Debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
Honourable Speaker
Honourable members of the house
The African National Congress (ANC) indeed has a good story to tell, for only ANC knows and understands where this country is coming from and hence where it is going to.
As I listened to opposition parties yesterday, trying their best to dismiss the assertion that we do have a good story to tell, it dawned on me that many of them actually believe what they were saying because they cannot understand the story of South Africa. They have no way of understanding it for they never lived through it with the exception of Mr Themba Godi from the APC who had a story to tell. As for the rest when they attempt to tell any story, they actually tell the story of the ANC – but with as much distortion as they can master. They have no story of their own to tell.
Yesterday, they were tripping over each other to associate with the story of ANC, especially through it luminaries – John Langalibalile Dube, Mapogo Makgato, Rev. Mahabane, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Chris Hani.
But to justify to the population why they are fighting the ANC, they try to disaggregate those leaders from the ANC. Minister Pandor put it in more clearer terms yesterday – that is the strategy imperialist forces used all over Africa to define African Leadership on their own terms, to decide on their own terms which leader to install and glorify and which one to discard and discredit. In this manner African populations were deprived an opportunity to decide on their own leaders.
If populations are resilient, a coup or as Minister Pandor said yesterday, an assassination follows:
This strategy was implemented with alarming brutality to keep Africa under subjugation of colonial masters, even after liberation. Today this strategy is being deployed in our country by the opposition by repeatedly trying to characterise ANC as a different organisation from other one launched in 1912.
Yet, the ANC has never in its whole 102 years of existence, been confused of who its leader or President is. We know our Presidents and we spend the whole of 2012, the year we reached 100 years of age, celebrating them publicly – all of them. John Langalibalile Dube, Mapogo Makgatho, Rev Z. Mahabane, JosiasGumede, Pixley Ka Isaka-Seme, Dr A Xuma, Dr J. S. Moroka, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.
No confusion at all. We celebrate all of them without on exception!! We are very proud of our past and hence confident of our future!
We never had to go to court to decide who our President is. We never had to dodge calling conferences to avoid elections and hence having Presidents for life. We never had to intimidate anybody not to exercise their democratic right in choosing a new leader.
More than anything else, we never had to look for a leader from another party or from a rival organisation. We have always have leader and we are very proud of them. Non of our leaders was decided upon in private boardroom in Israel – with an attempt to impose them to an unsuspecting population. All our leaders were elected in open democratic conferences.
When the DA tries to tell their story, they start at the very end never from the beginning for they seem not to remember where they come from or who they are.
How does the DA explain the fact that they start their story with one Helen and end with the other Helen. This last Helen who is not even sure whether she can lead. Yes, they start with Helen Suzman and end with Helen Zille who actually doubts herself and had to go out to hire a President!!
Can you believe it – Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, Zac de Beer, Collin Eglin etc. etc – all buried and forgotten. Poor Tony Leon is still alive but even he has been buried and forgotten – never to be mentioned.
If you are embarrassed about your own past, why on earth should the population trust you with their future? If you try so hard to silently reject ordeny the existence of your own, what would you do to the poor population it they entrust you with their future.
Honourable Speaker, usually, as it has happened in this world many time, people do get confused about who their real father is. There may be several legitimate reasons for this.
But to actually got confused who your mother is, while staying with her in one house and go out and look for another woman and try to make her your mother. It is a first even in this harsh world of reality it has never happened. It occurs only in a dream world of insanity.
Ka sepedi ke bohlola. DA ga ya hlolela Afrika Borwa Feela – ehloletse lefase ka moka gomme lefase le sa itshwere dihlaya kamakalo le tlabego e kgolo.
Yes Mr President, we do have a good story to tell. Those who have no stories to tell, who have never experienced the brutality of Bantu Education together with those who have some experience of it but conveniently forgot it just to spite the ANC, are now glorifying Bantu Education as having been superior to the present Education system.
I usually ask myself – which Bantu Education are they talking about? The one introduced by Verwoerd sixty years ago? Clearly there were too many South Africans under Apartheid. The reason that I know and believe we have a good story to tell is because the Bantu Education that existed in the South Africa I lived in can never be characterised as better than any system.
I have heard opposition members and some commentators – even if some of them may be as Bantu as I use described – it doesn’t matter. Their version of Bantu Education is something that is news to many of us. Who lived through it.
If you attended school under a tree sitting on a stone for four years in succession as it happened to me, then you will know a good story when you see a school with classrooms and desks – not to mention laboratories and libraries.
I was the first MEC for Education in Limpopo from the year of democracy. Limpopo was the hardest – I repeat, the hardest hit by Bantu Education because it is 97% black and hence has 97% experience of Bantu Education.
Of the 19 desperate departments of Education, Limpopo had 7 of them. The biggest of them all – former Lebowa, their matric results in 1993 was 23% - never published but only known by those who lived it – not the ones who read about our history in newspapers.
Honourable Speaker by 1994 the learners in Limpopo – yes members of the human race like you, who where repeating matric for five, six and even seven years. It was unbelievable – some were even older than their teachers. They were many Honourable Speaker – we had to start by opening special schools for them to shepherd them through the Education system to salvage their future. Those special schools were called Finishing schools. We had to hire special teachers to rescue them by guiding them through matric – otherwise they were doomed.
Many of them did escape the inferno called Bantu Education by passing through those finishing schools. Hence when we see improving matric results where nobody has the indecency to repeat seven times – we then know it is a good story to tell.
One of you in the opposition, when Minister Nzimande pointed to the improve in matric maths, you shouted Viva Zimbabwean teachers you laughed hilariously. Yes you laughed because you think it is a funny joke. To use it is a reality – not a silly joke. I am the one who started hiring Zimbabwean teachers in to teach mathematics in Limpopo.
Yes indeed – not as a joke but as harsh reality. Zimbabwe, like any other African country formally colonised, never had any Bantu Education. Yes there was no Bantu Education in this continent except in South Africa. So, there was no killer poison for teachers in those countries and hence they could produce maths teachers.
The only liberation movement in the whole Africa who had to be faced with the futility of Bantu Education is the ANC – not ZANU PF or SWAPO. SWAPO or Felimo or any other but the ANC which detractors are bashing today – for having had Bantu Education.
Honourable Speaker, after matric, I couldn’t immediately go for University – there was no NESFAS. I had to teach for one year as a private teacher – with matric maths, I was the only maths teacher.
When I left after one year, the teacher who taught maths there in matric, never had matric maths himself – actually for three successful years, we sat to write the same paper with the very teacher he was teaching and for three successive years. He himself failed. Is there anything to ever mention about those poor learners?
Hence, when we see one qualified maths teacher in matric, we know there is a good story to tell.
Honourable Speaker, when the President of our country stand up in Parliament and declare that we shall do everything in our power to improve mathematics in our schools – we know there is a good story to tell.
It is unlike the story 60 years ago where a Prime Minister stood up in this Parliament and said “there is no need to teach a native child science and mathematics – for the government won’t allow him to use it – for the government won’t allow the native to perform work above a certain form of manual labour.
Hence Honourable Speaker when our President pronounce differently, we do have a good story to tell.
Honourable Speaker, apart from the good story to tell, South Africa also has a plan. South Africa, for the first time in its history has a plan that has been embraced by all – the National Development Plan (NDP).
It is surprising that the opposition in this debate are wishing the NDP all the bad luck!! They wish death unto the NDP. They vow that they know it will never happen in their life time.
Honourable Speaker, we in the ANC have always believed in the future of South Africa – ever since our inception. We have never been sceptical about the prospects of our country. Our strong believe in our country and our strong patriotism will never allow the ANC not to believe in South Africa.
One of the things the NDP implores us to do, is to reduce the heavy burden of disease in South Africa is experiencing. In the opposition, you are very irritated that the President celebrates the achievements we made in the area of HIV/AIDS. South Africans will take time to forget the heavy burden of disease upon us inflicted by the scourge of HIV/AIDS. It has led to untold suffering and death, high maternal and child mortality as well as an overall lowering of life expectancy. Yes it is true the ANC never erases history that may be inconvenient. We are the first acknowledged to agree that our approach HIV/AIDS in the earlier years, left much to be desired. It is true, we started wrongly. But as it is the nature of ANC – we have a very strong capacity to correct ourselves. We decided to correct the wrongs, we took the bull by the horns, especially since 2009, the year you in the opposition claims the country started deteriorating under President Zuma.
This is the year in which South Africa turned the corner. Hence we proudly have a good story to tell. Yes, we are regarded by the United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) as a model country in the management of HIV/AIDS.
We are running the biggest treatment programme in the entire world, and you expect the President not to mention that as an achievement. Death is no longer an everyday experience in South Africa from a disease that used to be responsible for 1000 (thousand) deaths per day, a disease that was responsible for 49% of maternal mortality and 35% of under five mortality.
This is a disease that has once caused the business of funeral homes to be the most lucrative business in many parts of our country, It is a disease that dangerously lowered overall life expectancy in our country.
South Africa turned the corner – yes in 2009 and you don’t want the President to say that it is a good story to tell.
This country will never be the same again due changes brought by the ANC. However, we are the first to agree, as is the nature of ANC, that we still have a long way to go in reducing the burden of ill health in our country.
In the same way we did with HIV/AIDS, so we shall do with many other diseases. Prevention of diseases and promotion of health shall be the hallmark of our strategy.
Honourable Speaker, we are happy to announce that we are ready to tackle the second biggest killer of women in our country after breast cancer – i.e. cancer of the cervix of the womb.
It is a terrible disease that affect 6000 women annually end up killing 3500 of them on an annual basis. Unfortunately 80% of them are African women. More women who are HIV positive are five times more likely to get this cancer. It is propagated by a virus called the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
Honourable Speaker, Human Papilloma Virus has a vaccine. It is called the HPV vaccine. The World Health Organisation advices us to vaccine sexually naive young girls.
I am happy to announce that we are ready to vaccinate young girls against this disease from March this year. We shall vaccinate all the grade 4 learners in public schools. This will then happen every subsequent year in our schools – it will be a feature of any grade four class from this year and forever.
Honourable Speaker, we also will deal with the issue of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. On the 27th of this month i.e. next week, we will be launching one of the biggest family planning programme South Africa has ever seen.
We are launching this programme in a clinic in Ekurhuleni district in Gauteng. Ordinarily methods of contraceptive used to consist of the daily pill, an injection every 3 months, or an intra uterine device called the loop.
This time we are introducing a totally new tool. It is called the subdermalimplant. It is a very tiny device 4 cm long and the size of a lead of a pencil in diameter. We will implant this tiny device subdermally i.e. just under the skin on the upper inner arm – and protection against pregnant shall be guaranteed for three years. This device will be renewed every 3 years or taken out anytime a pregnancy is desired.
This device costs less than R1 700 if you go to your private doctor to install it. We shall give it free to all woman regardless of their socio-economic status.
It will be available in all public hospitals by 27 February 2014 and will reach all public clinics by the middle of the year.
Honourable Speaker, we shall continue to tell the good story without any fear of contradiction.
Enquiries:
Joe Maila
Ministry of Health: Spokesperson
Cell: 082 887 3581
