government to ensure
reliable, efficient and affordable public transport. This
responsibility has been executed by provincial licensing
authorities.
We have decided to restructure the licensing system such that our
interprovincial operations are licensed through the national
regulatory authority, the national transport regulator. Metro
councils with capacity will be tasked with the licensing
responsibilities within their cities.
With reference to the recent strikes by some taxi operators we must
state the following. Whilst we acknowledge that taxis provide the
public operator services for gain, we must emphasise that they
provide an essential service. It is a contract between operators and
the commuters. It is because of this principle that withdrawing
services by operators without due consideration for commuters’
interests is unacceptable. We want a pledge which commits all of us
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on procedures and instruments regulating our rights and
responsibilities.
It is against this background that in March 2007 Cabinet approved
the public transport strategy and action plan. It is this pledge
that we will be finalising with my colleagues in the provinces. It
will then be signed between us and the taxi industry.
If someone has a problem with some traffic officer, what has that
got to do with Mrs Molefe who is travelling from Diepkloof to town?
It has absolutely nothing to do with that person. We cannot use our
people with disrespect. For example, a taxi operator cannot have a
quarrel somewhere and then leave people stranded. That is totally
unacceptable.
Phase 1 of the action plan targets 12 cities and six districts for
initial implementation. Because the transformation of public
transport is incomplete without taxis, a national joint working
group has been established. The national joint working group has the
mandate to address all matters of concern to the taxi industry.
Moving violations remain among the greatest threats to road safety.
We all know drinking and driving, and speaking on the cellphone
while driving are threats to road safety. However, to send an SMS
while driving is more dangerous than speaking on the cellphone.
Twenty-one per cent of crashes are due to this malady.
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An average of 40 people die on our roads every day and this cannot
be treated as a normal situation. The Department of Transport and
the Road Traffic Management Corporation, RTMC, will intensify
efforts on tight and visible law enforcement.
This year we are implementing the Administrative Adjudication of
Road Traffic Offences Bill which removes road offences from the
court system, unless one chooses to have his or her matter
considered by the court. Traffic offences will be dealt with
administratively. This is already having an effect.
By the end of May we will have formed community road safety councils
in all nine provinces. The community road safety councils will help
us create safer environments through road design, enforcement and
education.
Through partnerships with the Ministers of Basic and Higher
Education, we are intensifying road safety education in our schools.
All 18-year-olds in South Africa must have a driver’s licence and
help us introduce a new culture of driving on our roads.
In line with this, by July we will have appointed a new service
provider for the tamper-proof card licence which will be integrated
into the country’s identification system. These developments in
transport will in time move South Africa from being a developing to
a developed country.
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I would like to thank the department, Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin,
the portfolio committee, and the select committee for the assistance
and the co-operation we have received over the year.
I thank the director-general, Mr George Mahlalela, and his staff for
their work and dedication in delivering transport infrastructure and
services to our people. We also acknowledge the role played by the
chief executives of our entities, the managing directors,
chairpersons and boards of all our agencies in the delivery of our
transport programme. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr H B GROENEWALD: Thank you, Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members
of the NCOP and guests.
The way the Select Committee of Transport was treated by the
Department of Transport during their presentation regarding the
strategic plan is unacceptable. Neither the Minister nor the
director-general was available when the committee was addressed.
Fortunately the deputy director-general, DDG, did the presentation
to the committee, and I must say she did well under the
circumstances.
The statement made by Sake24 in Rapport last Sunday is horrific for
any person who uses our roads in South Africa. An audit done by the
SA National Roads Agency Ltd, Sanral, shows that 80% of South
African roads are older than their lifespan of 20 years. It costs
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government – ie the taxpayers – more than R75 billion to maintain
300 000 km of roads in South Africa. According to the audit, gravel
roads in South Africa are even worse than the tarred roads.
The time has come for local government and provincial authorities to
take responsibility for roads in their areas and get the necessary
skills to keep roads in a good condition.
The Deputy Minister, Mr Jeremy Cronin, also said that the
information Sanral used in their audit was from the provincial and
municipal authorities. He also mentioned that the money allocated
for roads and maintenance from government to local authorities has
not been used for these specific purposes, but for many other
priorities.
The DA wants to know from the department: What happened to the
responsibility and control mechanisms to allow the South African
economy to slip to where it is now by sheer mismanagement of the
maintenance of South African roads, caused by the loss of both
financial and human skills? Any delays on road maintenance can cost
up to six times more than the general cost when it is done
timeously.
Despite this, Sanral is doing a good job in keeping our national
roads in a reasonable condition, obviously at the cost of the
motorist. There is no such thing as free roads, but for how much
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longer can we carry on delaying every time that a section of road
reaches the end of its lifespan and needs reconstruction?
Hon Minister, the DA approves of what you and your department have
been saying about the dedicated road fund. After all, this has been
part of our DA policy proposal to your Ministry for a number of
years now. The time has come to consolidate all fund streams into
this fund. This, Minister, is the only way forward.
Sanral must do the necessary audit of road conditions and, as
engineering skills at provincial and local government levels do not
exist, Sanral with their higher skills based on experience would be
able to optimise both scarce human and financial or capital skills
required to keep our roads safe and pothole free.
The Minister and the Deputy Minister made mention in their forewords
of the strategic plan and the role transport is playing in the
economy of South Africa and how much money has been spent on roads,
airports and other infrastructure and around cities hosting the 2010
Fifa Soccer World Cup event.
What about the roads in our rural areas? These are the places where
we need sustainable growth to help our people who stay there to make
a living. The economy is dying in the rural areas because
contractors are not willing to get into the areas where the roads
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are in such a bad state. Public transport is not available and
people must get to their workplaces on foot.
In provinces like Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West province,
roads have totally disintegrated and it is better to travel next to
the roads as opposed to on the roads. The whole road project budget
for the North West province of R525 million for the year 2009-10 has
been spent in three months! How is this possible? We are hardly
touching the tip of the iceberg in this province.
The DA started a pothole campaign in the North West province
recently, just to remind government how dangerous it is to use roads
in such a bad condition and to tell government to do their job
properly. I’m sure that those of you who travelled in those parts
will love our beautiful DA warning signs.
The Taxi Recapitalisation Programme is definitely not on schedule.
Many taxi owners are unhappy with the progress in this programme.
With only 10 142 taxis being scrapped, it seems to the DA that this
programme will never end, and that the budget for scrapping taxis is
increasing year by year. Something new and innovative must be done,
and the money rather put into a public transport programme such as
the BRTs.
The DA believes that subsidising public transport is essential and
happens in most countries in the world. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
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The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): I now call upon the hon member
Carelse.
Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Thank you, Chair. No disrespect, but
my name is “Carlisle”.
It gives me great pleasure to follow on the previous speaker, and
particularly to follow on my hon national Minister. I also recognise
my MEC colleagues from KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
One of the earlier Ministers speaking here said one of the problems
- he mentioned certain politicians, but I think it applies to most
politicians — is that we don’t listen. Now I wonder how many of you
listened carefully to what the national Minister had to say, because
that was one of the most serious and concerning speeches I have ever
heard in politics.
He said a number of things, but he said two things specifically. He
said that R75 billion was required to bring the maintenance backlog
into some kind of manageable form and to that he could contribute an
extra R1 million.
He went on to say — let us take it that this is very clearly with
regard to Metrorail and our whole passenger community service – that
if we do not act now, that is to recapitalise our rail fleet, the
urban passenger rail system could collapse in all our cities within
the next decade.
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I cannot overstate to members in this Place how serious those two
statements are. I happen to know that they are factually correct. I
believe that they go far beyond the boundaries of party politics.
There is no place here to score political points.
We listened earlier to debates on economic development. Let me tell
members economic development is not worth a fig if your transport
systems fall apart. Don’t even waste your time with it. And what we
are witnessing and what the hon national Minister of Transport is
telling us is that our transport systems are falling apart.
Now the importance of this body, sir, is that it’s a transversal
body as far as the country is concerned; and I would hope that every
member within this body will be asking himself or herself, “How do I
work with my colleagues here regardless of their party affiliation
to try and change the situation which the national Minister of
Transport has put to us?”
How do we bring pressure to bear on the National Treasury to change
the spending priorities? Because as any of my colleagues here who
have been to parts of Africa and Central America, as I have, know,
when transport goes, the economy goes and everything else goes with
it.
Let me just supplement certain of the things that the hon Minister
said. He said he had inherited a gaggle of public entities and that
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his inheritance was in many cases chaos or corruption or both. His
passion for road safety, which I share, is blunted and destroyed by
the failure of the justice system to bring consequences to bear on
the killers on our roads.
I want to concentrate, as in a sense he did, on the key area of
public transport. Now, our apartheid cities make public transport a
very difficult thing. They provide us with the longest commutes in
the world. They make our cities upside down because whereas normal
cities are highly concentrated in population terms at the centre and
it declines outwards, ours go the other way. Therefore, in
Johannesburg the dense concentrations of population are far out and
they have to be brought in. Only public transport can bridge that
apartheid divide.
However, if we look at patterns of mobility, and this is where I
believe this House has a key role to play, what we are seeing is the
use of private transport. This is largely restricted to the middle,
upper middle and upper classes — largely white but also obviously
including other population groups. That pattern is on the rise.
There is huge congestion. The hon Minister has spoken about
maintenance. In fact, that’s where the funding is going: on huge
periphery roads, particularly in the Gauteng area. We are not
prepared to have them here, okay.
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So what we are doing is putting the money where the private
transport is and yet the imperative of public transport is to
provide mobility to those who do not have their own transport. And
so we have to bring pressure to bear on National Treasury to begin
to shift that priority from the creation of these massive periphery
roads into the needs of Soweto and Khayelitsha and Mabopane’s public
transport. That’s where the shift has to occur.
With regard to the situation with public transport, the hon Minister
spoke of rail so I can speak about a few other things. The situation
is such that the subsidy, the Dora, Division of Revenue Act, grants
from Transport are effectively declining for the three areas that
have a bus subsidy, and the department looks upon the subsidy as an
expense when in fact it’s an investment that grows the economy of
this country. Bus transport is in decline in every single city in
South Africa; in some it has virtually disappeared — like eThekwini.
Taxis will never be able to take up that total shortfall that is
occurring in our public transport. They themselves are faced with
overtrading, with overcompetitive attitudes, and congestion is
killing them as surely as it is killing the bus trade.
Train and rail needs to be the backbone, sir. We have, certainly in
the Western Cape, in the area of Johannesburg, Tshwane and
Ekurhuleni, a very good rail network; no question about it, that can
carry millions of people to work.
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We are, however, short of 8 000 coaches and motor coaches, and very
few are being built. At the current rate of building it will take
about 70 years to make those up, by which stage the whole situation
will be out of control.
We cannot cope without rail in South Africa and the situation that
is now being created by this is appalling. If you travel from
Khayelitsha into Cape Town, which is the busiest commuter line and
has the heaviest volume in South Africa, higher than Mabopane, then
you have trains that are meant to carry 2 300 people that are
carrying in excess of 4 200 passengers. And I must tell you, the
conditions under which the commuters travel are an outrage to their
human dignity and human rights. It is a situation that we have to
change. As I say, it goes beyond petty party politics.
Virtually every commuter coming into Cape Town or into the
employment areas — and not only in Cape Town, but also in the other
metros — is almost inevitably late for work no matter what they do.
Buses and trains in Cape Town run on average about 40 minutes late.
In some of the other metros it’s much worse than that.
It’s pointless to talk about economic development and deregulating
Eskom if we can’t make our transport systems work. So, we are faced
with this: There is no magic about a public transport system. It’s
not difficult to run. The legislation is there, the skills are
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there. We have the manufacturing capacity in South Africa to build
what we need at Capital Park, but we do not have the money. But the
money is there!
I don’t want to talk about where some of the money went — the money
is there, the country has the money to do it and it has no
alternative but to spend money here.
What we have to do between ourselves is to establish how we change
the spending patterns and the spending priorities so that the people
may move and enjoy the freedom which they deserve.
Mr M P JACOBS: Chairperson, hon Chief Whip, hon Minister of
Transport and my hon fellow Members of Parliament, allow me to start
by quoting a clause from the ANC manifesto which says –
... work together with the farming community to improve the living
conditions of farm dwellers, including the provision of subsidised
house and other basic services.
My entry point in this debate is rural development with a specific
focus on the development of roads and public transport. It would be
a disservice to our rural people if we fail to connect them with
where the economic activity is located. Their linkage with the
civilised world is through the provision of well-deserved
infrastructure and the construction of good roads and bridges.
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During our oversight visit to Mpumalanga, we visited Mbekeni, a
village which is more than 30 km from Nelspruit. It is a remote area
that is isolated from civilisation.
The only road that links them with Nelspruit is badly constructed
and without a bridge. During the rainy season pupils cannot go to
school. Teachers, who are commuting daily, can’t reach their
schools. When we asked them what their personal needs were, they
responded by requesting us to provide them with a constructed road,
a bridge and public transport that would link them with the
civilised world, because all their other needs would be addressed by
the first one.
From where I’m standing, I can hear their call and feel their
desperation back at Mbekeni. It is against this background that we
are making a humble request to the Minister to accede to their
request.
We promised to be their voices and articulate their aspirations to
Parliament to the best of our abilities. We hope that when we go
back to Mbekeni village next year we will not be empty-handed. The
Minister has said he has allocated R1 billion for road construction
in rural areas. I think they will get their slice.
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The youth is the future of this country. We cannot talk about any
rural development that excludes them. We must be duty-bound to
ensure that they are at school on time daily and learning.
Schools in many rural areas are still inaccessible to them. They
have to walk from one farm to the other, from one village to the
other in order to access education. As the ANC, we are therefore
making a public clarion call that the Minister should provide them
with scholar transport. It should not be left to the discretion of
provinces to make choices.
National education allocations should be reinforced and the
department should monitor the implementation of this service. The
provision of scholar transport goes hand in hand with economic
empowerment.
We hope most of the scholar transport owners who come from farms and
villages will be afforded the opportunity to benefit from this
economic activity. It would be rural economic empowerment in the
true sense of the word.
Although the department came up with the Shova Kalula initiative, it
has its own shortcomings, constraints, challenges and limitations.
No audit has ever been made of the bicycles that were issued. There
is no maintenance plan. The bicycles are of no assistance during the
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rainy and cold seasons. The intention was good, but has not achieved
its desired results. The department needs to review this initiative.
We are approaching the Fifa World Cup in June. We are concerned
about the safety of our people who are using the Airlink company for
their flights.
We recently experienced a nasty incident at Limpopo airport during
the period of Taking Parliament to the People when an Airlink plane
failed to take off due to the failure of the ground power supply.
This resulted in members missing their connecting flights.
The second incident also took place in Limpopo, still involving an
Airlink plane which took off but immediately landed again due to a
technical fault. We feel that its operation for the World Cup should
be reviewed and their planes should be airworthy.
We have come far with the World Cup preparations and we cannot allow
our country’s name to be tarnished by one unscrupulous,
irresponsible and greedy operator, whose intention is to destroy our
dream of hosting a spectacular World Cup that will be remembered for
many years to come. We call upon the Minister to review their
licence because that will be a good thing to do.
Therefore, we support this Budget Vote. A o bokwe. [Let it be
praised.] [Applause.]
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Mr T W MCHUNU (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, on 13 April 2010,
Minister Ndebele presented his budget speech in the National
Assembly. He highlighted all the activities that government had
initiated to ensure that our transport system provides a seamless,
multimodel transport service throughout the duration of the World
Cup to facilitate movements to all parts of the country.
Today, he has shared his views with this House. In KwaZulu-Natal we
fully concur with the Minister. We certainly regard 2010 as a unique
year in many ways. It will go down in history as yet another
significant turning point for South Africa and the African
continent.
We are also doing our part as the department in ensuring that this
World Cup is a success, particularly with regard to public transport
matters, road infrastructure development and safety initiatives on
our roads, to mention but a few. However, Minister, we also agree
with you that we must take cognisance of the fact that our planning
must go beyond the World Cup.
Our department is operating in the midst of budgetary cuts and
recessionary pressures on the national coffers. Notwithstanding
that, we cannot shy away from discharging our duties and
responsibilities.
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Our budget seeks to strike a balance and we seriously want to share
this with the House. We want to strike a balance between building
new road infrastructure and the maintenance of the existing
infrastructure. That is very important. There is nothing that you
can overlook.
Those who have lived where roads are good will never think about
expanding into new areas which have never had road infrastructure
before; not through any fault of their own, not through the fault of
this government, but through the fault of the history and the legacy
of all the political parties before.
Therefore, there is no question of us not concentrating on building
new roads in the rural areas. We would like to share with this House
that our road infrastructure has been allocated R3,72 billion. Of
this infrastructure budget, R1,9 billion is for the construction of
new roads and R1,6 billion is for the maintenance thereof.
A serious challenge facing our department is the ongoing floods
which can never be anticipated. Due to the budget constraints and
the increase in volumes of traffic, the rehabilitation and periodic
maintenance programme is falling behind. Our road network is
deteriorating at a rapid pace and additional funding will be
required to ensure that our road network is conserved in an
acceptable manner.
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To crown it all, more than 70% of our road network is also beyond
its design life and if not attended to immediately, it will end up
in a state of disrepair. In the long run, it will cost the
government 18 times more to construct these roads if they are not
attended to urgently.
The state of our roads combined with high traffic volumes,
overloading of heavy vehicles, poor drainage and high levels of
rainfall contribute to the high occurrence of potholes, especially
in our province. Our department receives only R1,6 billion of the
required annual funding of R3,2 billion for maintenance. This
shortfall increases the backlog at a rapid rate.
It would require at least an additional R2 billion over a three-year
period and R2 billion to bring the road network back to the required
minimum level of service. Therefore on that score, Minister, we are
extremely excited about your idea of forming a road maintenance
fund. We are extremely excited, especially if it is designed to help
us in the provinces and in the municipalities because that is where
the backlogs are.
What I would like to say to my colleagues who have spoken before me
is that instead of being negative, we should be applauding what the
Minister is doing now. He is beginning to address all these issues
that we are all complaining about. We should not present them in a
negative manner at all times.
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What I’ve also noticed is that one of my colleagues is beginning to
remind me of what’s happening in many legislatures – time and again
the DA claims that it’s been their policy all the time and,
therefore, the ANC is now implementing it.
I regard that as a very clever way of trying to find answers where
you do not have answers. You cannot have policies that are older
than those of the ANC. The ANC is older than you. You are new. Your
policies are just policies that are copied from the policies of the
ANC. You do not have new answers. That’s the story you must relate.
You just don’t have new answers. We have policies that are a
foundation for democracy that have been introduced since 1994.
As I have indicated, Minister, this year is unique in many ways. It
is also momentous in that it marks the 20th anniversary of former
President Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. We remain anchored
in his principles of peacemaking as we, together with the leadership
of the taxi industry, facilitate conflict resolution and
peacekeeping within this industry.
Like you, Minister, we hold the view that the taxi industry depicts
black economic empowerment at its best. Therefore it’s closer to our
hearts as government. It is on that score that the issues of
instability in the industry have been elevated to the level of the
Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster so as to ensure that
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a comprehensive and an integrated strategy of dealing with taxi
violence is achieved.
We can also share with this House that to support the transformation
and development of the taxi industry within the province, we have
allocated R6,5 million which will be controlled by the government.
The R6,5 million will be run through the Public Finance Management
Act, PFMA, and so we don’t suspect any wrongdoing at that end.
To this end, we are also prepared to support you, Minister, and the
department to deal with the subsidies of buses, because all of these
are legacies. When we deal with the buses, you must remember how
these bus subsidies were allocated in the past.
They were never allocated by the ANC government. Before that they
had excluded millions of people in South Africa. When we deal with
these legacies within the context of the shortage of funds, people
must appreciate that. The best that you have done we applaud and we
cherish it, Minister.
Regarding road safety, again, it is our concern and view that
government has over the years embarked on a number of road safety
initiatives; yet road accidents, crashes and fatalities continue.
Our department plans to take road safety initiatives a step further
by opening a platform for a symposium where communities and ordinary
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people will share with us what their ideas are in trying to curb
this ongoing saga.
I want to say that in keeping with the government’s response to
unemployment, we also continue to create job opportunities through
the implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme. This
programme emphasises the need to focus on our investment in social
infrastructure in a manner that addresses severe conditions of
underdevelopment and entrenched poverty.
That is why we have programmes such as Zibambele, which has been
instrumental in creating a number of jobs within the tight economic
environment, focusing especially on youth and women. Our Zibambele
programme is still the key to eradicating poverty. Thanks go to you,
Minister, for the introduction of such a good programme during your
time as MEC in the province.
The Vukuzakhe programme is one of those that are designed to help
emerging contractors, to provide opportunities and to empower them
through the transfer of skills to all historically disadvantaged
communities.
In conclusion, in the light of the budget constraints mentioned
above, we continue to provide access to and advocate the safety of
all our road users. We firmly believe in working together with our
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communities to realise our departmental vision of prosperity through
mobility. I thank you.
Mr Z MLENZANA: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon MECs, hon members,
good afternoon. I greet you in this august and honourable House
which always demands equal respect with any other House of
Parliament. I’m happy that the Minister is here in person, unlike on
the 14th when we saw the Select Committee on Public Services being
undermined by his department.
I greet you today, the 22nd of April, the day which marks a year
after the people of South Africa endorsed, through their votes, that
there needs to be a patriotic, nonreactionary opposition party which
will not deviate from the principles of the Freedom Charter and the
Constitution of this country. Hence I stand here today representing
that political party, Cope. [Interjections.]
On a more serious note, it was on this day last year that Comrade
Gerald Yona was gunned down in Port Elizabeth. May his soul rest in
peace. Comrade Ntandazo Gewu suffered stray bullet injuries in Mount
Frere. All this was a process of intimidating people because of the
victory of Cope.
Njengenkwenkwe yasezilalini, andizokuthetha zinto zasezidolophini.
[As a rural boy, I will not talk about urban issues.]
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As a rural boy I want to see an integrated rural road development
programme in action. This would include, but not be limited to, the
declassification and reclassification of roads as informed by
municipal integrated development plans, IDPs, the Provincial Growth
and Development Plan, PGDP, the Integrated Sustainable Rural
Development Programme, ISRDP, and the Comprehensive Rural
Development Programme.
The consideration of road construction and maintenance – I agree
with you, Minister – should be high on our agenda. Through that we
will see rural economic development and improved rural access in
action. A well-constituted and integrated public transport system,
eg the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, and scholar transport, is the answer
if you want to deal with the ills of our nation. Hence Cope agrees
with the Minister in calling for the upgrading of the existing
infrastructure and promoting the use of rail for freight and
passenger services.
Cope advises that the scholar transport function should be
implemented uniformly. There should also be a tailor-made
overarching national policy on scholar transport. The scholar
transport function should in its totality reside within your
department as your department has the capacity in terms of all
operations.
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In conclusion, I have deliberately left out some issues,
particularly those that relate to accidents on our roads because, as
the Minister would know, I have taken the matter up with him. So, I
will follow up on my question to which he has replied.
I don’t want to be seen here as someone who is posturing as if we do
not interact. The same with hon Barry; I have deliberately left out
issues around the Eastern Cape because it is not that we don’t
interact. I have time and I know where to interact. I thank you,
Chairperson. [Applause.]
Mufumakadzi L MABIJA: Mudzulatshidulo, Minisiṱa, Vho Sbu Ndebele,
vhalangamavunḓu vhoṱhe vhane vha vha hone fhano ṋamusi, dzi MEC dzine
dza vha hone, vhatatisei vha NCOP, vhashumeli na vhaeni vhoṱhe vhane
vha vha ngeo nṱha vho ḓaho u ri thetshelesa ṋamusi, ndi khou vha
losha. Ndo vha na mashudu mavhi vhukuma ngauri ndi vho tou nga ndo
vha ndi na Minisiṱa mulovha musi vha tshi khou ṅwala tshipitshi
tshavho ngauri vho tou kanda henefhaḽa he nda vha ndi tshi khou ṱoḓa u
kanda hone. Zwine nda nga amba zwone ndi zwauri vho tou mvala mulomo
nga guḽuu. Ndi ḓo tou kanda henefhala he vha kanda hone, ndi tshi
khou ṱuṱuwedza. (Translation of Tshivenḓa paragraph follows.)
[Ms L MABIJA: Chairperson, Minister Sbu Ndebele, all the premiers
present today, MECs who are here, hon members of the NCOP, staff
members and all the visitors sitting in the gallery who came to
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listen to us today, I greet you. I am very unfortunate as it looks
as if I was with the Minister yesterday when he wrote his speech,
because he has mentioned exactly what I am going to say. All I can
say is that he has taken the words out of my mouth. I will just
anchor and motivate what he has said.]
Chairperson, the ANC promised a better life for all. That is why,
following
decades
of
neglect
and
racially
skewed
transport
legislation, planning and development, South Africa has embarked on
a process of improving the public transport infrastructure.
This initiative stems from the realisation that public transport has
a significant role to play in enhancing rural and urban mobility,
reducing road congestion, decreasing the impact on the environment
through harmful emissions and serving the economy.
In line with its conception of transport as the heartbeat of South
Africa’s
economic
government,
through
growth
its
and
social
Medium-Term
development,
Strategic
the
ANC-led
Framework,
has
committed the Department of Transport to revamp the public transport
infrastructure to ensure that it is accessible, efficient, reliable
and affordable.
Vho Minisiṱa vho no ḓi zwi sumbedzisa na u zwi ṱanḓavhudza nga vhuḓalo
zwauri vha khou ṱoḓa u ita mini. [The Minister has already indicated
and explained in full what he intends to do.]
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Transportation
riddled
with
problems.
To
systems
in
the
country
both
intra-
and
intermodal
this
effect,
various
are
characterised
inherited
transport
and
by
and
acquired
components
of
the
current transport systems are operated and regulated by different
governmental agencies and private operators in all three spheres of
the government.
In
most
cases
there
is
little
co-ordination
amongst
those
responsible for the operation of various components of both rural
and urban transportation systems. This has resulted in each agency
and
operator
attempting
to
improve
those
elements
under
its
jurisdiction without consideration of efficiency and effectiveness
of the overall rural and urban transportation systems.
At times, this has been at the expense of other elements of the
various modes of transport. It has also resulted in the exclusion of
alternatives
or
modal
system
operations
that
do
not
have
institutional sponsors.
A typical example is the lack of co-ordination in many urban areas
between agencies responsible for providing operating infrastructure
facilities and public passenger transport systems. Another example
is the general inability of the taxi industry, Metrorail and bus
operators
to
plan
and
operate
their
transport
systems
in
an
integrated manner, crippling South Africa’s transportation systems.
22 APRIL 2010
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The hon Minister has already indicated how he is going to integrate
the transportation systems.
Some communities live in remote areas where accessibility is almost
impossible throughout all four seasons.
Ndi ḓo fha tsumbo nga ha madalo e ra vha nao ngei ha Sekhukhune, he
ra wana uri nḓila dza hone dzoṱhe dzi na matombo nahone dzo tshinyala
vhukuma. U tshimbila nṱha ha matombo hu na uri u tshimbile badani. Ro
dovha hafhu ra ya u dalela muṅwe muvhundu une wa vha na mulambo
muhulu. Masiani oṱhe a mulambo hu na tshiendedzi tshine tsha vhidzwa
u pfi ‘segwaigwai’. Vho Groenewald na Vho Tau vho ita na u tshi
ṋamela
vha tshi khou ṱoḓa u pfa uri tshi tou itisa hani.
Sa izwi Minisiṱa Vho Sbu vhe muthu ane a shuma lwa shishi, ndi khou
ṱoḓa u vha humbela uri vha sedze-vho na shango ḽa ha Sekhukhune. Zwi
nga vha zwavhuḓi arali hu tshi nga tshintshiwa ‘segwaigwai’ ha tou
itiwa buroho ya vhukuma u itela uri vhathu vha kone u pfuka vha tshi
bva kha sia ḽiṅwe vha tshi ya kha ḽiṅwe; vha tshi ya u vhona mashaka,
u renga vhurotho, na zwiṅwe-vho.
Hangei ha Sekhukhune hu na mimaini ine ya swika henefha kha 40 na
miṅwe miswa ye ra pfa uri i khou ya u thomiwa, ine ya nga swika
henefha kha ṱahe. Nga fulufhelo ḽine nda vha naḽo kha Minisiṱa, ndi
khou humbela uri vha ite zwauri havhala vhathu vha songo sokou bwa
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lupfumo fhasi mavuni, vhathu vhane vha dzula henefho tsini vha si na
na dzibada, zwa u ḓimvumvusa, dziburoho na dzinḓila, ngeno lupfumo lu
tshi khou bva lu tshi ya nnḓa ha Afurika Tshipembe. Vhathu vhane vha
khou dzula henefhaḽa u mona na Sekhukhune, ho lalaho lupfumo, vha sa
khou vhuelwa nga tshithu. Vhathu vha ha Sekhukhune vho sinyuwa
vhukuma. Muṅwe na muṅwe o zwi vhona zwauri vhathu vha khou sinyuswa
nga zwi pfalaho. Ndi khou humbela Minisita uri heḽi fhungo vha ḽi
sedzese nahone vha ḽi dzhiele ntha.
Ndido dovha hafhu nda amba nga bada ya N1 ire henengei Limpopo.
Vhuponi ha Levubu, hu na buroho yo waho. Zwino ri tshi khou amba,
zwo no vha na miṅwaha mivhili yo wa. Vhathu a vha khou pfesesa uri a
i lugiswi ngani ngauri muvhuso u na tshelede. Vha tshi ita
mugaganyagwama zwi amba zwauri vha tea u lugisela nayo. Ndi khou tou
sumbedzisa-vho uri kha vha zwi dzhiela nṱha zwauri hu na houḽa muratho
wo waho, nahone zwino wo no fhirelwa nga tshifhinga.
Hu na iṅwe hafhu yo waho ine ya vha vhuponi ha Khalavha. Na yone yo
no fhirelwa nga tshifhinga. Zwine wa nga amba zwone ndi zwauri
mushumo une muvhuso wa khou ita kha sia ḽa vhuendi ndi muhulwane. Ndi
nga si vhuye nda ṱwa ndi tshi khou ambesa nga hazwo sa i zwi Minisiṱa
vho no ḓi zwi sumbedzisa zwoṱhe. A hu na ane a nga hanedza uri zwi
nga si itee ngauri vha tshi vhuya vha zwi pulana; zwi amba zwauri
vha ḓo zwi ita, nahone vho no ḓi thomisa. Musi vha tshi vhewa sa
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Minisiṱa, vho tenda uri vha ḓo zwi kona. Ndi na fulufhelo ḽa uri vha
ḓo zwi kona.
Ndi khou ṱoḓa u humbela Minisiṱa uri vhuḓifari ha vhareili vhashu, na
... [Tshifhinga tsho fhela.] [U vhanda zwanḓa.] (Translation of
Tshivenḓa paragraphs follows.)
[I will give an example from our visit to Sekhukhune, where we found
that all the roads have rocks and are in bad condition. You drive on
rocks instead of the roads. We also visited another area where there
is a very big river. On both sides of the river, there is a form of
transport called “segwaigwai”. Mr Groenewald and Mr Tau even rode on
it just to test how it is.
Since Minister Sbu is a hard worker, I appeal to him to also focus
on the Sekhukhune area. It will be good if “segwaigwai” can be
replaced by a real bridge so that people will be able to cross from
one area to another, to visit relatives, to buy bread and other
things.
There are more or less 40 mines in Sekhukhune and we have heard that
another nine new mines are going to start operating. With the
confidence I have in the Minister, I request you to make sure that
those people do not only dig the wealth from the ground when people
who live near these areas have no roads, entertainment facilities,
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bridges and paths, while wealth is being taken out of South Africa.
People who live around Sekhukhune where wealth is abundant are
gaining nothing. The Sekhukhune community is very angry. Everyone
knows they have valid reasons to be angry. I appeal to the Minister
to look into this matter seriously and give it first preference.
I will also speak about the N1 highway in Limpopo. In the Levubu
area, there is a collapsed bridge. As we speak, it is two years
since it collapsed. People don’t understand why it has not been
repaired, because the government has money. Please include it also
in your budget. I’m just trying to bring to your attention that
there is a bridge that collapsed a long time ago and has not yet
been repaired.
There is another one that collapsed in the Khalavha area. It too
needs to be repaired. One can only say that the government is doing
a great job with regard to transport. I won’t say much since the
Minister has already explained everything. Nobody can say this is
impossible, since you have planned it; it means you will do it and
you have already started. When you were sworn in as Minister, you
agreed that you will deliver. I am confident that you will deliver.
I want to request the Minister that the behaviour of our drivers,
and ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]]
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The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr R J Tau): Thank you, hon Mabija. I must
state that I found it quite interesting that when the hon member
started speaking in Tshivenda, it was only the hon Mofokeng and I
who did not go for the interpretation — taking into account that it
was the Free State and the Northern Cape. Everybody else went for
the interpretation! [Laughter.]
Ndo tshi guda hangei Limpopo. [I learnt it in Limpopo.]
We hope that all members will do the same when participating in
debates in this House.
Ms G BARRY (Eastern Cape): Chairperson, hon Minister of Transport,
hon MECs present, all hon members of the NCOP, government officials,
distinguished quests, ladies and gentlemen, today we are going to
bring the hon Minister good news from the Eastern Cape regarding the
integrated public transport system that the hon Minister spoke about
previously.
The debate takes place a few days after a historic agreement was
concluded between government, the bus and taxi industries and the
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, which marks the turning point in
the provision of public transport services to our people.
Taxi operators and operations, as we know it, will be phased out
because they will become part of an integrated public transport
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system which will be operated on specific timetables and will make
use of a variety of vehicle sizes from articulated and standard
buses to minibuses, as part of the ANC-led government’s effort to
provide a safe, reliable and affordable transport system.
They will form five co-operatives and, as the Eastern Cape
government, we will be supporting them in sourcing funding for these
co-operatives as well as with any administrative services that they
would need in order to run these five co-operatives.
On behalf of the Eastern Cape provincial government, I would like to
take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for the
Dora, Division of Revenue Act, allocation of R148 million from the
Department of Transport for the Algoa Bus Company in the Nelson
Mandela Bay Municipality. But I would like to reiterate the words of
the MEC of KwaZulu-Natal to the hon Minister, to seriously consider
the extension of the allocations to bus passenger services in rural
areas, because it is in provinces like the Eastern Cape where the
majority of our people who really need this service reside.
Already on the other side, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
is currently implementing a coach refurbishment programme to improve
its rolling stock fleet in the Eastern Cape. A total of 17 coaches
have been targeted for refurbishment. Ten coaches will be destined
for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to be used during the 2010
Fifa Soccer World Cup.
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Special train services will be made available between Uitenhage and
Port Elizabeth on match days. And renovations at North End station,
which is closer to the new stadium, will have been completed by
then.
Hon Chairperson, we have successfully implemented the national
Department of Transport’s special regulations for the 2010 Fifa
Soccer World Cup, in terms of the National Land Transport Act, Act 5
of 2009. Public transport operators were advised to visit the
district offices of the Department of Transport to apply for the
special operating licences for this event.
Through our Blue Skyway Aviation Strategy, we have been able to
commence with the first phase of the upgrade of the Mthatha Airport
in order to ensure that this airport adds value to local economic
development and improves access to the Wild Coast, which is an
internationally renowned tourism destination.
This upgrade will further enable the airport to receive more
flights, including evening flights. These developments have prompted
Airlink to introduce a flight service on the route between Port
Elizabeth and Mthatha on Fridays as from 26 February 2010. This
means that three of our airports, ie East London, Mthatha and Port
Elizabeth, are now ready to contribute to the provincial growth and
development plan of our province and our 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup
plans.
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The remaining challenge is to make sure that all four airports,
including Bhisho Airport, complement each other. Our main intention
is to have an Air link between Cape Town and Mthatha via Bisho. An
important goal is to link Port Elizabeth to Mthatha via Bhisho with
the service geared for faster movement between these three areas.
Port Alfred-based 43 Air School continues to train student pilots at
the Bhisho Airport and we are now challenged to build more
accommodation complexes for this airport. Chairperson, it is
gratifying to bring to the attention of this House that the airport
is fast becoming the top training airport for pilots in Africa.
Regarding rural development, the award-winning Kei Rail project
continues to inspire our efforts of “Moving Back to Rail”. Due to
our high safety standards, the Department of Transport has been
granted a rail safety permit by the Railway Safety Regulator for the
next three years from 2009 to 2012.
Today we are running a daily service between AmaBhele and Mthatha
with an average of 12 000 passengers per month. In the last
financial year this project has already created 370 employment
opportunities in activities such as track maintenance, train
operations, traffic management and other general maintenance of
coaches and station buildings.
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In an effort to improve the mobility and accessibility of our
communities in the eastern part of our province, we have allocated
R23,675 million for Africa’s Best 350 Ltd Bus Operations. It is
worth noting that this allocation is insufficient considering the
challenge of access to public transport experienced by our rural
communities, especially when they want to access government services
like hospitals, clinics, schools and pension points.
This year we expect 24 new buses to commence operations in
Butterworth and 15 additional buses to operate in the Lusikisiki
area. We have allocated R39,209 million for the Mayibuye Transport
Corporation, and its operations are 90% rural. There is a dire need
for a greater injection of funds into this corporation in order to
enhance its capacity through the refurbishment of its fleet and to
ensure that its services reach more rural communities. May I just
add that this corporation may go under if there is no additional
intervention by government.
With regard to nonmotorised transportation, currently we have 18
containers that were converted into bicycle shops and distributed in
all districts to service bicycles that were distributed through our
Shova Kalula Bicycle Project.
The communities themselves have identified suitable candidates, who
were trained to become sustainable bicycle shop owners or managers.
Through our community-based transportation programme, we have been
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able to create 21 451 work opportunities for the poorest of the poor
and exceeded our target of 18 000 work opportunities.
This achievement puts the department in the lead nationally in
creating jobs through the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, in
the 2009-10 financial year. In recognition of this achievement, the
department is in line to receive an amount of R17 million in terms
of the EPWP Incentive Grant for exceeding performance targets.
Our community-based transportation programme was recognised by the
national Department of Public Works and was the recipient of the
Komoso Award for developing and implementing the best innovative
project in using labour-intensive methods in the entire country.
In the new financial year, because of the transfer of the roads, we
will only create 801 work opportunities in the construction of
pedestrian paths. We will increase our road rangers from 240 to 450,
we will concentrate on the maintenance of our junior traffic
training centres and we will also be concentrating on the
maintenance of public resting places.
I think it is worth noting that the Eastern Cape was the first
province to establish the provincial road safety council, which is a
structure that seeks to make road safety everybody’s responsibility,
and this year we are going to ensure that 507 500 children and 7 829
adults are reached through the road safety education programme.
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With the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup around the corner we have
increased our number of provincial traffic officers to 719 and they
include a 187-member roving special operations task team that will
be specifically focusing on tournament traffic enforcement
operations. And in partnership with South African Breweries, SAB, we
are going to launch the Eastern Cape’s first alcohol testing centre
in Port Elizabeth shortly before the start of the 2010 Fifa Soccer
World Cup tournament. [Applause.]
Mr E XAYIYA (Gauteng): Chairperson, hon Minister of Transport,
members of the NCOP, ladies and gentlemen, today, in this House, I
am speaking on behalf of the MEC for roads and transport in Gauteng.
The Gauteng government heralds the plan that our government will
execute in the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF,
period. These plans have been carefully laid out to meet the
national outcomes highlighted by our President in his state of the
nation address.
We are, therefore, confident that the plans brought to this House
today will not only be the signposts of what we will achieve, but
also of what we have done and still intend improving upon in our
service delivery models.
The Minister in his Budget Vote elaborates extensively on the
preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament. As the
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transport fraternity, we will concern ourselves with the mobility of
both local and international fans and spectators. As the Gauteng
province we welcome the Minister’s budget speech and assure you that
we have developed a transport plan for 2010 that is aligned to the
plans tabled by the Minister. We have developed a transport plan
that identifies the core network relevant to provincial transport
operations and which considers the main internal and external
linkages in and out of the province.
We have also taken into consideration that it had to be relevant to
land-based transportation movement. The conception of our plans is
based on three levels of transportation networks. These are as
follows.
The interprovincial services which we envisage will be provided by
the national Department of Transport, but the Gauteng province will
do the planning for the services that will be provided to ensure
integration with provincial and intercity services in the province.
The intercity services will be provided by the province itself.
Local or intracity services will be provided by the cities at two
levels, namely high frequency services that will operate from a
primary network, and a feeder and distribution system to be provided
either by buses or accredited minibus taxis, thereby maximising
coverage.
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Unlike the 2009 Confederations Cup, our concept for the 2010 World
Cup will be different given that the profile of the spectators is
that of international visitors with prebooked travel packages and
direct access to the stadium’s precinct. We intend to provide less
of the Park and Rides than we did previously during the
Confederations Cup.
Our concept largely focuses on a strong rail backbone system
supported by services rendered through the other three spheres of
government. Hence the formation of institutional structures called
the 2010 transport provincial forum to play a co-ordination and
alignment role, so as to ensure a seamless delivery of transport
through the province during this World Cup.
We have classified routes into categories that will cater for our
citizens, our visitors and spectators. The most important routes are
the protocol routes that will cater mainly for our VIPs and teams.
The tourist routes will be focusing on our main tourist destinations
in Gauteng, such as the prestigious Dinokeng and Cradle of
Humankind, including the world-renowned Vilakazi Street and other
destinations or offerings.
Despite the Gautrain project, which is not specifically meant to
service the 2010 soccer tournament, we will be opening the O R Tambo
International Airport route to Sandton in order to give transport
services to the visitors from the airport to Sandton.
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On public transport, the Minister reiterated the importance of
public transport and, therefore, I wish to endorse the statement by
highlighting some of the programmes that the department has been
engaging on in order to integrate land transport functions with land
use and economic planning. These programmes ensure that transport
demand is managed and our investments used effectively.
Because of the importance of transport in the economy of the
country, we have decided to advocate for the promotion, regulation
and development of an integrated public transport system. This
system seeks to incorporate the transformation of the bus and taxi
industries, as well as the integration of the Gautrain, into a
public transport network and commuter rail system.
The transfer of the bus services functions from the North West
province into Gauteng, after the demarcation process, has enhanced
our bus transportation services because this has not only resulted
in increased subsidies, but has actually promoted transportation
services offered in those areas.
Regarding the taxi industry, we support the engagements that have
taken place in the National Joint Working Group and the minibus-taxi
industry. These have made positive contributions and inspired new
initiatives that aim to grow the industry. This process will result
in the growth and empowerment of those who were previously excluded
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from the broader public transport offerings, especially as they
relate to other supported modes.
This Ministry has the responsibility to ensure road safety. That
actually means that all spheres of government involved in carrying
out transport functions are required to act upon the Minister’s
initiatives, like working with the Minister of Basic Education to
intensify road safety education in our schools.
The department has come up with a plan aligned to the national call
of providing every learner in high school with the opportunity to
matriculate with a valid South African driving licence. Our proposed
concept will concern itself mainly with all learners in high schools
situated within our 20 Priority Township Programme in Gauteng.
We intend employing and training approximately 100 driving
instructors on a permanent basis, thereby ensuring the
sustainability of this programme while also creating job
opportunities that are long-term based. In assuming this huge
responsibility we will ensure that all the intended objectives, as
indicated by the Minister, are realised, especially regarding the
bookings and testing backlogs.
Regarding road infrastructure, the Minister and broader society’s
concerns about the backlog of road maintenance is noted. I must
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indicate that we are now working on strategies to overcome this
challenge in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
The capital project programme of the Gauteng department of roads and
transport has, in the period 2009-10, completed three of the major
projects namely Phase 2 of K29, Malibongwe Drive, P174, and Phase 2
of the K15 route. Beyers Naude, Cayman Road and Voortrekker will
continue and be carried over to the 2010-11 financial year.
All projects concluded by the department are Expanded Public Works
Programme, EPWP, compliant. Five hundred and fifteen jobs were
created and 20 subcontractors were given the opportunity to work on
the projects in line with the promotion of SMMEs. They targeted 60%
of the projects on women, 40% on youth and 2% for people with
disabilities.
The issue of corruption is a concern in all spheres of government
because it does not only hinder service delivery, but also slows the
responsiveness of government to its citizens. A draft strategy on
risk and anticorruption in Gauteng has been prepared, mainly to deal
with the corruption at the driving licence testing centres, DLTCs,
in Gauteng, a situation that has been viewed as spiralling out of
control.
As interventions, we have planned to increase random inspections at
DLTCs by the compliance unit from the community safety department;
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conduct monthly audits at these centres; randomly take tests over
from examiners; and randomly make changes to the booking schedules
and the deployment of the department’s representative for daily
observations and report writing at the call centre.
We also envisage electing a policy management committee that will
address all legislative policies, procedures and administrative gaps
that exist within the business unit following the above-mentioned
principles. These are some of the areas that the strategy will cover
and this will be forwarded to the national department as it is soon
as it is finalised.
We, therefore, endorse the budget tabled by the Minister of
Transport in the National Assembly and express our appreciation for
the ongoing support that we receive from the national Department of
Transport. We would also like to use this platform to assure the
National Assembly, the NCOP and the people of South Africa of our
continuous effort to provide transport infrastructure and services
that are not only effective and efficient, but also advance the
agenda of enhancing Gauteng City Region’s global competitiveness. I
thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr M P SIBANDE: Hon Chairperson, hon Manzankosi and hon members, all
protocol observed.
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Ayahlokoma amahlokohloko inhlokomo ebangelwa ubunyoninco bomkenenezo
wemvelo. Ayajangaza ayatanasa kuhle kwamaqembu aphikisayo ngenxa
yamathuba enziwa uKhongolose wabantu ngempela i-ANC. Baxakekile
oxamu amathe abuyele kwasifuba ngenxa yesivinini umkhumbi kaNoah,iANC belu, ogijima ngaso ukuletha izinguquko ikakhulukazi ezimpilweni
zabantu abampisholo. Phezu kokuba bona ogombela kwesabo behlulekile
ukuletha izinguquko eminyakeni engama-342 eyedlule. Ngingakhohlwa
ukudlulisa umyalezo ophuthumayo kulamabhoxongwana azelwe ngonyaka
owedlule ukuthi bezalwa nje sebekwazi ukukhaphela okaMsholozi ngoba
sebezibona bewumbimbi ohlelweni lokuthi uMsholozi abukeke
njengendoda okungafanele siyethembe.
Ngizothanda ukwazisa lemisheshelengwana ukuthi imizamo yabo
yezinkomba zokungamethembi uMsholozi ibhuntshile. Umyalezo wami
uthi: badlala ngegeja kuziliwe. Abogawula babheke ngoba bayinyathele
emsileni. Ngizothanda nokukhumbuza iNdlu yesiShayamthetho ukuthi
kulo nyaka ka-2010 enyangeni kaMbasa ziyodela izimfamona futhi
ziyohlala zibhocobele ngokuba bonke abantu baseNingizimu Afrika
nomhlaba wonke wonke jikelele usahlonipha futhi usalugubha usuku
lokukhumbula umholi wabantu uThembisile Chris Hani, sohlala
simukhumbula njalo nje kuze kubuye indodana. (Translation of isiZulu
paragraphs follows.)
[The yellow weaver birds are making a noise because of the din
caused by the sound of nature. They are boastful and walk in a
contemptuous manner like the opposition party on account of the real
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Congress of the People, the ANC. The traitors are desperate and
disappointed because of the speed at which Noah’s ark, the ANC, is
moving, fast in bringing changes to the people’s lives — mostly
black people. These capitalists failed to bring about change in
people’s lives in the past 342 years. Let me not forget to pass an
urgent message to these scoundrels who formed a party last year, who
have the guts to betray Msholozi because they see themselves as an
alliance in the move to show a vote of no confidence in him.
I would like to tell these informers that their efforts in
displaying their distrust of Msholozi have failed. My message is:
They are playing with fire. They must be careful because they have
angered him. I would like to remind the National Assembly that this
year, in April 2010, the jealous people will remain lethargic
because all the people of South Africa and the whole world will
still commemorate the day of Thembisile Chris Hani, the people’s
leader; we will commemorate his death until the second coming of
Christ.]
The apartheid transport policy deprived the majority of people of
South Africa in transport matters and has led to the payment of huge
transport subsidies; exposed commuters to vast walking distances;
failed to regulate the kombi taxi industry adequately; largely
ignored the country’s outrageous road safety records; paid little
attention to the environmental impact of transport projects; and
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facilitated transport decision-making bodies that were unwilling,
unfocused, unaccountable and bureaucratic.
An effective publicly owned passenger transport system is what the
ANC is promoting, which includes integrating road, rail and air
transportation. Privately controlled passenger transport must be
effectively regulated and controlled.
The ANC transport policy ensures that ...
Kukhona oke wakhuluma ngenqubomgomo yenye inhlangano, nansi-ke eye
ANC. [There is someone who talked about a certain party’s policy —
here is the one for the ANC.]
... it promotes co-ordinated, safe, affordable public transport as a
social service, to ensure that the system is flexible enough to take
into account local conditions, in order to make the best use of the
available transport infrastructure as far as possible.
We promote accountability for the service that is provided: We
provide a transport system that takes into account the transport
needs of disabled people; clearly defines the responsibility of the
various authorities and ensures comprehensive land use and transport
planning; promotes road safety; revives subsidies for both operating
and capital costs and provides funds for long-term planning; as well
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as facilitating high-density development to ensure efficient use of
public transport.
Ngingakadluli lapho ngizothanda ukukhumbuza uMnu Ngoqngqoshe we-DA
ukuthi ... [Before going further I would like to remind the DA MEC
that ...]
... he said that economic development in this country is worth
nothing. That does not surprise us because some of them were part of
collapsing our economy.
The majority of our people are unable to afford private transport
and are dependent on public transport. Given the need for increased
mobility costs and the environmental impact of accommodating the
private motorists, the future emphasis must be on the provision of
safe, convenient and affordable public transport.
Commuters are being encouraged to use public transport and should be
actively discouraged from using cars. The revenue raised by way of a
dedicated tax levy must continue to be used to direct the benefits
of the provision of public transport.
Rail transport must be extended, not in the urban areas, but in
rural areas in particular, where our people are most vulnerable and
do not have the financial ability to pay for other forms of
transport, thereby locking them into a geographically defined area.
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Rural areas require more frequent public transport and improved
facilities at affordable costs.
Bese ngiyabuya futhi kubaba uMlenzana. Uyabona, okuningi kwenu
akusethusi thina ngoba i-Cope yenza lokhu edume ngakho iyaphuma
ihambe. EPolokwane naphuma nahamba, makumele kukhulunywe niphuma
nihambe, eNdlini Yesishayamthetho naphuma nahamba, ngesonto eledlule
kunomhlangano naphuma nahamba. Nezingane zenu mazingazalwa kusukela
manje zizoba ophuma bahambe. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph
follows.)
[Let me come back to the issue of Mr Mlenzana. You see, most of what
you do does not scare us because Cope is doing what it is famous for
— it stages walkouts. You staged a walkout in Polokwane; when we
ought to talk you stage a walkout; in the National Assembly you
staged a walkout; last week in the meeting you staged a walkout. You
must not give birth to any children from now on because they will
stage walkouts.]
Lines must act as feeders to rail service as prime movers if rail is
not available. Taxis must act as feeders to bus and rail services,
as prime movers if neither rail nor bus services are available. The
subsidisation ...
Mr D V BLOEM: It’s just a point of clarity; I don’t understand the
member when he’s talking about “march out”, maybe he can explain.
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The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member, you
just want to stand up and talk.
Mr M P SIBANDE: Wenze kahle. Awuthi ngidlulise nakhu futhi okunye.
[Well done. Let me mention this again.]
During our oversight visit to Gauteng and Mpumalanga and Taking
Parliament to the People in Limpopo, as well as the visit by
Parliament to host cities, the following recommendations by the
people were raised.
Isiphakamiso sokuqala, abantu bacela ukuthi eMpumalanga kunomgwaqo
ohlanganisa iPienaar neKwanyamazane ibhuloho lakhona seliyoqeda
unyaka akucaci kahle ukuthi ubani omelwe ukulilungisa, ingabe
uhulumeni kazwelonke, wesifundazwe noma wasekhaya. Esikhundleni
sokuthi balungise umgwaqo kunaleyo nkulumo-mpikiswano.
Okunye futhi ukuthi kunendlela eya eMpakeni edlula ngaseMthethomusha
iyadabukisa, uma ngabe imvula ina akungeneki kanti futhi nakwi-Bus
Rapid Transit, i-BRT, abantu be-BRT bamatekisi abayali futhi
abayivumi kodwa bacela kube nokuqguqguzelana ukuthi sisebenzisane
kakhulu. Okunye abakucelayo kwi-BRT ukuthi bacela ukuthi
kunamagatsha amaningi phakathi, abaxhumanisi, nokuyinto edla imali
eningi kakhulu uma sekukhulunywa ngalabo bantu. Ngalokho bacela
ukuthi sengathi singabona ukuthi kungenziwani ngalezo zindaba. Bese
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ngiyabuya ngiyaqhubeka ngithi ... (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs
follows.)
[The first proposal from the people is that there should be a road
in Mpumalanga that connects Pienaar and Kanyamazane. The bridge has
been left incomplete for about a year and it is not clear who is
supposed to fix it — whether it is national government, provincial
government or local government. There is debate around the issues
instead of attending to the problem.
The route that goes to Mpakeni which goes past Mthethomusha is
heartbreaking, since it is a no-go area when it rains. With regard
to the bus rapid transit system, the BRT, the taxi people neither
accept nor reject it but they request that the parties concerned
should be encouraged to work together. What they also request from
the BRT is that since there are many branches in between, envoys
require a lot of money if you talk about those people. With that,
they request that we should consider what to do with those issues.
Let me continue and say that ...]
... the planning of transport in metropolitan and major urban areas
must be in accordance with the urban and metropolitan growth
management plan. This should guide the financing of infrastructure
improvement and the payment of operating subsidies for public
transport. Travel nodes should not compete against each other in
urban areas, but rather transport provided must be integrated.
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In rural areas provincial government and district councils need to
ensure that transport plans take into consideration the need for
extensive road building and improvement.
The issues of road safety education, enforcement and road
engineering are critical, and road safety must be given the priority
it deserves. The transport authority must be charged with the task
of reducing accidents and must be given funds to achieve that goal.
For all public transport services to be fully integrated, their
functioning must be co-ordinated and/or regulated. These operations
must be accountable to the public and responsible for the provision,
co-ordination and funding of all public transport and infrastructure
necessary for public transport. Policy development should be
especially addressing the current problems such as unco-ordinated
tariff structures, duplication of services and conflicts as a result
of different forms of ownership.
With respect to other forms of transport, international conventions
and treaties determine part of the legal framework for sea and air
transport. Infrastructural development must, however, be extended
through democratic consultation with various stakeholders.
The ongoing harmonisation of infrastructural, legal and operational
aspects of the Southern African regional transport system must
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continue to be a priority and the work with cross-border transport
has to be strengthened.
Ngingachithi isikhathi, siyikomidi loMkhandlu weziFundazwe
siyaseseka isabelomali sakho futhi siyacela ukuthi sengathi abantu
bamatekisi bangasebenzisana nathi futhi imihlangano le ehanjwa nabo
yaziswe emphakathini ngoba abanye babantu bayabushintsha ubuso
ngenkathi kuyibo bodwa. Nakubo abantu bamatekisi sithi abahloniphe,
angeke sikuvumele ukuthi bakhiphe izimvume baphinde basebenzise
izindlela okungezona ezabo ngoba zidala ingxabano.
Kodwa noma kunjalo, sicela ukuthi kuxoxiswane mhlawumbe uma kulokhu
kuphenywa kuboniswane ukuthi kungenziwa liphi isu kungaze kulimaze
iNdebe yomhlaba ka-2010 ezoba khona lapha eNingizimu Afrika.
Ngalokho siyaseseka kakhulu isabelomali sakho. [Ihlombe.]
(Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Let me not waste time. As the committee of the National Council of
Provinces, the NCOP, we support your Budget Vote. We also request
that the taxi people work with us and that these meetings that are
held with them should be announced to the community, because some of
the people change their tune when they are alone. The taxi people
must also show respect; we shall not allow them to issue permits and
use routes that are not theirs, because that causes some wrangling.
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In spite of that, we request that there should be some talks whilst
there are investigations on what plans can be made so that it does
not affect the 2010 World Cup which will be hosted in South Africa.
With that we fully support the Budget Vote. [Applause.]]
The MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Chairperson and hon members, thank you
very much for a very stimulating debate, both in content and spirit.
It is much appreciated.
Perhaps I should just start with housekeeping matters. To the hon
member Mr Groenewald I would like to say that if he would just take
the time, he would find out that we have been part of the struggle
to create a democratic system of governance. We cannot be part of
not respecting those structures.
With regard to the meeting that the hon member was talking about –
that is why Mr Carlisle didn’t talk about it – if he had just found
out from the hon chairperson of the select committee, he would have
known that it was set for a Wednesday.
Wednesdays are Cabinet days, and therefore particularly the Deputy
Minister and I were both in Cabinet on that day. The DG, Mr George
Mahlalela, was in Johannesburg, dealing with the taxi conflict. Had
he not gone there, it would have disrupted so many other lives.
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It was not because of disrespect to the committee. Why should we
suddenly say that if you are sitting on this side, you will
disrespect somebody sitting on the other side? There would be no
need for that, and one doesn’t operate in that way. So, let’s put
that one to rest.
Thank you very much, hon members, and I appreciate the input that Mr
Carlisle made. We are encouraged that the member succinctly outlined
the key challenges facing public transport, and we really appreciate
particularly his understanding that there should be a meeting of
minds on matters that deal with the reconstruction of our country.
It’s quite a critical thing to do. Apartheid was one of the most
successful experiments in human engineering. It separated people and
communities and caused devastation in the lives of people. Our
government now, and particularly Transport, must be able to overcome
the ravages of apartheid, by saying that just as apartheid used
transport to divide people, we must use transport to unite people.
That is quite a critical point for all of us.
Let me then just outline the key issues that we have been presenting
and which one appreciates that the members have supported. Firstly,
we achieved our freedom in 1994, but for many of our people 1994 has
not yet arrived, because they live in the back of beyond. School
kids aged 8, 9, 10 and 11 years travel 9 km to 10 km per day.
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It must be a matter of concern to all of us, and we should ask
ourselves what we can do about it. Therefore, the provision, in the
first instance, of roads is critical. We should be able to say that
it is April 2010. Where should we be in April 2012, in terms of this
table that you have presented here, which is far from being a
complete picture of the backlogs that are there? Just to connect
clinics and schools, if you look at the thousands that you were
counting here for each province, it is a state of emergency for all
of us.
Therefore, what do we do? That’s why we say a dedicated fund,
ringfenced to actually deal with that matter, is necessary. It won’t
affect competencies and powers of authorities, whether they be
local, provincial or national, but we must work in a co-ordinated
fashion to say that we should be at a specific point by 2012. We
should have reached so many schools and so many clinics, so that it
can be taken for granted that you can drive a car or go there by
public transport and so forth, and that there will be no day when
you cannot reach a school or a clinic.
That is a state of emergency for us, and it is something that we
need to put on the table and say, together with the entire transport
family, which is made up of MECs and all the people dealing with
matters of transport, that this is where we are going to be doing
what we will be doing in the next two years. We operate in terms of
outcomes.
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We entered into an agreement with the President, hon Jacob Zuma.
Each one of us said that we in Transport are going to do one, two,
three. Up to now, one has not said things that one is not going to
be able to do, and my colleague MEC Mchunu will know that we set
ourselves tasks, and we then move.
If the tasks are higher than what you’ve set, then you go and strive
further. We are going to do that. If we then say that this is what
we are going to do, those bridges that you are talking about, those
inaccessible clinics and schools that we are talking about, let’s
put them on a programme and say that this is what we are going to do
within this time and mobilise all the necessary forces.
The fortunate part of it is that we in Transport don’t just spend
money. In spending every R1 000, R100 000, R100 million, we are
creating jobs in the process. We create jobs in that people are
employed as they build, but we also give out those contracts.
We are able to do that programme in a very transparent manner, in a
manner that is envisaged by our policies. We say that that is a
piece of road that we are going to do; we are doing 100 km here. You
and you and you are forming a co-operative to do 10 km of that or 20
km of that; you, this group or community, are going to maintain
those roads. And that is what we are going to do.
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Secondly, the major issue that all of us should be united on is road
safety. The carnage on our roads is just not acceptable. I saw that
mudslide in Brazil. It is a natural phenomenon, and there were those
clouds that happened and stopped the flights and so forth. These are
natural phenomena.
However, you cannot have a situation where each day you are going to
ask how many people have died and get the answer that there are 27,
Minister. An hour later there might be 29, and two hours later,
there might be 36. This happens each day, and it cannot be allowed.
It is not a natural phenomenon.
It’s a carry-over from apartheid days, from when we disregarded
human life, and said, “I must show my macho side” and all that. What
needs to happen is that now we say that it must stop. It will stop
due to using enforcement.
As my colleague, Ms Barry, is doing in the Eastern Cape, as my
colleague, MEC Mchunu, is doing famously in KwaZulu-Natal, we need
to say that there is zero tolerance, and zero tolerance must be zero
tolerance.
We will tighten that. Just the first six months is going to show it,
because once you obey one set of laws, you will obey other laws as
well. You might be troublesome somewhere else but on the road you
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are not going to be troublesome, because we are just going to lock
you up. That is what is going to happen.
People are going to know that the licence that you have is now in
our legislation — the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offences Act is precisely meant to ensure that road offences are not
part of the 11 000 traffic cases that are waiting here. It is going
to be done in a manner that says there shall be consequences for not
obeying the law.
Colleagues, I want to thank you very much for supporting this
budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
FREEDOM DAY: CELEBRATING OUR SHARED PURSUIT OF A UNITED, DEMOCRATIC,
NONRACIAL, NONSEXIST SOUTH AFRICA
(Subject for Discussion)
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Chairperson, hon
Ministers and all protocol observed, today is an important day as we
debate Freedom Day under the theme: Celebrating our shared pursuit
of a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa.
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Freedom Day is a reminder of the struggle for a free and just South
Africa, which culminated in the first democratic elections, on 27
April 1994. On this day, South Africans of all races embarked on a
new and common project to build their country, guided by the values
enshrined in the interim Constitution and later in the Constitution
adopted in 1996.
As we are preparing to commemorate Freedom Day next week on Tuesday,
27 April, firstly, we should not forget that Freedom Day marked the
start of a democratic process in which South Africans came together
to chart the way forward for their great country; secondly, we
should not forget that as public representatives we have the
responsibility to always remind South Africans about the importance
of Freedom Day and what it means for our country and, thirdly, we
should not forget that 16 years into our democracy, our country
boasts of the many inroads it has made towards transforming our
society.
As such, we must take pride in that, in line with our Constitution
and political objectives, we have, firstly, established a new
society that is based on democratic values, social justice and
fundamental human rights and secondly, laid a firm foundation for a
democratic and open society in which government is based on the will
of the people and where every citizen is equally protected by law.
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We have worked hard to improve the quality of life of millions of
South Africans, and have built and continue to build a united and
democratic South Africa that is able to take its rightful place in
the family of nations. This is evidenced by our hosting of the Fifa
World Cup, 40 days from now.
Freedom Day is a time for us to reflect on and celebrate the journey
that we travelled to achieve our freedom and democracy. As we
prepare to commemorate Freedom Day, we cannot help but remember all
those who personified the sacrifices of our people in the fight for
the realisation of our freedom.
Amongst the many recognised and unsung heroes and heroines, we
recall the then president-general of the African National Congress,
a Nobel Peace Laureate and a leader renowned for his immense
contribution to the fight for nonracialism, and that is Nkosi Albert
Luthuli. He defined the march to freedom, where there was no
oppression of one race by another, as the most exacting and colossal
one.
At the height of apartheid, he reminded peace-loving South Africans
that the success of the struggle would only come if we face the
threat of racism with indomitable courage and tenacity of purpose.
We must build a formidable force of freedom lovers on the basis of a
broad freedom front.
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The colossal struggle for freedom that Nkosi Luthuli spoke about has
given our country countless possibilities. Examples abound in the
development of our communities, economic front and promotion of
African solidarity and development.
The living conditions of many or previously marginalised South
Africans have improved significantly, and democracy has become a
defining picture of our political life. Government is working hard
in ensuring access to free quality education for all. Quality health
care services are being extended to benefit even the poorest of the
people and, as we speak, the task of creating decent work and
sustainable livelihoods for our people is one of the priorities of
government.
As a result, in 2010, South Africa still needs a formidable force of
freedom lovers, as Nkosi Luthuli said. The difference is that while
the task at hand is still a colossal one, it has since shifted to
improving the quality of our freedom.
In improving the quality of our freedom, we need, amongst other
things, to work hard at facilitating better relations amongst the
people of South Africa without regard to race, sex and language
differences.
As President Jacob Zuma said when he took office last year, we
cannot afford to be cynical about the changes that are facing our
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society. Rather, through our collective efforts, we must promote
social cohesion and help engender a sense of patriotism.
In this regard, we would like to see Freedom Day being celebrated by
young and old South Africans of all races and not just by the
previously marginalised section of our population.
As we are preparing to commemorate Freedom Day in our provinces,
next week, we must not forget to remind South Africans, young and
old, about the debilitating injustices of the past, the real
opportunities of today and the limitless possibilities of tomorrow.
Some of the people seated here will remember that there was a time
when all of us used to sing the song, We shall overcome. To others’
ears that was nonsense. But as the ANC, we’ve ensured that the
sacrifices of the young and old, for the freedom of our people, are
shared equally. And I say, never forget where you come from. Thank
you. [Applause.]
Mrs E C VAN LINGEN: Hon Chairperson, MECs, colleagues and guests,
many important freedoms are protected by our South African
Constitution. And our Constitution is the supreme law of the
Republic.
The Bill of Rights contains our rights and freedoms, as herein
protected, specifically referring to the freedom and security of the
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person; the freedom of religion, belief and opinion; the freedom of
expression; the freedom of association; the freedom of movement and
residence; and the freedom of trade, occupation and profession.
So, we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights to protect our
freedom in South Africa. It is a freedom which many of us believe we
have fought for; a freedom from racism and oppression; a freedom for
equality of education; a freedom to be an equal citizen of South
Africa and freedom of speech. I don’t want to hear you labelling me
a Nationalist because I never was one. [Laughter.]
To protect our Constitution and our rights, we have an independent
judicial system, which is vested in the courts, and I quote from the
Constitution:
The courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution
and the law, which they must apply impartially and without fear,
favour or prejudice.
We have had a serious number of violations against our freedom as
South African citizens and it is growing daily. It started with the
arms deal, and I quote Helen Zille:
The criminal justice system has been perverted as an instrument
for persecuting political opponents and protecting political
allies.
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This abuse of the system is continuing on a daily basis.
[Interjections.] Maybe I must look at you, hon Adams, so that you
can hear me nicely.
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe,
should be asked what his views are on the constitutional
prescriptions for his department where prosecutorial excellence,
independence and labour rights should be the order of the day. Why
are the functions of the Asset Forfeiture, Specialised Commercial
Crime and Priority Crimes Litigation Units fragmented and placed at
a provincial level?
Why is the institutional independence of the National Prosecuting
Authority, NPA, reduced by moving its administration to the
Department of Justice? Why is there such a concerted effort to
reconstruct the NPA? Why is there this continuous rush to purge
effective members in the justice system? Is it to protect the ruling
elite from prosecution?
Die Burger van vanoggend verwys op bladsy twee daarna dat die
Minister nie bewus was van die herstrukturering van die Nasionale
Vervolgingsgesag nie en dat hy nie deur adv Menzi Simelane in die
saak geken is nie. Ons wil graag glo dat hy iets hieromtrent gaan
doen. Ons maan egter dat, ten spyte van die feit dat dit vanjaar die
jaar van aksie is, ons weinig aksie tot dusver gesien het.
(Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
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[Page two of this morning’s Die Burger makes reference to the fact
that the Minister was not aware of the restructuring of the National
Prosecuting Authority, and that Adv Menzi Simelane did not consult
him in this regard. We would like to believe that he will do
something about this. However, despite the fact that this year is
the year of action, we would like to caution that we have seen very
little action as yet.]
Our Constitution, as the supreme law, states in section 165(3) and I
quote:
No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of
the courts.
It continues in subsection (4) and I quote:
Organs of state, through legislative and other measures, must
assist and protect the courts to ensure the independence,
impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness of the
courts.
But how is the Minister enforcing this through his leadership and
oversight role? Is he protecting the freedom of the South African
citizens and equality before the law?
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Our Constitution also rules that freedom of expression does not
include incitement of imminent violence or advocacy of hatred that
is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that
constitutes incitement to cause harm.
The fact that a court interdict has not silenced the ANC Youth
League’s leader and the fact that the ANC leadership cannot take
charge and responsibility to enforce discipline, to protect our
rights and freedom, is a clear indication that there is a severe
lack of leadership and accountability within the ANC.
Freedom in South Africa is threatened by the lack of political will
to enforce the supreme law, the independence of our judicial system
and its processes.
We are approaching a quagmire of a failed state, with tenderpreneurs
for self-enrichment of the elite of the ruling party, with
corruption and with cadre deployment, where the law and order of our
Constitution only applies to ordinary citizens and taxpayers. These
things threaten to violate our constitutional freedoms.
The DA will continue to protect our Constitution and the
independence of our judiciary. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr D B FELDMAN: Chairperson, hon MECs, hon members, “Celebrating our
shared pursuit of a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist
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South Africa” — frankly speaking, there is no reason why we are not
united.
Fifty thousand years ago human beings left Africa to populate the
world. The great Ice Age had wiped out life everywhere else. The
remnant of 5 000 or so people who helped to save humankind lived in
Africa. That is why every human being today carries a gene of an
African mother.
Over the past few centuries people seem to have forgotten this. Our
world, therefore, saw racial oppression of one race by another.
Today, Mr Obama is the President of the United States; today black
and white govern South Africa together. Even so, unfortunately, race
is deeply imbedded in the consciousness of many people; not only
white people, but black and brown as well.
The laager, however, is no longer a safe place in the world to live.
We therefore need to see the bigger picture. Climate change,
globalisation, and resource depletion put all of us in vulnerable
positions. We need one another like never before. The lesson of four
millennia of history is that we must live co-operatively.
Whatever we hope to achieve in international relationships will
depend on what we achieve in our national relationships. In recent
weeks, Ventersdorp brought to the surface what we had all hoped had
gone away. Clearly, our journey of the past 16 years left many
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people at the station from which we departed. This means that this
honourable House must, therefore, add active nation-building to its
agenda. Every city, town and village should engage in a programme of
bringing people together.
A common curriculum should inform the nature and manner of
discourse. We, in Cope, believe there is considerable goodwill to
work with, but very little common understanding. We also believe
that all leaders, whether adult or youth leaders, should sign a
charter based on our constitutional principles and values. Let this
House take the lead in this. Racist and sexist conduct in behaviour
offends against our constitutional principles.
We need to educate our people to appreciate our Constitution, which
is why we need to frame the question of democracy, unity,
nonracialism and nonsexism within our constitutional context. People
in the country, all of the people, must be encouraged to buy into
the Constitution, and encouraged to take ownership.
Cope believes that this House has a big role to play in furthering
an acceptance of the Constitution by all South Africans. This must
be done in the letter and in the spirit of the Constitution.
Ventersdorp is a wake-up call. We have a great solution and we must
make it work for us. Long live our Constitution. Thank you.
[Applause.]
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Mr S S MAZOSIWE: Chairperson, I’m privileged to take part in this
debate, which narrates the story of our nation and the resilience of
our people in triumphing over apartheid. This day remains an
outstanding hallmark of our people’s determination to fight for
their liberation, and is one of the most solemn chapters in the
history of our national liberation struggle.
This debate takes place in a month when our movement commemorates
the lives of some of its illustrious fallen sons and daughters,
whose lives remain so dear in the hearts of our people. In this
regard, I would like to pay special tribute to Comrades Oliver
Reginald Tambo, Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, Leslie Massina, Thembisile
Chris Hani, Violet Seboni, Dr Molefi Sefularo, and many more unsung
heroes and heroines of our movement who lost their lives in the
month of April.
We also pay tribute to many of our people who lost their lives as
they stood firm in their conviction and bold in their deeds, when
they confronted the might of armed apartheid forces. I am sure that
their spirits join us today in recognising the journey that our
nation has travelled under the leadership of the ANC.
Our freedom came at the highest price. We cannot forget the hundreds
of our people, including women and children, who died at the hands
of the police, inside and outside the country, as well as the
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victims of the apartheid state-sponsored violence that engulfed our
townships during the period of the state of emergency.
Again, I just want to contextualise this debate, and if I could be
allowed to take this opportunity to convey our condolences to the
family of Comrade Dr Molefi Sefularo, who recently passed away in a
tragic accident. Comrade Molefi Sefularo was one of the warriors of
the national democratic revolution and a patriot of the people of
South Africa.
We can confidently say that when the roll call is read on the parade
ground he will be among those present, and ready to work for the
ANC. May his soul rest in peace.
On 27 April South Africa will celebrate 16 years since the dawn of
democracy in our country. In the past 16 years, the lives of our
people have undergone a dramatic change, and for the better.
Umama obethetha apha, uMama wethu uMam’ uMemela uwucacisile lo mba.
Ngale mini ... [The lady who was speaking here, the hon Memela,
clarified this issue. On this day ...]
... I remember vividly that I was deployed by the ANC to monitor
voting stations in the Eastern Cape, in the Queenstown, Lady Frere,
Tarkastad, Whittlesea, and Sada areas. It was an historic day. We
were learning how to run elections for the first time as the ANC
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inside the country. I will not forget the days I was deployed in
that area.
The ANC-led government has made significant strides in addressing
the challenges facing our people. We have taken active steps to
ensure the protection and progressive realisation of their rights.
We have moved decisively to redress the social imbalances created by
apartheid. We have broadened access to basic services such as
housing, electricity, clean water and health care.
We are proud that about 19 million of our people now have access to
clean water and almost 11 million have been provided with
sanitation, with the number of households using the bucket system
reduced from more than 605 000 in 1994, to just under 113 000
currently.
We have built over three million RDP houses, providing shelter — a
roof over their heads — to almost 11 million families. We did not
build open toilets for our people, the majority of whom are women.
Our movement has taken bold steps to dismantle apartheid
settlements, and ensure that our people are given decent houses.
I heard Mr Carlisle talking about the human settlements that were
created by apartheid. I have been to the kind of human settlements
that were created by apartheid. I know what they are. In Fort
Beaufort, where I grew up, we had so many houses in the township,
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had more than 3 000 people living in them, and had about 10 toilets
provided for us by the apartheid government.
It was bad! It was a nightmare to live in that township. I grew up
in those conditions. I know what apartheid means. I know what
apartheid has done to our people, to our families in this country.
We will never forget how brutal that system was.
We have also made huge progress in the provision of basic health
care to our people, including the construction of clinics and
hospitals in the rural areas, most of which had no facilities before
the advent of democracy. We have seen an increased proportion of
households with proper sanitation facilities. Clearly, these are
signs that our nation is on a course to dismantle the pillars of
apartheid.
The ANC-led government has also been working very hard to address
the challenges of poverty in which many of our people live.
Currently, our nation has the most comprehensive social security
system in the world. More than 13 million people receive social
grants.
A few years ago, I visited an overseas country – I think it was
either Thailand or Bangladesh. When we were asked about what
government was doing to assist poor people, even in Africa, for that
matter, in terms of things like social security systems and the
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like, they were surprised and asked what we were talking about. So,
I’m saying that this country is one of the best in trying to make
sure that its people are taken care of.
We remain committed to sending a clear message to those who
criticise our caring government for continuing to seek more ways to
protect our people from the bondages of poverty. We want to say to
our people that we care, because we, the ANC, understand their
conditions better than those who benefited from the opulence of
systemic protection by the apartheid regime.
As the ANC, we’re aware that much more still needs to be done. We
are aware that some of our people are still battling with some of
the most inhuman conditions and face the harshest living conditions
of poverty and unemployment.
Our nation is faced with some of the challenges that we never
anticipated when we fought against apartheid. Our people are held to
ransom by those who continue to steal the resources for selfenrichment. Incidents of corruption in both the private and public
sectors in our country seem to have reached disproportionate levels
and have reinforced the view postulated by the great epic work of
the late Mazisi Kunene in his poem The Rise of Shaka, when he said:
Those who feast on the grounds of others often are forced into
gestures of friendship they do not desire.
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Let me say without any hesitation that the ANC is committed to
fighting corruption. We view corruption as a blatant violation of
the rights of our people and as an intolerable crime. Perhaps this
is where the problem lies in our country: When the ANC government is
open and sets up laws and systems to uproot corruption; when the ANC
government talks about corruption ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing
me to take part in this debate.
I was very interested in what hon Feldman had to say because,
strangely enough, that had come into my speech as well. I do think
it is important that we take note of that. It is easy to get up here
and make racial distinctions, you know: If you are white you were
apartheid, if you are black you were struggle.
It’s easy to make those distinctions, but it actually fails to take
account of the most extraordinary thing about ourselves and our
country. That is, very simply, as Mr Feldman said, that mankind came
into being in this country. We know now without doubt that the first
men and women, from whom every human being in the world is
descended, lived here in South Africa first, and, if we go back far
enough, then I will find that my ancestral mother is the same woman
as your ancestral mother.
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It is so important that we who live in the cradle of mankind should
accept that we are human beings, no different from one another.
It is also important that we recognise that here, in this, the
beloved country, long before anyone anywhere else was, was first the
family, was language, was culture, was fire, was technology, and
most importantly, was compassion, ubuntu.
We need to know how special we are. Whenever I am asked to welcome a
conference of people who have come from overseas to do whatever – to
talk about trains or transport or whatever it is they are going to
talk about – I always say to them: You have come home to Africa.
Because that is what it is: They have come back, after so many
years. And when they come – in hopefully their hundreds of thousands
in five or six weeks’ time – we should say: You have come home to
Africa.
In this Chamber, about 54 years ago – I was alive then, long before
most of the members were born ...
An HON MEMBER: How do you know these things?
Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): I know, because I was alive.
An HON MEMBER: Where were we?
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Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): Unborn, I’m afraid, but I’m sure that
you have made up for it ever since! [Laughter.]
There was a debate in this Chamber – it was then the old Senate –
and, on the decision of the Senate, the few coloureds who were on
the common voters’ roll were removed. That was the last straw ...
An HON MEMBER: And what did you do about it?
Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): What did I do? Well, let me tell the
hon member what I did. Before she was born, I was being interrogated
by the Special Branch – which was the predecessor of the Security
Police – because of my pursuit of a South Africa in which all South
Africans would be equal. Before you were born! [Applause.]
But, in this Chamber the decision was taken to remove the coloureds
from the roll after a previous decision had removed those few blacks
from the common voters’ roll. From there we rolled forward to
4,5 million forced removals over the next 36 years; to 12 million
imprisonments for pass offences; to 100 000 detentions without
trial; and to 25 000 violent deaths.
It is important that we, looking back to that black day in South
Africa’s history, recognise how we comport ourselves as
representatives of the public. It is very important.
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I would like to invite hon members from here to come to my
legislature. Come and visit us.
An HON MEMBER: Where is that?
Mr R CARLISLE (Western Cape): The Western Cape. I would like to
invite you, because I believe that freedom is the business and
responsibility of every citizen. Freedom and truth must transcend
collective loyalty and party affiliation.
The reason that I would like to invite you is that there is no
better example of this than the Western Cape provincial legislature,
where robust debate and ruthless oversight have made it one of the
most free and democratic assemblies on earth. [Applause.]
The DA and the ANC fight each other savagely in the House, but,
together, they fight corruption and maladministration even more
savagely.
When the ANC government of Premier Lynne Brown came to power, they
stopped a number of questionable and dubious projects, and they
shone bright lights into dark places where the rats lived. The cause
of South Africa was served in that legislature, because some brave
people put freedom and truth above party.
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Of course, I did not agree with everything that the ANC did; far
from it. But I publicly salute those of its members who put freedom
and truth first. They were true South Africans.
Finally, I want to come to those millions of South Africans ... and
hon Mazosiwe referred specifically to this and I want to follow up
on what he said. I want to come to those millions of South Africans
who are not free: Those who are enslaved by hunger, want,
unemployment, homelessness and despair, those that cannot be freed
... [Interjections.] ... and shouting at me won’t make them free.
There are many reasons for this enslavement. Much lies in our
oppressive and racist past; some in our current legislation. All
those things are difficult to change and much has been done. This,
every politician here, regardless of party, knows: Every rand stolen
in corruption, every rand wasted in mismanagement; every rand lost
in crooked contracts to tenderpreneurs; every rand lost – and they
amount to billions – was stolen form the poorest of the poor. Those
billions could have housed the homeless, educated the illiterate,
transported the poor, created employment and provided better health
care for the sick.
Let me conclude with this: There are two iron laws of freedom. The
first one is: If some of us are not free, none of us is free. Nobody
should know that better than South Africans. The second is: Where
corruption flourishes, freedom cannot flourish. [Applause.]
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Mr J J GUNDA: Chair, hon members, allow me to speak from the heart
today.
It is strange that today the DA wants to teach us a lesson while the
DA was part of the suffering and our people are still poor. It is
strange today that people want to talk about suffering while they
don’t know anything about what it is to suffer.
We, as black people in this country, have a beautiful heart. We have
forgiven these people for all the wrong things they have done to us,
and yet these very same people want to come and tell us how we
should live our lives.
They are the reason why some of our dads, moms and aunts never went
to school. They are the reason. They must stop this thing of trying
to tell black people that they are better than us. They are not
better than us. [Applause.]
Another thing I want to say today is: Freedom Day is not something
that I hear. I have paid with my life.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Gunda, just
hold on. May I please know why the gentleman is up?
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Agb Voorsitter, is dit reg dat ’n agb lid die
Huis mislei? Is dit parlementêr? [Tussenwerpsels.] [Hon Chair, is it
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correct for an hon member to mislead the House? Is it parliamentary?
[Interjections.]]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member! Hon
member, I would prefer not to answer that, because it is my right,
but you know the truth in your heart. Continue, hon Gunda.
Mr J J GUNDA: Chair, let me just put things straight today.
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Agb Voorsitter ... [Hon Chair ...]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon member,
please do me a favour. Could you sit down, because I am not going to
answer the question you are posing to me because, really, to me,
it’s not relevant. Continue, hon Gunda.
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: It’s not relevant?
Mr J J GUNDA: Madam Chair, thank you. Let me just say this one
thing. When our black brothers were on death row, I was part of the
Upington 26 ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hold on, hon
Gunda, Okay, can you say what you want to say, Mr Lees?
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Mr R A LEES: Madam Chair, with all due respect, and on a point of
order: A question was put to you by a member of this Council and, on
a point of order, you need to rule whether that question is correct
or incorrect. Please rule.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): If it is not
antiparliamentary, I’m not going to be drawn into it. It is not
deliberately against the policies. Continue, hon Gunda.
Mr J J GUNDA: Thank you, Chair. Let me say, I wonder how these
people will explain this: You go and visit your friends, standing up
for their rights, they were on death row, you were shunted around by
these people, telling you what to do. And yet, we paid. Some of our
mothers and brothers paid for this freedom. This freedom did not
come cheaply.
I don’t want these people to come and tell us that this freedom is
cheap. It is because of the goodness of our hearts that these people
are still here today. It is not because we are bad people.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Gunda, hold
on! Mr Faber, what is your problem? [Interjections.] Order, members!
Let me hear what the gentleman has to say.
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Mr W F FABER: Madam Chair, I would just like to ask Mr Gunda who
“these people” are that he is referring to, as we are a democratic
party. Thank you.
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Reference is
made to people who know the truth. Continue, hon Gunda.
Mr J J GUNDA: Thank you, Chair. Let me just say this to you, Chair.
I am sorry, you can just see the attitude in how they stand up and
speak because they don’t understand the word — what it is to suffer
and the word ubuntu. They don’t know it.
They have never even heard the song of what we did in the struggle
years. They do not know what it is to sleep and your mom and dad are
woken up at night, the door is kicked open, and a light is shone on
your mom and dad. They don’t know those things. They don’t know the
humiliation; they have just heard about it. They have never seen it
with their own eyes.
Today, all I want to say is: On Freedom Day, let us remember the
heroines and heroes of this country – the people who paid with their
blood. We are free today because we have said to ourselves — and I
agree with what you have said, Madam Chair — we shall overcome. We
have overcome and we will always succeed. We will never turn back.
[Applause.]
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Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, I just want to ask Mr Gunda what he had
for lunch today. [Laughter.]
Mr J J GUNDA: Chair, I just made up my mind that I would speak from
my heart on Freedom Day. I want to say this today in this House:
People must remember. The world, today, marvels at freedom in South
Africa because they thought we would have bloodshed. They did not
know that these black people in this country understand the term
“human being”. They were human beings all these years. That’s why we
could forgive the people who oppressed us. We have forgiven them; we
have even given them a million chances. Up till today, they reap the
benefits.
Let me just say this one thing. You see the companies. Look at BMW,
Audi, Mercedes Benz, etc ... They have grown. In apartheid years
they never sold so many cars. So all I want to say is that, on
Tuesday, let us remember the heroes and the heroines of this
country. Thank you. [Applause.]
Ms M P THEMBA: Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members ...
... modiri wa lebala, modirwa ga a lebale, [the doer forgets, but
the one to whom it is done never forgets,]
Umenzi uyakhohlwa kodwa umenziwa akakhohlwa. [The perpetrator
forgets but the victim does not forget].
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I will ask hon Mabija to tell me what it says in Tshivenda, but not
now. [Laughter.]
Chairperson, I am actually disturbed by hon Van Lingen on the theme,
“Celebrating our shared pursuit of a united, democratic, nonracial
and nonsexist South Africa”. Until when are you, as a woman, going
to be on the opposite side when we should be sitting down as South
Africans, especially as South African women, discussing issues?
Through which glasses are you looking at South Africa? If you could
also explain, but not today, when you say Minister Radebe is
removing effective people from the justice system, who is effective
and what criteria are you using or why do you come to that
conclusion that that person is effective?
Chairperson, this theme recognises our collective responsibility to
work together in all spheres of government, all sectors and
formations of our society towards a prosperous South Africa. It
recognises our collective duty to unite our people and work
tirelessly to dismantle all forms of discrimination and shy away
from our atrocious, divided past.
Chairperson, as we were preparing for the elections last year, while
travelling across the country, our people told us stories that are
crucial in assisting us to reflect on the path that our nation has
travelled since 1994. Many of them told stories of how their
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families are still ravaged by the brutalities of the past —
detentions without trial, disappearances of family members in
detention, the hanging of those opposed to apartheid, imprisonment
because of which many of them lost all opportunities for advancement
and how family members were forced into exile.
Many women told us stories of how their lives were affected by
apartheid. They have recounted stories of how their lives were
destroyed by forced removals and banishment through the Group Areas
Act and many other laws that made their lives unbearable.
After the elections, the ANC recognised the need to realign all
government policies to ensure that there are policies on women,
especially on those women in rural areas. We agreed on a strategic
approach that led to the creation of a new Ministry for women, which
was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring a co-ordinated
approach towards the advancement of women in our country.
We have made it clear that this Ministry has a duty to forcefully
implement its mandate and ensure that all government departments,
provinces and municipalities ensure the protection of women. We have
no time for petty talk and misguided political talk.
Chair, it is saddening that after 16 years on our democratic path,
we see some acts of racism, racist undertones and commentaries about
black people. We continue to read stories of women who are brutally
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murdered within the walls of their homes by those they regard ...
[Interjections.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Mr Carlisle, the
three of you there, can you please be respectful. Someone is still
busy talking to all of us and we want to take in the message. Please
be with us.
Ms M P THEMBA: Thank you, Deputy Chairperson. The current context of
the conditions of women in South Africa can be assessed in relation
to a number of factors and issues that have been raised by women in
the fight against apartheid.
Central to this is a list of demands that was drawn up by the
Transvaal Federation of South African Women for submission to the
convenors of the real Congress of the People for incorporation in
the Freedom Charter in 1955. It was titled, What Women Demand. It
listed several factors that have informed the ANC’s policy on gender
equality and the empowerment of women.
Chair, after a robust consultative process, the women of South
Africa made the following demands: the right to vote; four months’
maternity leave with full pay for working mothers; compulsory free
and universal education from primary school to university; proper
houses; indoor sanitation; a water supply and proper lighting in
their homes; the right to own property; and the list goes on.
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In the last 16 years of democracy in our country, the ANC has moved
with speed to redress the footprints of apartheid and patriarchal
relations. Our legislative and policy framework does not only
enforce gender equity, but also protects the advancement of women
with the aim of redressing past imbalances and discrimination.
A number of laws and policies were passed to empower women to
improve the quality of their lives and open up space for their
voices to be heard on matters concerning their lives. Most
importantly, opportunities for women to have access to basic
services and social, economic and political opportunities have been
actively promoted.
We are aware that in some provinces, like the DA-led Western Cape,
women are still regarded as unworthy of leadership positions and
that some public leaders have no shame in publicly stating that the
position of women is in the kitchen.
Chairperson, the private sector is one of the sectors where the
leadership of apartheid is still most prominent despite many
initiatives since 1994. Women’s position in the business sector
remains weak and many women are marginalised and subjected to sexist
tendencies.
Helang, nako e a tsamaya. [Time is running out.]
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We have seen the advancement of policies that are targeted at
women’s empowerment at the frontiers of poverty in our country. We
have seen an expanded focus on the improvement of the livelihood of
women and mothers through the system of social grants and other
poverty alleviation programmes.
We are proud that the participation of girls in education in South
Africa is one of the highest in the world. Our nation has reached
its commitment in implementing the Millennium Development Goals with
regard to expanding educational opportunities.
Chair, you will agree with us that eradicating gender inequality and
addressing factors such as respect, dignity and freedom should not
be resting on the shoulders of only the government and the ruling
party. It also remains the duty of the businesses, community, civil
society and every citizen in this country. That is why we say that
in working together we can do more. And surely we will achieve more
if we undertake a shared pursuit of a united, democratic, nonracial
and nonsexist South Africa.
Ke a leboga. Thank you.] [Applause.]]
Dr M B KHOZA (KwaZulu-Natal): Hon Deputy Chair, members of the
House, the previous speakers are prompting me to just comment on one
thing before I read through what I have prepared.
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You see, the process of decolonising the mind is not just the
responsibility of the formerly colonised. The former coloniser also
has to decolonise the mind. Therefore, even when we talk about
realising a nonracial South Africa, both sides have to work on it.
If we don’t work on it together, there is no way that we can realise
it.
We need to avoid the temptation of letting freedom be influenced by
our ideological convenience and probably trying to excuse the past.
Let us not make it a crime for black people to speak out about the
pain they went through. Even today, on the National Geographic and
Discovery Channel, on DStv, digital satellite television, we still
talk about what happened to the Jews during the Second World War.
An HON MEMBER: Exactly!
Dr M B KHOZA (KwaZulu-Natal): That’s because we don’t want a repeat
of the past. Therefore it is very important for us to remember that
we all have the responsibility to work at this.
In KwaZulu-Natal, we have learnt the hard way that freedom is not an
event, but a continuous process that has to be improved upon on an
ongoing basis. We have had to reflect on our past, and critique our
present. Through this process of self-assessment and dialogue we
have come to understand that it takes two to tango.
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Most of you would know that we had civil war in KwaZulu-Natal. We
had violence that was portrayed as black-on-black, and yet we know
that it was an apartheid-sponsored war. Therefore, we have learnt
that you have to sometimes swallow a bitter pill and allow the
process of reconciliation.
The hon member who spoke before me has made me remember that, by the
way, as women today we can claim that we are free, but it doesn’t
mean that the struggle is over. This is because freedom is a
continuous process, although freedom is the outcome of the struggle.
Both of these things are a continuous process.
We owe our rights as women to women like Mkabayi kaJama, a Zulu
matriarch, who played a critical oversight role on at least three
Zulu kings to protect her nation against the abuse of power. This
she did without any colonial influence.
When women speak about their rights, these are not rights that they
are borrowing from the colonisers or the missionaries; they were
also intellectuals in their own right. Ingcuce — the young maidens –
today speak of pro-choice and we think this pro-choice just came
now, but we had ingcice during the 1800s. There were young Zulu
maidens who revolted against King Shaka’s policy of forcing young
women to marry older men. [Interjections.]
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Those women died; yet we speak of pro-choice today. Let us remember
women like Charlotte Maxeke; she was a philosopher, a real
revolutionary, a visionary. Our history books are doing a disservice
to this woman who was the first African woman to receive a BSc
degree in 1905.
This woman spoke about African unity long before the founding of the
Organisation of African Unity. We talk of her only when reducing her
role to one of liberating women, but she was actually talking about
the liberation of the continent. She saw the importance of unity.
On this particular day I also want say we must not forget Pixley Ka
Seme. Today we are speaking as a nation because it was he who
actually challenged all the ethnic groups to say, ”Let’s come
together; we are not going to win this war if we fight as ethnic
groups, as tribes, but let us unite and build a democratic country”.
Today we stand here in this Parliament and all of us have been
exercising that right to speak freely. In 1964, that was unheard of.
Now you have just made a deep testimony. All of us have been
speaking freely since then. As South Africans, we also have to stop
underplaying the role that has been played by the ANC Women’s
League.
Women like Lilian Ngoyi, who was the first woman to serve on the
national executive committee, NEC, of the ANC – we sometimes think
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that things in the ANC have always been equal, and the reality of
the situation is that there are struggles within struggles – should
not be forgotten.
We also have to learn that national reconciliation does not just
come because you have allowed people to speak about the pain of the
past. For pain needs healing, and healing is a process. We have had
to learn from Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela that national
reconciliation cannot be founded on bitterness; neither can you
notice that freedom is on your doorstep if you think selfishly, for
only those who are selfless understand the true meaning of freedom.
I just want to close with this quote from R V Selope Thema, who had
this to say about Pixley Ka Seme:
After finishing his studies in America and England, this ambitious
young African thought of returning to South Africa, his
fatherland. The free life of the United States and Great Britain,
with its pleasures and happiness could not hold him. He realised
that the knowledge that he acquired was not only for his selfaggrandisement and enrichment, but also for the upliftment and the
emancipation of his downtrodden people.
Let us remember on this Freedom Day that we have to fight corruption
because it is a counterrevolutionary force. It is antichange and it
is taking us backwards. [Applause.]
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Mr T E CHAANE: Hon Chairperson, and hon members ...
I have had to separate myself from my dear wife and children ...
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Order! Just
wait. Hon Rantho, hon Mazosiwe, I call for order, please. Continue,
member.
Mr T E CHAANE: On 26 June 1961, at a London press conference, Nelson
Mandela had this to say:
I have had to separate myself from my dear wife and children, from
my mother and sisters, to live as an outlaw in my own land. I have
had to close my business, to abandon my profession and live in
poverty and misery, as many of my people are doing.
He pledged that —
I shall fight the government side by side with you, inch by inch,
mile by mile until victory is won ... I will not leave South
Africa, nor will I surrender ... The struggle is my life. I will
continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.
Indeed, this was a long walk to freedom, a journey well travelled.
It is an ideal he lived to achieve. This was a journey encouraged by
stories and tales of many victories, of many battles fought by our
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ancestors, Dingani, and Bambata, Squngati and Dalasile, Hintsa and
Makana, Sekhukhune and Moshoeshoe, who became the pride and glory of
all Africans for defending our fatherland.
It was a journey born out of love, passion, loyalty and dedication
to the emancipation of our people through fearless yet bitter
struggles led by our heroes and heroines like Albert Luthuli, Oliver
Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Joe Slovo, Steve Biko, Lilian
Ngoyi, Moses Kotane, Winnie Mandela and Chris Hani plus many more,
who laid down their lives to secure our freedom.
These were men and women of character who lost everything for our
freedom, and whose losses can never be measured or compared. Today I
stand here as a free son of the soil. Yes, I am indeed free, free
from the bondage of apartheid, from the chains of brutal oppression
by the then government of the few by the few, from laws of tyranny
that declared our people and forebears terrorists, killers and
slaves in the land of their forefathers, laws that made them
inferior because of the colour of their skin.
Those are the laws of
brutality that forced masses of our people out of the country, and
millions to their early graves.
As we celebrate our hard-won freedom it becomes critical to remind
each other never to cease remembering and retelling the story of our
struggle. Blade Nzimande was right when he said:
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How we go forward into our future is very much determined by how
we recall our past.
He was right when he further said that our 1994 democratic
breakthrough was the outcome of a protracted struggle over many
decades, if not centuries. It was the outcome of a hard-fought
victory for change in the balance of forces. Those who distort our
past hope to disarm and demobilise us in the present and we will
never allow that.
We celebrate this freedom, because it was fought for and won for us
not to abuse it but to build a better future and better life for
all. We celebrate because we have achieved more in just less than 15
years than any of our oppressors ever achieved during their 300-year
reign of terror.
We celebrate because of the many things that we have achieved. A lot
of speakers today have given statistics of things that we have
achieved. I am not going to repeat that. The facts will speak for
themselves.
As we celebrate, we are conscious of the challenges that our country
is still facing. We are confident and positive that with the plans
and leadership we have, victory is certain. Our pace might be slow,
but the truth is that the slow movement of a tiger is not a mistake,
but a calculated accuracy.
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A mother will never forget a child on her back. The ANC has not
forgotten its people. We are alive to the reality that the freedom
we are celebrating did not only bring about positive change, for
sooner than we had expected, the draconian forces of racial hatred
began to rise.
The demon of self-enrichment and greed is fast creeping in to
reverse our gains. We should all stand firm and fight all these
things with all we have. We must all unite against poverty, hunger,
disease, unemployment and crime.
In the true spirit and sense of reconciliation and ubuntu, I
challenge the critics of the ANC, in particular the DA and its white
supporters, and all those whose minds accepted the distortions of
our history to jump off their high horse and stop criticising the
very party that created the freedom platform they are today abusing.
I want to give you advice from Mahatma Gandhi, who once said:
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
I challenge you to be true and honest to the belief that we share a
common pursuit of a united, nonracial, democratic country. Stop
criticising and not offering alternatives. Remember the North
American Indian proverb that says, that before you criticise a man,
you must first walk a mile in his moccasins, hon Groenewald.
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I challenge all those who want to rob us of our rich history and
distort it by telling repeated lies about the cause of killings of
farmers — as if our townships and suburbs are immune from such
barbaric acts of criminals — to tell the nation the truth.
This truth is that as long as the DA continues to shout slogans
during elections like, “ANC gevaar!” [“ANC threat!], “Stop Zuma!”;
as long as Afrikaners continue to hold high the apartheid regime
flags and sing De la Rey; as long as white farmers continue to treat
our people badly, killing them and saying they mistook them for
baboons, pigs and guinea fowls; for as long as our people are killed
by being thrown into lions’ dens alive; as long as they are called
“kaffirs” and are subjected to abject poverty and misery; as long as
the lives of white farmers are seen as more valuable and important
than those of black farmworkers; as long as our courts allow a
situation where when a white person who has killed a black person
such a white person is declared mentally unstable, and blacks are
treated as the only people capable of being murderers; and as long
as blacks still live in appalling and hazardous conditions as we see
here in the Western Cape settlements, the struggle continues.
The people will ask questions, and stories will be told. The people
will feel at a particular point that they have been generous enough,
and that they have been provoked, they have been robbed and will
think that it is justifiable for them to fight back. That will not
help us in our peace and reconciliation mission.
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So, stop playing a blaming game, but play your part. Stop abusing
reconciliation and the generosity of black people and please play
your part because we deserve better. You are not fit and capable to
lecture us on what our people want, for yours is nothing but a
skewed and selfish political agenda.
During his treason trial Nelson Mandela said:
We of the ANC had always stood for a nonracial democracy, and we
shrank from any action which might drive the races further apart
than they already were.
But the hard facts are that for every one step that we move forward
to close the gap, the majority of our white people move three steps
away to widen the gap.
Despite all these things, Mandela taught us that the ANC, as the
mass political organisation, could not and would not undertake
violence because its members had joined in the express policy of
nonviolence.
ANC leaders have always and up to this age prevailed upon the people
to avoid violence and pursue peace through peaceful means. On the
contrary, the same white community and their political leaders are
failing to master this and at any slightest act of crime they
advocate war instead of peace.
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It is in a period like this that one would expect the DA and FF Plus
leaders to provide leadership instead of making a meal out of the
death of a farmer.
Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Deputy Chairperson, can I rise on a point of
order, just to say to Mr Chaane that the DA is a liberal democratic
party.
Mr T E CHAANE: Chris Hani’s assessment of the prevailing conditions
is as prophetic and relevant today as it was when he said:
We as the ANC-led liberation alliance have nothing to fear and
everything to gain from a climate of political tolerance. We do
not fear open contest and free debate with other organisations.
Open debate can only serve to uncover the bankruptcy of our
political opponents.
And today’s debate has demonstrated just that. On that note I want
to say to all these other parties, wake up and take the challenge. I
thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon members,
thank you very much for these deliberations. English speakers will
actually agree with me when I say that the fangs of the truth have
sharp edges.
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Let’s celebrate Freedom Day in a holistic manner. I can actually say
openly that I am very proud to be a black South African woman. If
the scars of the past history could be seen on our faces, many
people seated here would not even like to look at us.
I am thus pleading with everybody here to say that we, as the ANC,
are very proud of having walked that rough path with pride and being
able to accept the losses we experienced during the days of the
struggle.
Debate concluded.
The Council adjourned at 19:19.
________
ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces
The Speaker and the Chairperson
1.
Draft Bills submitted in terms of Joint Rule 159
(1)
Geoscience Amendment Bill, 2010, submitted by the Minister of Mineral Resources.
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Referred to the Portfolio Committee on Mining and the Select Committee on Economic
Development.
TABLINGS
National Assembly and National Council of Provinces
1.
The Minister of Science and Technology
(a)
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Science, Technology and
Innovation, tabled in terms of Section 231 (3) of the Constitution, 1996.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
National Council of Provinces
1.
REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND
TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS ON BUDGET VOTE 3: DEPARTMENT OF CO-OPERATIVE
GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS (CoGTA)
The Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, having considered Budget
Vote 3 of CoGTA, reports as follows:
1.
Introduction
22 APRIL 2010
1.2
Page: 191 of 199
On the 16th April 2010, the Committee met with the Department to be briefed on their mediumterm budget and strategic plans for the 2010/11 financial year. This was done as part of the
Committee’s role in conducting parliamentary oversight and ensuring executive accountability,
especially with regards to budget expenditure of the Department.
2.
Background
2.1
The Department’s officials that appeared before the Committee for the briefing on the budget
included Mr T Faba (Acting Director-General), Ms T Mketi (Deputy Director-General for
Monitoring and Evaluation) and other departmental officials. The main objective of the
meeting was to allow the Department to brief the Committee on its 2009/10 medium term
budget, priority projects per programme and how it intends to address the challenges
encountered with regards to realising its expanded mandate.
3.
Departmental Budget Vote
3.1
An apology was given for the absence of the Minister and the Deputy Minister due to their
regional and international engagements. Ms T Mketi presented the Departmental Budget Vote
and focused on the five key strategic priorities and deliverables of the Department. A
breakdown on the budget’s economic classification with respect to the departmental
programmes and public entities was also presented to the Committee (See table below).
Programmes
1. Administration
2010/11
188,131
2011/12
197,680
2012/13
205,088
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2. Policy, Research and Knowledge
Page: 192 of 199
50,076
51,383
53,081
43,570,837
50,076,543
56,850,590
4. National Disaster Management Centre
41,563
42,750
44,222
5. Traditional Affairs
70,863
80,793
85,292
43,921,470
50,449,149
57,238,273
Management Support
3. Governance and Intergovernmental
Relations
TOTAL
2010 MTEF Allocations as in the Estimate of National Expenditure (ENE).
3.2
The five departmental strategic priorities presented to the Committee included the
Department’s contribution to building the developmental state in national, provincial and local
government; strengthening accountability and clean government; accelerating service delivery
and supporting the vulnerable, improving the developmental capability of the Institution of
Traditional Leadership as well as fostering development partnerships, social cohesion and
community mobilization.
4.
Departmental Strategic Priorities
(A)
Priority 1: Contribution to building a developmental state in national, provincial and
local government
4.1
The main thrust of the above-mentioned strategic priority is on the implementation of Local
Government Turn-Around Strategy (LGTAS), legislative reforms and spatial planning. The
aim being to strengthen the capacity of municipalities by supporting them in the development
and implementation of municipal specific turn-around strategies.
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4.2
Page: 193 of 199
In terms of the implementation of LGTAS the Department aims to play a significant part in
building a democratic developmental state by strengthening intergovernmental planning and
co-ordination for the LGTAS. It will provide support to the provinces to improve performance
of municipalities in signing performance agreements and co-ordinating the review of Siyenza
Manje Programme. The Department also intends providing support to the municipalities on
disaster risk management and risk reduction, and co-ordinating and rolling-out the support on
the LGTAS.
4.3
In terms of legislative reforms, the Department informed the Committee that it will be
developing disciplinary code and procedures for section 57 managers; developing regulations
on human resource systems and procedures; developing green paper on co-operative
governance and reviewing councillors’ remunerations and ward committees institutional
arrangements.
4.4
Within the framework of development and spatial planning, the Department informed the
Committee that it will be developing differentiated approach to municipal financing and
planning support. The review on legislation on land use planning and management in planning
law will be conducted. During the financial year, the Department will also provide
geographical information system technical support to provinces and municipalities, and coordinate the finalization of national legislation on spatial and land use planning.
(B)
Priority 2: Strengthen accountability and clean government
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4.5
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The central emphasis of the above-mentioned strategic priority is oversight and accountability
and ethics management. The aim being to strengthen and build the administrative, institutional
and financial capabilities of municipalities in order to restore their institutional integrity.
4.6
In relation to oversight and accountability, the Department informed the Committee that it will
be reviewing municipal performance awards; improving governance and reduce red-tape in the
district family of municipalities; supporting provinces on implementation of municipal
performance regulations.
4.7
In relation to ethics management, the Department informed the Committee that it will be
developing ethics management in provincial CoGTA Departments and local government;
combating corruption and promoting integrity; fighting corruption and promoting good
financial management and supporting the review of anti-corruption legislation relating to local
government.
(C)
Priority 3: Accelerate service delivery and support vulnerable
4.8.
The main focus of the above-mentioned strategic priority is on capacity building, national
disaster management, access to basics services, and functionality of ward communities and
community work programme.
4.9.
In relation to capacity building, the Department stated that it be developing a framework for the
deployment of professionals and scares skills, supporting the implementation of HIV/AIDS
framework, and implementing the classification and national capacity building framework.
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Within the framework of disaster management, the Department indicated that it will be
conducting an assessment on disaster risk and vulnerability, reviewing fire services legislation,
supporting municipalities on disaster risk management, and implementing contingency plans in
provinces and all host cities.
4.10. In terms of access to basic services, the Department stated that it will be accelerating
households access to free basic energy, conducting audit on municipal infrastructure grant
reviewing the local government equitable share formula, as well as promoting and facilitating
municipal service partnership and developing standard national indigent register and ensuring
70% functional ward base cooperatives.
4.11. In relation to the functionality of ward communities and community work, the Department
indicated that it will be providing capacity building for ward committees, utilizing the
community works programme to support the establishment of co-operatives in each ward.
Furthermore, it intends ensuring the creation of 57 368 work opportunities through the
community work programme as well as strengthening the functionality of ward committees and
developing policy framework on community development programmes.
(D)
Priority 4: Improve developmental capacity of the Institution of Traditional Leadership
4.12. The main thrust on the above-mentioned strategic priority is on internal capacity and capability
of the Department of Traditional Affairs, research, policy and legislation development and
institutional support. The Department aims to do this by improving the vertical and horizontal
co-ordination and alignment, by reviewing the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act
(2005) and other related legislation, interventions, and oversight support programmes.
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4.13. Concerning the internal capacity and capability of the Department of Traditional Affairs, the
Department stated that it will ensure the development and approval of organizational structure,
provide accommodation, resources and new furniture, develop and implement communication
and marketing strategy to popularize the Institution of Traditional Leadership and Khoi-San
Leadership. Furthermore, it will also facilitate the signing of Memorandum of Agreement
between the Department and the Department of Traditional Affairs.
4.14. In relation to research, policy and legislation development, the Department stated that it will
develop regulations on the relationship between municipalities and traditional councils so as to
facilitate sustainable development and service delivery, facilitating development of policy and
legislation regarding initiation, Ukuthwala, traditional healing as part of indigenous knowledge
system and provision of remunerative benefits and tools of trade for traditional leadership and
traditional councils across provinces.
4.15. In terms of institutional support and co-ordination, the Department indicated that it will
develop and implement skills development framework and facilitate the launch of the SADC
Kgotla. Furthermore, it will ensure that 840 traditional leadership institutions are supported on
policies and legislation impacting on traditional leaders, and conduct skills audit for all levels
of Traditional Leadership.
(E)
Priority 5: Foster development partnerships, social cohesion and community mobilization
4.17
The main deliverables emphasised by the Department in support of the above–mentioned
strategic priority included the development of national support programme for associated
institutions; putting in place effective and efficient ministerial and media liaison system;
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provision of communication support to public participation activities; building developmental
partnerships with regional and international development institutions and conduct departmental
publicity programme on Siyenza Manje and Operation Clean Audit.
(F)
Priority 6: Strengthen the organisational capacity and capability of the department to
deliver its mandate
4.18. The main deliverables emphasised by the Department in support of the stated strategic priority
included the review of departmental strategic planning process, implementation of project
management approach, development and implementation of internal audit plan, providing and
enhancing legal and ICT support and developing a national support programme for all
associated institutions.
(G)
2010 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (METF) Allocations
4.19
The 2010 METF allocations focused on departmental programmes and public entities. The
Departmental programmes allocated in the 2010 METF included the Administration, Policy,
Research and Knowledge Management Support, Governance and Intergovernmental Relations,
National Disaster Management Centre and Traditional Affairs.
4.20
The Public Entities allocated in the 2010 METF allocation included South African Local
Government Association (SALGA), Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), South African
Cities Network, Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Rights of Cultural, Religious
and Linguistic Communities, Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes Claims and
National House of Traditional Leaders.
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5.
Committee Observations
5.1
The Committee is of the opinion that there are many stakeholders such as SALGA that can
contribute to achieving the Department’s strategic objectives. The Department should work
more closely with them both to transform them and tap into their knowledge, experience and
resources.
5.2
In moving forward, the Department should also lead and co-ordinate support initiative of
various institutions such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in order to
improve the impact of public resources. Having considered the Budget Vote 3 of the
Department as an accountability and oversight mechanism, the Committee has observed that
the Department 2010/11 budget was inline with its strategic priorities over the medium-term.
5.3
The Committee has further observed that the Department’s 2010/11 Performance Plan is
configured towards amending section 100 and 139 of the Constitution, including the processes
established by these sections. This was based on the Committee recommendations in the last
sitting of the NCOP in order to ensure that they find expression in the Department’s statutory
frameworks.
6.
Recommendations
6.1
In the interest of co-operative governance, the Committee recommends to the National Council
of Provinces as follows, that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional
Affairs should:
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6.1.1
Submit to the Committee the Departmental Funding Model on Ward Committees.
6.1.2
Forward the Committee with a comprehensive list of municipalities that have been
placed under section 139 of the Constitution.
6.1.3
Submit to the Committee a progress report on the White Paper on Co-operative
Governance.
6.1.4
Submit to the Committee the Departmental 5-year National Strategic Agenda.
6.1.5
Submit to the Committee the Departmental Framework and Guidelines on Disaster
Management Strategy.
6.1.6
Table to the National Council of Provinces the departmental Local Government
Turn-Around Strategy.
6.1.7
Facilitate a workshop with the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and
Traditional Affairs on the Department’s Local Government Turn-Around Strategy
during the Third-Term of 2010 parliamentary session.
6.1.8
Table quarterly reports to the National Council of Provinces on the implementation
of the Department’s strategic policy priority areas, as well as challenges
encountered.
6.2
The Committee recommends that the National Council of Provinces should approve Budget
Vote 3 of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Report to be considered.