Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Max Sisulu
The President of the Republic, Mr Jacob Zuma
Honourable members
Distinguished guests, friends
Molweni!
I am honoured to share this platform with the President of the Republic and the two Ministers in The Presidency on the occasion of The Presidency’s budget vote presentation.
In 19 days from today, South Africa will mark the centenary of the Union of South Africa which came into being in 1910. As you all know, this was the creation of the South African state as we know it today and the legalised exclusion of the majority of our people from its body politic.
The then four provinces came together to form the Union of South Africa. For this they each received a “crown”: Pretoria, in the Transvaal, became the administrative capital.
The Orange Free State was crowned with the seat of the Judiciary in Bloemfontein, whilst the Cape got Parliament and Natal was crowned with the headquarters of the railway.
In 1994, nine provinces were conceived out of negotiations and consensus mainly to forge a non-sexist, non-racial and democratic Republic that belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity as stated in the motto of our coat of arms expressed in /Xam, a language of the Khoisan people.
This fact of history, having influenced the political trajectory of this country for over 100 years, is our common heritage, and therefore must be observed and discussed in this Parliament, at centres of learning, churches, on the platteland, mass media, train stations, in the branches of all political parties and so on.
As Milan Kundera said, “the struggle of memory is a struggle against forgetting.”
In the same vein, we must also remember the fact that this year marks 150 years since the arrival of Indian indentured labourers to our shores. In this regard, I urge all of us to celebrate their contribution to culture, commerce and many other aspects of the socio-political life of this country.
Honourable members,
That today we speak of building an inclusive society is a direct response to the conditions precipitated by the South Africa Act 100 years ago.
The rights and responsibilities that emanate from our Constitution have made us appreciate much more what unites us as a nation rather than what divided us in the past.
As we strive to fulfil a common vision for the creation of a prosperous South Africa, we do so guided by the strategic objectives of improving the education system, eradicating poverty, creating decent work and speeding up inclusive economic growth.
A value framework in which we mobilise the nation towards this vision is based on the pursuit of social equity, justice and fairness and is results driven. Of course, this value framework is at the heart of our mandate to address the legacy of discrimination and dispossession.
Our government’s programme of action requires from all of us that we work together through an integrated approach to address marginalisation and underdevelopment. Our core business is to restore hope and dignity in the lives of all South Africans by delivering effective, consistent and reliable services to the people.
It is incumbent upon all of us, as public representatives, to be at the service of the people. President Jacob Zuma has challenged us not only to understand what the needs of the people are but also to be an administration that knows where people live, what their concerns are and to involve them in our efforts to improve their living conditions.
This will enable us to create a better life for all and to promote nation-building and social cohesion through partnerships aimed at achieving a more caring society.
These principles are a milestone in the long journey we have travelled since the establishment of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910.
Honourable members,
Before I get into the specific details of the work of the office of the deputy president, allow me to add weight to a fundamental point that the president raised when he addressed the nation on Freedom Day and again here today.
This concerns the seminal question: what are we about as a nation, especially as we celebrate 16 years of freedom this year?
I believe our immediate obligation is to honour the mandate given to us by the people of this country. We should do this by, among others, always upholding the Constitution, respecting one another, protecting our national symbols and celebrating our national days as one people bound together by a common history and a shared destiny.
As a basis for nation-building, the common ownership of our history includes acknowledging, that irrespective of where on the political spectrum people were prior to 1994, they all belong to this country, and therefore have a responsibility to build a prosperous South Africa.
I wish to reiterate that the aspirations of our people must never be undermined by any interest group based on the subjectivity of race, religion, class, gender or ideology.
This democracy we enjoy today came at a price; including the death of thousands who relinquished their right to participate in order for us to live in a free country.
As living delegates of the departed, we must remain steadfast in our endeavour to improve the socio-economic conditions of our people.
In fact, the five national priorities informing the programme of action of this administration give practical expression to these principles through the following:
- Improving education
- Improving healthcare
- Creating decent work
- Fighting crime and corruption
- Rural development and land reform.
Mr President,
You have consistently stated that working together with social partners; the state can better facilitate a common programme towards the achievement of these priorities through considered planning, performance monitoring and evaluation, better coordination and intensified oversight.
My colleagues, Ministers Collins Chabane and Trevor Manuel, will elaborate on these.
Honourable members,
The function of government and The Presidency in particular, is clearly articulated as building a democratic developmental state through defined interventions.
In this regard, allow me to recount some of the progress we have made as well as the challenges encountered in the first year of this administration.
As Honourable members will recall, when we presented our budget vote in June 2009, we committed ourselves to deepen our coordination and oversight efforts to ensure the successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup which is now only days away.
We committed ourselves to speed up all infrastructure aspects of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We gave an undertaking to help host cities arrest budget overruns. We undertook to help unblock bottlenecks undermining stadium completion in cities like Mbombela. We also mentioned the significance of profiling legacy projects.
I am pleased to inform this House that we have gone beyond making good on our commitments. The stadiums are ready. Electricity and telecommunications networks are in place. Expanded airports are open for business.
Immigration systems are ready for the inflow of foreign visitors. Systems to detect and treat visitors with contagious infections like H1N1 are operational. Highways, byways, ulterior and access roads are ready and some nearing completion.
Disaster management, border control, crowd control, crime prevention, air, marine and intelligence security services are mobilised.
Operational plans for fan parks and public viewing areas are in place. Almost every team has confirmed a base camp.
We were also successful in assisting the Northern Cape, as the only non-hosting province, to secure funds to upgrade their facilities. We are pleased that these facilities have been selected by Uruguay as their base camp.
As chairperson of the 2010 Inter-Ministerial Committee, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Finance departments who have worked tirelessly to address host city coordination and budget overrun challenges.
May I also recognise the efforts of all ministers, deputy ministers and senior managers who have ensured that we meet our guarantees on time.
Even in the limited period remaining, we are still hopeful that the share of small enterprises will rise as would our confidence in our national team.
Indeed, of the economic and social legacy projects I have visited in Soweto, Rustenburg, eThekwini, Mbombela and even in the dorpie of Gansbaai in the southern Cape all confirm that this 2010 FIFA World Cup will have long lasting spin-offs for our communities.
Who can deny the excitement of South Africans who are already celebrating this extravaganza through dance, song, arts, apparel and various other artefacts on display at street corners, shops and everywhere else in our communities?
I am happy that Ministers Stofile and Xingwana will soon give diski dance tutorials to all Members of Parliament!
Honourable members,
On this occasion last year, we committed ourselves to a number of efforts to improve our performance in the management of HIV and AIDS.
This included strengthening a partnership between government, business, organised labour and civil society. Since then, great effort has been expended to strengthen the South African National AIDS Council, or South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) the multi-sectoral structure responsible for policy advice, coordination and management of our national response to HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis (TB).
SANAC now has a permanent secretariat with full-time capacity.
On our commitment to conduct a mid-term review on progress made in achieving the targets of our 2007 to 2011 HIV and AIDS National Strategic Plan (NSP), I am pleased to inform this House that the results of this review will be released next week.
This review provides an independent assessment of how the country has performed at the local, provincial and national levels across the four NSP key priority areas.
Furthermore, as a statement of our commitment, the Minister of Finance announced an additional R5.4 billion to improve the effectiveness of our treatment programmes. Already, the public health system provides antiretroviral treatment to a globally unprecedented 1 million people.
I am convinced that through these financial commitments we will double this number over the next three years. This will go a long way in getting the country being able to meet the NSP target of providing treatment, care and support to 80 percent of those people in need.
To meet the challenge of supporting non-governmental organisations and of improving the response capacity of the Department of Health, South Africa successfully applied for funding from Round 9 of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.
The signing ceremony for this funding amounting to approximately $100 million over five years will take place later this week.
The second target of the NSP is to halve the rate of new infections and it is here that SANAC will concentrate the bulk of its efforts.
The national HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign launched by President Zuma last month has since been replicated in most provinces by the Premiers, MECs, Mayors and social partners. It is through this kind of partnership, commitment and leadership in action that we can stem the tide of new infections.
Through this campaign, government is also assessing the strength of the public health infrastructure which is crucial as we move towards the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Honourable Speaker, I wish to pause for a moment to thank President Jacob Zuma, Premiers and all leaders of SANAC sectors for the leadership and support they have given to the South African National AIDS Council. They have made the task of the Chair of SANAC so much easier! I also wish to acknowledge the support we have received from the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation; led by former Presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Joaquim Chissano and Festus Mogae, Justice Edwin Cameron and other eminent personalities from our continent.
These leaders have twice visited our country to witness the strides we are making and to lend words of encouragement. Furthermore, we are inspired by their support and avail ourselves to share best practices with our brothers and sisters on the continent.
A special tribute also goes to all traditional leaders in South Africa who are working with their communities to build an HIV-free generation. We are encouraged by His Majesty King Zwelithini’s partnership with the government of KwaZulu-Natal to roll out the biggest medical male circumcision project in our history.
The message to society as a whole must however remain clear: while circumcision significantly reduces the chances of infection by 50 to 60 percent, it does not completely protect males from infection or infecting others.
The circumcision drive does not replace the core messages of “abstain”, “be faithful” and “condomise”.
Honourable Speaker,
The Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) is a campaign driven by a section 21 entity that has successfully mobilised civic organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations and activists.
Whilst undergoing a review by the Arts and Culture department, MRM continues to implement the Charter of Positive Values and a range of other community-based campaigns aimed at promoting solidarity, respect for public property and more importantly, the strengthening of the family as a basic unit of production of social values.
What we must recognise Honourable members, is that moral regeneration and social cohesion campaigns in general stand or fall on the shoulders of all members of society.
Such an understanding is the reason behind the slogan, that working together with all social partners, we can do more!
Honourable members,
Another initiative that we coordinate is the National Stakeholder Advisory Council on Energy (NSACE). This is a product of collaboration with social partners within the country, especially coordinated at National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC).
The council is supported by an Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by the Public Enterprises Minister, as well as a technical response team led by senior managers from the Departments of Energy, Public Enterprises, Economic Development and The Presidency.
It was established in order to deal with the electricity supply challenges. Its input has contributed towards the stabilisation of the electricity situation in the country. The Department of Energy is developing a long-term Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2). Items under consideration include:
- Protecting the poor from higher electricity prices
- Ensuring that there is sufficient generation capacity to meet demand
- Entry of Independent Power Producers
- The implementation of demand side management and energy efficiency measures.
We are a government that invites inputs and advice from the broadest cross-section of the South African population. We draw on the skills, knowledge and talents available in the country and thus this Council is one of the bodies that help government sharpen its interventions.
Honourable Speaker,
Poverty eradication is uppermost on government’s programme for promoting social justice.
We note that the extent of poverty in this country is still profoundly felt in the rural areas and informal settlements in all provinces.
Our government is committed to pushing back the frontiers of poverty in order to attain the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2014.
It is encouraging to recognise that working with social partners at NEDLAC, we are progressing towards finalising an anti-poverty strategy which should guide our comprehensive response to this stubborn problem.
We have agreed with labour, business and civil groups that the strategy should be ready for adoption at the July Cabinet Lekgotla.
To this extent, there is already general agreement on the pillars of the anti-poverty strategy built upon the five government priorities.
Moreover, we are encouraged that all NEDLAC sectors agree that education and skills development are the most effective tools in the arsenal of poverty reduction.
We affirm too that accelerating access to basic social services is a vital short-term poverty alleviation measure with medium to long-term effects.
Such are the objectives of the War on Poverty campaign that has benefitted communities in Jacobsdal, Lubala, Ga-Kgatla, uMsinga, Taung, Kagiso and Sikwahlane.
The War on Poverty Campaign sought among other things, to build a repository of information on the immediate needs of poor households living in the most deprived wards of our country. This enabled national, provincial and local government departments to intervene in a focused and coordinated manner.
Using this approach, access to basic services has improved. More so, households were assisted to identify change agents. These are individuals with the greatest potential to lift the household out of poverty.
Honourable members,
In the course of the campaign, we also noted a number of limitations. These include the slow pace at which we respond to complaints and challenges, coordination of interventions, poor administration and absence of leadership. In some instances people still do not know where to access services.
Hence the role of community development workers is very important as they are located in the midst of communities. They act as a point of reference for those most deprived or in need of government intervention.
In this regard, it is important that the individuals selected must always be committed persons of good standing in the community so that they have the credibility and legitimacy to escalate community issues with the relevant authorities. In this house today, we have two such exemplary community development workers. May I please request the house to acknowledge the presence of Ms Khuselwa Dlungwane from the Eastern Cape and Ms Siena Cloete from the Free State.
Honourable Speaker,
One other key area in the work of The Presidency is to provide leadership in the implementation of the Human Resource Development Strategy of South Africa (HRDSA).
This strategy was canvassed widely amongst practitioners and stakeholders and has been welcomed as a critical mechanism to address our skills shortages.
The HRD Strategy will be managed in the Department of Higher Education and Training which is currently revising it and the strategy will be ready for publication by August this year.
Central to the realisation of the goals of the HRDSA are the alignment of strategies that are subordinate to it. One of these is the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) which directs the spending of the one percent payroll levy which employers pay.
The HRD Strategy calls for the establishment of the Human Resource Development Council (HRD Council) chaired by the Deputy President.
We launched this HRD Council in March this year. This advisory body comprise of representatives from all social partners, research agencies, education and training bodies as well as experts in the field of human capital development.
The HRD Council’s Secretariat is being established in the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Honourable Speaker,
The position of Leader of Government Business (LoGB) is provided for in the Constitution and in the rules of Parliament. Effectively, our purpose is coordination and harmonisation of the interaction between the Executive and the Legislature.
There is unfortunately a tendency to use this office largely as a channel for complaints.
I have also received numerous requests for “government business opportunities” from members of the public who genuinely misunderstand the meaning of Leader of Government Business.
Honourable members,
I wish to reiterate that Parliamentary oversight as provided for in the Constitution is crucial and should be rigorously observed.
I am aware that as there are new Members of Parliament and new Ministers, challenges have arisen that are perceived to be affecting the relationship between Parliament and the Executive.
Let me reiterate that these two arms of the state are enjoined by the Constitution to work cooperatively although they have different mandates.
The Legislature is obligated to oversee implementation by the Executive which is responsible for implementing government programmes and therefore should be accorded time and space to do so.
For that reason, there should be no uncertainty regarding these distinct yet complementary functions.
Honourable members,
One instrument that Parliament uses to hold the Executive accountable is Parliamentary Questions.
Regrettably, a large number of questions were unanswered at the end of last year thus pitting some Ministers against Parliament.
All ministers who had outstanding questions were asked to provide written explanations as to why they had failed to reply as provided for in the rules of this House.
Having considered their explanations and also engaging Ministers directly, I wish to reassure this House that this challenge is being overcome.
Measures being implemented includes allocating more resources to ensure that questions are not only answered on time but that they provide the necessary detail as well. In some instances, capacity in ministries is being enhanced. Henceforth, Directors-General will play a more active role in this process.
We will closely monitor progress in this regard.
Notwithstanding time pressures resulting from the need to accommodate the FIFA World Cup, we remain confident that the 2010 Legislative Programme will be implemented successfully.
Cabinet is closely monitoring implementation and the Leader of Government Business presents monthly progress reports.
Honourable members,
As I stated at the beginning, as we prepare to mark the centenary of the Union of South Africa, the pursuit of public good compels us to realise the creation of a better life for all.
We are a rights-based country, which continues to learn how these rights should be defended and upheld by all citizens.
We have confidence in the ability of our people to defend our democracy and to define what is right and wrong.
Indeed, our history in the struggle for democracy instructs us that we cannot worship in obedience what is wrong.
As we make final preparations to receive the world during the months of June to July for the FIFA World Cup, let us remember and show to the world that, indeed, we are a country alive with possibilities!
I thank you.
