The Chairperson
Deputy Speaker
Honourable MPs
MECs
Mayors
Councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is almost twenty years of democratic rule in South Africa which came into being as the result of years of bitter struggle and sacrifice. South Africa, emerging from the dark abyss of apartheid, racial discrimination and oppression, South Africa, in these few years of democracy has become a country that millions of our people are proud of. In these years we have made tremendous strides towards providing a better life for all.
Under the bright light of democracy, clean water and sanitation has been provided to the multitudes of people. In communities where paraffin and candles were source of heat and light, electricity has been connected and supplied. In a household with no source of income, hope and dignity has been restored through the social security grant.
A young man from a family with no prospects of ever achieving higher education, an engineer has been moulded and produced through government scholarship. Where once an overflowing river was a challenge to cross in a remote village, a bridge has been built and roads constructed.
Security of tenure has been given to millions of poor who had no hope of ever owning a property in their lifetime. School nutrition has put back a sparkle in the face of a young primary school child. These and many other life changing initiatives driven by the government of the people have been successfully implemented.
However, the reality that we still have to contend with is the intricate relationship between race, class and wealth. This complex reality is historical and political in our country. Discrimination and brutal apartheid policies exalted falsely the racial virtues of the white while debasing and discrediting those of the black majority resulting in a creation of a class stratum that had an exclusive access to economic benefits, privileges and wealth accumulation.
It is such deep legacy of damage inflicted by decades of colonial and apartheid misrule that cannot be undone in twenty years. Because it was a brutal system that entrenched itself over years through various institutions and practises. In order to achieve total transformation and total emancipation, we need more than two decades of democracy. We need to pull together as a nation with determination and commitment that the challenge at hand requires. We need to unite and demolish all the pillars that racism and segregation was build on.
Honourable Members,
The challenges we face today are even compounded by the growing number of population in South Africa. Already a pool of people who are solely reliant on our social grant system is widening; the number of the indigents who are in our housing waiting list is also growing; the numbers of those who derive benefits from the quintile 1 category of schools and those who access our public health care system is equally soaring. What it means is that the fiscus will continue to be overstretched in an attempt to satisfy the competing and equally crucial needs of the public.
And this situation presents us with a challenge or an opportunity, depending on one’s perspective, to refine strategies and approaches and accelerate the delivery of quality service. This is even made more pressing when considering that quality service delivery has become a site for a fierce struggle for winning hearts and minds of the masses. Service delivery is being used as fodder which some political players feed on regardless of the consequences for the country. It has been turned into a convenient political ball game by many groupings and individuals whose interests in this subject is questionable.
We have witnessed numerous groupings and individuals masquerading as the champions of service delivery when in fact self interest and exploitation of the people’s genuine grievances has been the key motivation. We have never shunned meaningful engagement as long as it is conducted in a civil and constructive fashion.
Hence the accessibility of government through officially created platforms for public participation. Inspire of this reality, the self-serving clamour of the demagogues who are basking in the sunshine of this hard-earned democracy continues to ignite the flames. The fact of the matter is that service delivery in this country is taking place at a speed that has never been witnessed before. A great number of people are enjoying a better quality of life which had eluded them for decades under apartheid regime.
As the democratically elected government, we have always been the first to admit weaknesses in our systems and strategies. It is for this reason that we are on a constant search for pragmatic solutions to various challenges faced by our people.
It is therefore important that we continue to serve our people with more vigour and commitment so that South Africa can be a country that we all proud of. A country in which no child will go to bed without a meal. A country in which no girl child will be abused and killed in our midst. A country in which all have shelter, education, employment and health. This is the kind of South Africa that the current government has been building and will continue to build.
In closing, chairperson, allow me to welcome you all to Gauteng and in Soshanguve specifically.
Dankie, Ngiyabonga
