Hansard: JS: Debate on President’s State-of-the-nation Address
House: Joint (NA + NCOP)
Date of Meeting: 13 Feb 2024
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
JOINT SITTING
TUESDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2024
PROCEEDINGS AT JOINT SITTING
Watch video here: Debate on President’s State-of-the-nation Address
Members of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces assembled in the Cape Town City Hall at 10:01.
The Speaker of the National Assembly took the Chair.
The Speaker of the National Assembly requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
The SPEAKER: Please be seated. Order hon members. Hon members, order. The Secretary will read the Order of the Day. Hon members, I have received a copy of the President’s address delivered at the Joint Sitting on 8 February 2024. The speech has been printed in the Minutes of the Joint Sitting. I now call upon the hon Chief of the Majority Party.
DEBATE ON THE PRESIDENT’S STATE-OF-THE-NATION ADDRESS
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEQELA ELILAWULAYO: Somlomo
ohloniphekileyo, uSihlalo weBhunga leSizwe laMaphondo, Umongameli weli lizwe, uSekela Mongameli, amalungu ale Ndlu ahloniphekileyo onke noluntu lonke loMzantsi Afrika ...
Xitsonga:
... ndza mi xeweta, avuxeni.
IsiXhosa: Molweni.
Sesotho: Dumelang.
IsiZulu: Sanibonani.
English:
Good morning.
Afrikaans: Goeie more.
Ndivumele Somlomo ukuba ndiwagawule ndiwarhuqa xa ndisenza ingabula-zigcawu kule ntetho ibuluncuthu mazangwa kaMongameli woMzantsi Afrika. Ewe ke kuba sikunyaka wolonyulo, kubalulekile ukuba siyiqaphele into yokuba kuza kukhonya noomofu namhlanje kule nkundla. Elowo nalowo umofu uza kuthi ndikho. Izinto lo rhulumente azenzileyo azizukwaziwa. Abantu baza kumfameka nangakumbi ngokungathi abazange banawo amahlo ngaphambili okubona izinto ezenziweyo. Ingakumbi xa kusuyiwa kulonyulo, abanye babo baya kulonyulo beyingqokelela yabaphikisi babagxeki, bebethe inkazathi yento ebizwa ngokuba yi ...
English:
... Moonshot ...
IsiXhosa:
... kuba kaloku kufuneka bekhuphe lo rhulumente weANC esihlalweni. Ayindisithelanga ke malungu eNdlu ahloniphekileyo into yokuba, njengomshumayeli phaya kwinkonzo yamaWesile, iintlungu zakaloku nje azinakufanekiswa nobuqaqawuli obuzakutyhilwa. Ewe iintlungu zikacimi-cimi ziyavakala. Ewe iintlungu zentswela-misebenzi siyavakala. Kodwa sithi
iintlungu zakaloku nje ingakumbi emva kokuba uMongameli aye wasibeka isicwangciso wasithi theca ebonisa ukuba siyakwazi esikwenzileyo kwaye siyakwazi esingakwenzanga ngokwaneleyo. Nazi izicwangciso zokuthatha uMzantsi Afrika siwuse kwiqondo elingasentla. Uthe xa equkumbela uMongameli, siza kuyiguqula njani na imeko yabantu bakowethu ngeli xesha?
English:
We as the ANC and the nation are inspired by the President’s address last Thursday. The President has detailed the undertaking from 2023’s state of the nation address, Sona.The progress is inspiring. I repeat, the progress is inspiring alongside his many challenges that we have outlined.
Notwithstanding two years of COVID-19, this government has done all what it could do.
The President gave an honest, balanced reflection of where we stand as a nation. The choice we face as the nation in this year’s election is to reaffirm what we said we’re going to do in 1994, the implementation of a national programme of transformation that will result to qualitatively changing the lives of the majority of our people who are black in general and women in particular because they are in the majority, for
the better and not to side with those who benefitted from the historical legacy of the privilege, who seek to block the transformation at every turn, as they cling to preserve their wealth, their properties, as well as positions at the expense of the majority.
Under the ANC, we will continue to take the country forward with all its challenges towards a better future for all. Under a conglomeration of opposition parties, they will entrench wealth amongst the few. Under them, poverty and inequality will grow. The Moonshot Pact ...
IsiXhosa:
... yimbutho yabagxeki abadibene ngokuzama uMzantsi Afrika wocalulo ukuze basithathe basibuyisele emva.
English:
During the Sona ...
IsiXhosa:
... niyangxola nina.
English:
During the Sona, the President accounted to the nation.
IsiXhosa:
Hlengwa ayifani nawe loo nto.
The SPEAKER: Order man! Hon Hlengwa please man. Hon members, please don’t drown the speaker.
The CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: On Thursday evening, the President accounted to the nation on the implementation not only on Sona 2023 commitments, but also on the five-year plan, the Medium-Term Strategic Framework. To those who say nothing has been done, let me remind you because you have political dementia.
IsiXhosa:
Mandinikhumbuze ke ...
English:
... R14 billion, listen, had been allocated to fight crime and corruption over the next three years. Four thousand arrests have been made for all those who have damaged critical infrastructure. Seventy arrests for construction extortion and
over 3 000 arrests for illegal mining. Over 1,7 million work and livelihood opportunities for unemployed South Africans have been created through the Presidential Employment Stimulus.
Forty-five thousand participants have been placed in the National Youth Service and 51 000 participants have been employed by 28 implementing partners under the Social Employment Fund.
IsiXhosa:
Ngubani ke ofuna ukuma apha aze kuteketa athi akwenziwanga nto? Kukho abakhalayo, kukho abalilayo, kukho abajwedayo.
Sesotho:
Ho na le ba llang. Ho na le ba bokollang. Batla ema mona. Ba tla bokolla!
IsiXhosa:
... bejweda besithi akukhange kwenziwe nto. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
English:
The mergers outlined in Sona clearly says to the economy, how do we grow the economy, how do we create jobs, reducing poverty and tackling corruption. We are bound as public representatives of the people to ensure that the programme we adopt in our organization are for the people, of the people, with the people, because we work with people and speak to their needs.
The ANC’s January 8 Statement is very clear that, we are more determined this year to succeed in building a better life for all and become very resolute about bringing together broad democratic forces in the country.
IsiXhosa:
Ingxelo nkcukacha-manani (Census 2022) iyavuma ukuba igxathu elikhulu urhulumente ulenzile. Kodwa njengoko elenzile imiceli-mingeni mininzi iyakhula kuba noluntu luyakhula.
Iziphumo zona ziyasivuma ukuba eneneni impilo nobomi babantu bakuthi zohlukile ukusukela mhla sathatha ulawulo. Ewe zikhona izinto kunye namachaphaza asigqwalisayo njengokwehla komgagatho wenkonzo eziya ebantwini bakowethu, ulawulo oluhesheheshe kwezinye izigaba zorhulumento. Ezo zinto
siyazazi kwaye uhulumente onyanisekileyo uyathetha ngemiceli- mingeni ajongene nayo.
English:
Therefore, we do not have to be held hostage in this debate by political parties that will come with soundbites but lack evidence. Census 22 is clear evidence.
IsiXhosa:
Ukwenyuka kwamaxabiso kanobomi kukhwitsha iinpula zikalujaca ekubeni uqoqosho lungenyuki kodwa siyabona ukuba amaxabiso nempilo yoluntu ziyenyuka. Loo nto iyalonzakalisa uluntu.
Urhulumente uyazivele zonke ezo nkalo. Esi sihelegu sikacimi- cimi wombane yeyona nto iqhokra uqoqosho noluntu lwelizwe lakowethu. Ngoko ke sithi, urhulumente makayiqonde into yokuba noko lo mvambo awunyamezeleki njengoko sithe sabona ngoMgqibelo sisiya kwisigaba sesithatndathu. Sinethemba ke lokuba xa esima apha uMphathiswa ojongene nalo mba uza kuwucacisa ncakasana. Noxa kunjalo, ithemba lona likhona lokuba ezi zinto ziyalandelelwa.
English:
What we need to honestly acknowledge is that, corruption has had a devastating impact on the ability of our state-owned enterprises to function for the purposes that they were meant for. We have just had another manager arrested at Eskom on the allegation of R1 million. We know that whenever they get arrested, we get blamed. Who must be blamed to when criminals are arrested, and are arrested through the ANC government? We also want to request our communities that when they see those are destroying our infrastructure, they must alert police and those people must be paid to book.
As the Parliament of the people will take their responsibility into attributing to the health of the state of the nation. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry, known as Zondo Commission and the report of the President which were referred to Parliament for consideration, have been acted upon. The constant narrative that Parliament has done nothing can only be said by those who have consciously gone to sleep, who do not want to see the process of assigned sections of the report given to the committees, and how the Ethics Committee has engaged itself and pronounced on some of the findings. The work will continue within the purview of Parliament.
As the majority party of the ANC, we lead in this responsibility and this responsibility of passing the legislation is about the transformation of this country. To date it has passed 88 Bills. All expression of the ANC policy that shapes the direction of the country and influence decision-making.
We have done this once we had to mourn 23 ANC Members of Parliament who passed on with the greatest number compared to any term of Parliament. They died with their boots and heels on. May their souls rest in peace.
Xitsonga:
... onge mimoya ya vona yi nga etlela hi ku rhula ...
Sesotho:
Ba robale ka kgotso.
English:
While the ANC is seeking to unite the nation, addressing the national grievances, promoting unity and diversity and driving social cohesion, we are confronted with acts of racism carried out by groups of whites who cling to an old apartheid flag
that is outlawed, swear allegiance to a past that was discriminating and declared as a crime against humanity. That cannot be allowed in our democracy.
They desire to undermine constitutional democracy and break down ongoing efforts of nation-building and social cohesion. These acts of racism only serve to reopen the wounds of the past and bring about a response. We have been talking about this for almost 30 years.
IsiXhosa:
Umenziwa akalibali kodwa umenzi uyalibala.
English:
Thank you very much hon Speaker [Applause.]
The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Madam Speaker, fellow South Africans. Mr President, thank you very much for sharing with us the story of Tintswalo, the child of democracy. There is no doubt that the South Africa that she grew up in after 1994 was a hopeful place. It was a built on the South African dream, the promise that her life would be better than the life of her parents and that her children’s lives would be better still.
What the President did during his address was to tell us the story of Tintswalo’s start in life during the 1990s and the 2000s. It was far from perfect, but it was a time of hope and possibility.
But Tintswalo’s life story does not end after childhood. Today, she is a 30-year-old woman. She has entered the next phase of her life as a wife, a mother and a provider.
Over the past decade she has watched in growing horror as the dream of her childhood has been betrayed.
Tintswalo’s social consciousness started to develop during high school as she watched the ANC elevate a man accused of corruption and rape to the highest office in the land.
She grew steadily more disillusioned when she found out that R246 million of public money was used to build a fire pool and chicken coup at the President’s home at Nkandla, even as many people around her fell deeper and deeper into poverty. And she watched as the ANC members of this House protected him.
In 2015, she graduated from a Technical Vocational Education and Training, Tvet, college. A year later Tintswalo realised that she was not alone in her growing unease about the future.
In 2016 she watched as voters abandon the ANC in major cities, and she too, started to think about changing her vote at the next election. [Interjections.]
You see, she just couldn’t stomach ... she just couldn’t stomach the idea of voting for the ANC after it unleashed Jacob Zuma, state capture and loadshedding on her country. [Applause.]
But in 2018 her spirits lifted. Tintswalo was delighted when the ANC ejected Zuma from the Presidency in February of that year.
In fact, Mr President, in 2019 Tintswalo voted for you. Like many others across the country, she did so for one reason, because she believed that you, Mr President, would restore South Africa to the path it was on when she was a child. That you would rescue the South African dream. But tragically, her hopes were shattered soon after.
In the same year that Mr Ramaphosa was elected, Tintswalo lost the first and only job she had, because the loadshedding crisis that he had promised to end shut down the factory where she worked. [Applause.]
She was forced to move into a tin shack on the outskirts of the city, returning to the same life of poverty she thought she had left behind for good. And she has been unemployed ever since.
In 2021 Tintswalo joined the growing group of South Africans who simply refused to vote. She was simply too angry after the Ramaphosa Administration broke all of the lofty promises it had made in the New Dawn, including by protecting the President’s comrades implicated in state capture. And sadly, things went from bad to much, much worse.
In 2022 her father became one of the 75 people who are murdered every single day in South Africa. He was killed by a loan shark, from whom he was forced to borrow money because the Transnet failure had shut down the transport job he had had since Tintswalo was a baby.
For Tintswalo it felt like her whole world had come crashing down. She lost her livelihood, she lost her home and her father. Her South African dream lay in ruins.
Yet, amid the darkest hour of her life, light entered when she gave birth to a daughter of her own. Called Esona, she was Tintswalo’s greatest gift. This miracle of new life gave her a newfound determination to fight to rescue her South African dream.
You see, Tintswalo is done waiting for the ANC to change. [Applause.] She has accepted that it never ever will. She acknowledges the opportunity she got as a young person, which her parents never had, but she now thinks about the future of her own family above all else.
You see, Mr President, like millions of other South Africans, Tintswalo cannot afford to live in the past. She must survive in the reality of what South Africa is in 2024, not what it was in 1994. [Applause.]
When she is reminded of her hopeful childhood, it fills her with sadness for the childhood that waits Esona. When she
remembers how her family moved from a shack into a formal house with running water and electricity, when she was a young girl, it hurts and shames her that she has ended up back in a shack with no water and constant power cuts as a grown woman.
The memory of how excited she was at her graduation is completely turned to anger when she realises that she has been unemployed for twice as long as it took her to complete her qualification.
For the hard truth, Mr President, is that when Tintswalo listened to the President on Thursday it did not make her grateful, as he may have hoped, it made her sad and it made her angry. Because whether you like it or not, Mr President, you have betrayed Tintswalo’s South African dream. [Applause.]
Hearing the President speak without acknowledging that the same people who once gave her the permission to dream are the same people who have now shattered those dreams. And this is only made Tintswalo more resolute than ever, that the time for change has come. [Applause.]
She knows that the only reason she had a better start in life than her parents did, was because her parents stood up and fought for change when it was required. The South African dream she tasted as a child did not come about by accident.
Because dreams only come true when we fight to make them true. [Applause.]
Tintswalo now knows that it is her turn to fight for change by removing the ANC from power. [Interjections.] [Applause.] To rescue baby Esona from the nightmare that the ANC is condemning her to grow up in.
And, it’s not only Tintswalo. In Eldorado Park, Aunty Fatima is ready to fight to rescue her South African dream so that children may be free from gangsters and drug lords.
In Citrusdal, farmer Johan is ready to fight to rescue his South African dream so that he can spare his children from the indignity of watching the fruits of their labour rot at the dockside of a failing port. [Applause.]
In London, Sipho the engineer is ready to fight to rescue his South African dream so that his children can grow up in a
country he had to leave in order to find opportunity, but which he still loves deeply. [Interjections.]
Watching the President stand at this podium and sing the praises of a country that no longer exists made all South Africans even more resolute than ever before, that this is the year we must remove the ANC from power. [Applause.]
When the ANC says that 2024 is the year that we must defend our freedom, they are right. We must defend our freedom; we must defend it from the ANC. [Applause.] Because the people of South Africa know that in 2024 the single greatest threat to our freedom and to the South African dream is the ANC. [Applause.]
A labour market where seven out of ten young people cannot find work, is an existential threat to our freedom.
Loadshedding and water shedding are existential threats to our freedom. Rampant crime is an existential threat to our freedom. Childhood malnutrition is an existential threat to our freedom. Corruption and state capture that literally steals food from the mouths of the poor is an existential threat to our freedom. A President who protects and shields
his Deputy President despite Zuma-level allegations is an existential threat to our freedom. [Applause.]
So, know this, every time the lights go out, every time the taps run dry, every time criminals attack us in our homes, every time a small business shuts down, every time a child dies of hunger, it reminds us all of the dream that we have lost.
But I have news for the President and his party. The people of South Africa are determined to take our dream back. And this year the people of South Africa will rescue this South African dream by using the most powerful weapon that they have, and that is their vote. [Interjections.]
Mr President, you recently made a baseless and dangerous claim that mysterious foreign agents were ... wanting to bring about regime change in South Africa.
Let me give you this assurance. What is coming your way in this election is not regime change by foreigner actors, it is democratic change by the people of South Africa. [Applause.]
Voting out a failing government is not a threat to democracy. Voting out a failing government is the greatest vindication of democracy. [Applause.] And it is the only way we can all rescue our South African dream.
In 1994 the dream that we all believed in ... [Interjections.]
... was that the lives of this generation would be better than our parents. But in 2024 the nightmare that confronts us is that the lives of our children could be far, far worse than our own.
And I don’t say that abstractly. I, too, am a father of three young daughters, and I, too, have great dreams for them. But like Tintswalo and millions of other citizens, I, too, am fearful about the future of my children, of your children, of our children in this country. And that is why South African people all across the country must now rise to the call of history in this election.
No matter how old you are, over the past 30 years we have all grown up as democracy’s children. We have learnt, sometimes painfully, that in democracy ... [Interjections.] ... that
only really works when we use our votes to hold those in power accountable.
In 2024 the people of South Africa will vote against those who have diverted South Africa from the promise of 1994 through their corruption, their greed and their incompetence. And they will vote for those who can practically restore South Africa to this path of promise through a proven track-record of delivery, of good governance and an ability to fix what the ANC has broken. [Applause.]
Last week I announced the DA’s blueprint to rescue South Africa. Within the first 100 days as the anchor tenant of a new multi-party government, we will introduce the most comprehensive legislative reform agenda seen in a generation. We will rescue South Africa through concrete reforms and legislation. Not hollow talk and empty promises; reform and legislation. [Interjections.] And these reforms and legal changes will introduce within the first 100 days and will aim at the five following priority areas: Firstly, fixing the institution of Parliament so we can restore it as an engine room of reform.
Secondly, ending loadshedding for all South Africans by embracing privatisation and the private sector.
Thirdly, abolishing cadre deployment in favour of merit-based appointments and a capable state. [Applause.]
Fourthly, halving the rate of violent crime including murder, attempted murder and gender-based violence, GBV.
Fifthly, growing the economy while creating jobs and protecting social grants. [Applause.]
If you had any doubt that the DA was the party to defeat the ANC, you only need to look at the ruling of the Constitutional Court yesterday, which now compels the ANC to hand over the complete records of the Cadre Deployment Committee ... [Applause.] ... dating back all the way to January 2013 when Mr Ramaphosa became its Chairman under Mr Zuma.
Now, the DA expects the ANC and its newfound love for the rule of law to abide by this ruling, to expose its dirty cadre secrets and how Mr Ramaphosa’s committee laid the foundation
for state capture and collapse that we have witnessed across the country.
And, let me be clear, if they try and subvert the rule of law, we will make sure that they are jailed for contempt of court in exactly the same way that Mr Zuma was. [Applause.]
So, mark your calendars, in just four days’ time, we will find this President’s fingerprints all over cadre deployment and state capture, the very thing he spent six years telling us that he was against.
My fellow South Africans, Tintswalo, Fatima, Johan and Sipho all voted for different political parties over the years. All of them, just like us, had different lived experiences. But what we are all united on, here and now, is that things cannot go on the way that they are. And what we all agree, is the urgent need to rescue South Africa and it’s the South African dream before it’s too late.
That is why in 2024, for the very first time, Tintswalo, Fatima, Johan and Sipho will vote for the same party, for the one party that has a proven track-record of getting things
done and a proven ability to rescue South Africa and restore the dream that they all share, and that party is the DA. [Applause.]
They will not do so because they believe and share everything, they will do so because they agree about one thing, and that one thing is that without jobs, without electricity, without running water, without an end to cadre deployment, without an honest government that serves the people and not the politicians, without functioning schools and working hospitals, all of our children will be doomed to lives far worse than our own. [Interjections] ... for?
We are South Africans and as South Africans we are all in this together. So, let’s be honest with each other.
This election is not about restoring about restoring the dream of 1994, it’s about keeping the dream alive. And when you come down to it, there’s only one real choice in this election, either our great South African dream dies, if the ANC comes back to power with radical coalition partners like the EFF and other destructive populists, or we rescue the South African
dream through a new multi-party government with the DA at its heart. [Applause.]
The truth is that there’s only way to rescue Tintswalo’s dream, there’s only one way to rescue our South African dream, and that is by drawing our crosses next to the DA.
In this election, don’t vote out of fear. In this election, if you want to rescue our South African dream, vote for the DA. I thank you. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
The SPEAKER: Order, hon members! May I just make an appeal before the hon Minister speaks. Hon members, hon members ...
IsiXhosa:
... andifuni ukubiza ngegama.
English:
Hona members, please maan, let us allow the speakers to address us and not drown them. Allow them to be audible to be audible. It's difficult for us to hear from where we are when you are loud. I mean, there's no reason for you not to heckle, but you can do it in a very organised and decent manner. For
now, hon members are very loud. Thank you very much, hon members. Over to you, Minister.
The MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY: Speaker of the
National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Mr Amos Masondo, His Excellency the President of the Republic, President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa and hon members.
The important thing is that there are two sources of knowledge, it is experience and studying a subject. Now, if you don't do both, anything you say is an imagination. I can assure you that if you don't study and don’t have experience, you don't know what you're talking about.
Let me start by reminding beneficiaries of apartheid, denialists, and apologies on what we have been dealing with over the past 20 years. Following the work of the architect, Dr Malan when consolidating the apartheid government, the apartheid’s master partisan Hendrik Verwoed said:
“We are building a system with deep roots that no future government will ever undo.”
Many people who criticise our government including some in this Parliament, argue that we must have done everything within 30 years. Never refer to atrocities of apartheid government. They conveniently forget that this country was colonised for 342 years, of which 46 were under apartheid. That is what we are swimming against, and we must continue swimming against that reality. It is a reality we must continue to swim against.
Throughout this period the apartheid passion was the mining sector which was the roughest in terms of implementing apartheid policies. I experienced it. I couldn't put my head on a blasting certificate because it was reserved for a scheduled person, which was a term used to term a white person.
Since South Africa attained democracy in 1994, government’s efforts were aimed at achieving a dream of transformation with a particular focus on ownership, management, and procurement. Hence, we enacted the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in 2002 and introduced the Mining Charter in 2004.
During the state of the nation address, the President reported on work that has been done to transform the economic sectors, more so the mining sector. Unfortunately, some members of this House cannot see progress, even if it hits them in the face, they can't see it. It hits them in the face, they can't feel it, they can't see it.
When we did the research two years ago with the function of studying, we discovered that at the nine major mining companies that were studied, each one of them didn't have less than 50% of management structure being black. That is researched information, it is not thumb sucking.
Secondly, we saw that the procurement initiative created a lot of businesspeople who are not necessarily seen as part of the mining sector, but they have developed on the back of mining. Some ultracrepidarians in and outside the House question the figure black ownership in mining sector as quantified by the President, with one of them suggesting that it is less than 10%.
It would help for people to do research on these things before they express their opinion. If they spend time and study the
industry, they would have known that if you talk coal, only one major company is white, most of them are black. Even if you take Seriti, Thungela and Exxaro, the list goes on and on. All of them will not be under 30%, or under 10%.
They would know that in the mining sector, if you talk of the African Rainbow Minerals, Kalahari Managanese, Ntsimbintle Holdings, and many other black owned mining companies, it is a long list. I can break it down and even go to gold where Arm is dominant, where Harmony is dominant, and the main shareholder is Arm.
In the Platinum Group Metals, PGMs, Nkwe Platinum, Ivanhoe, and Phalaborwa Mining Company have considered black ownership representation. So, when you quantify numbers, you don't do thumb sucking that is less than 10% without doing quality assessment of what is available then.
If you look at all these companies, you can see that there is practical progress being made. If one these as said is less than 10%, I cannot even talk about their mathematics. I can only talk about their arithmetic being flawed. Now, cognisant
of the fact that mines are born out of exploration, we have just launched an Exploration Fund.
It's never late to do the right thing unless you are a beneficiary of other things earlier. If you have never been a beneficiary, it's never late. We will continue doing the right thing because the future is ahead of us. We can inherit the past, but we must build the future. If you don't know what it is to be under apartheid, you are a beneficiary. You will never know the beauty of the future. You will only imagine the beauty of the past. It is therefore important that we invest in exploration, so that the future of this very important sector continues to be bright.
We firmly believe that South Africa owns a significant quantity of minerals needed for the transition from high carbon emission to low carbon emission, which informs that the view of our mining industry is a sunrise industry. We have got the critical minerals in this country; we must discover them and exploit them.
Having appointed a service provider for design, implementation, and maintenance of mining licenses in cadastre
system, we are optimistic that this system will soon help us accelerate the processing and prospecting of the mining industry.
Let me because of the pressure of time go to the contribution of mining in the future of the energy sector. President, it’s a good thing that you wrote a speech for Mr Steenhuisen. He did not have to write a speech; you wrote it for him. He only spoke about Tintswalo.
Despite the obstacles of the apartheid government guided Constitution, this government continues to strive for a national democratic society in which people enjoy equal rights and equal access to basic services. Like Tintswalo whom you wrote a speech about for Mr Steenhuisen, have access to electricity today.
Since 2019, we have successfully connected 777 776 households with electricity, taking us to over 92% of South Africans having access to electricity. If you never experienced not having access to electricity, you will shout load shedding.
You will even forget that in your own house, when there's a box and you load it with several electrical appliances, it
trips. When you take access to electricity from 34 to 92, you are loading that infrastructure, and we must appreciate it and work and on load shedding.
As part of the concerted effort of secure and reliable energy supply, government introduced the Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme. Since the launch in 2011, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has through the Independent Power Producers, IPP office, procured a total of
13 266,9 megawatts from 140 IPPs whose technology are based on renewables, diesel, and battery storage.
Of this capacity, 7 362,2 megawatts were from 95 IPPS that are currently connected to the grid and are supplying the much- needed electricity, but it puts to our discussion whether you can do renewables without base load. A combination of the two is what we require to deal with the challenges facing us.
But this ill-informed pressure put by the DA that we must go for renewables, switch off coal and go to renewables is ill- informed because it says, destroy base load and go to renewables. Intermediate behaviour of this is not taken into account because it is fashionable and nice to do so.
Now the remaining 145 IPPs, the combined capacity 5942 are either in construction or preparing to reach commercial close and therefore, under the administration 5939 megawatts from 46 IPPs were procured resulting in a number of them being on the grid or at various stages of development.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Nersa, has concurred with the Minister of Electricity, Mr Ramokgopa that
2 500 nuclear capacities must be connected. It is gazetted and is at the stage of being launched. Mileham, who is the Shadow Energy Minister would be a disaster if he were to be a Minister. This is a problem. The reality of the matter is that that is where we are. We are going to be undoing the apartheid system against ... [Inaudible.] ... opposition.
In conclusion the hon President, let me refer a little bit towards the cerebrate called cadre deployment whatever. What it has done is that it has changed the situation where every director-general, DG, was a white male in 1994. It has changed the reality where every judge was a white male, where every mayor was a white male. The cadre development has changed that reality. So run to court, do everything, but the reality of the matter is we will do it. You will get your report, but we
will continue to deploy capable people. That's it. Thank you, hon Speaker.
Mr V F HLABISA: Hon Speaker, hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Your Excellency the President and hon members, as I speak in this debate, I feel the absence of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the founder of the IFP and South Africa’s trusted voice of reason. For 29 years, Prince Buthelezi spoke in this debate, giving us the real state of the nation. In honour of his leadership, let me echo his final warning to the ANC. He quoted from the very first state of the nation address to a democratic South Africa, when Madiba said:
The government I have the honour to lead ... are inspired by the single vision of creating a people-centred society ... freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear.
Three decades later, that vision has disappeared. As Prince Buthelezi told us:
If the promise of South Africa is truly still alive, it is thanks to the resilience of our people. But how far is this government willing to test our resilience? They are playing a dangerous game.
I am afraid, hon President, that one year after this sober warning, our people’s resilience is gone. Every day, in every corner of our country, our people live with the instinctive understanding that what is being done by the government of the day is wrong. We are left with this feeling, which we once had before.
My generation grew up with a government that showed nothing but contempt for the struggling people of South Africa. We entered democracy full of hope for change and in those first years of a government for the people, of the people, by the people, we were finally going in the right direction. As a Government of National Unity tore down every discriminatory law and replaced it with what is good and fair and just, we believed that South Africa would continue moving from strength to strength.
We witnessed how Prince Buthelezi, as the Minister of Home Affairs, tabled landmark legislation that is widely considered the high-water mark of migration policy and law. We saw South Africa’s doors being opened to skills and investment, a balance being struck between human rights and national security, and our interests being aligned with our values and international obligations.
Under the IFP’s Minister of Correctional Services, our prisons became more than centres of punishment, on the principle that rehabilitation for safe reintegration into society is essential to stop the revolving door of crime.
Under an IFP Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, the National Arts Council was birthed, as was the
Pan SA Language Board, PanSALB — I’m talking about South Africa during the Government of National Unity — the SA
Heritage Resources Agency and the National Heritage Council. Technical colleges were supported to increase innovation among small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and the For Women in Science programme recruited young women to career paths in science and technology.
Between 1994 and 1999, when our country was led by the Government of National Unity and KwaZulu-Natal was governed outright by the IFP, our country flourished. Reviewing the first 10 years of democracy, this is what the International Monetary Fund, IMF, said:
South Africa has made impressive gains in stabilising the economy and laying a firm foundation for higher economic growth and a broad-based improvement in living standards. The public finances have been strengthened significantly, interest rates have been lowered and inflation has been brought firmly under control ... The rate of economic growth has more than doubled on average since the end of apartheid.
Hon President, this is the South Africa you would have us remember but that South Africa no longer exists. Twenty years into democracy, after the ANC had enjoyed unfettered power for
10 years, the IMF’s review was far less glowing. They said:
Living standards have improved substantially in the first
20 years of democracy. But in recent years the economy has underperformed peers. The outlook is lacklustre, with low growth, high unemployment, and elevated twin deficits.
Thirty years into democracy, the IMF could only shake its head and say:
The country has faced rolling blackouts after years of mismanagement ... The country’s elevated public debt level —
country’s debt ... will require reducing the government wage
Hon President, listen closely to this one, because this is where the lie is exposed. You cannot point to 1994 as a measure of how far we have come under the ANC government because the ANC did not govern this country alone between 1994 and 2024. The strong and stable democracy that was built from 1994 to 1999 was built by the Government of National Unity; a government in which the IFP served. From 1999 to 2004, as the good work continued, the IFP remained in Cabinet.
It was only when the ANC gained unfettered power that government began to falter. Let us look at the facts. After
years of negative growth, in 1994 South Africa’s gross domestic product, GDP, began growing at a steady pace under the Government of National Unity. However, when the ANC took over, the President laments that the global financial crisis brought an end to a decade of strong growth. What he doesn’t mention is that the decade after the global financial crisis, and even before COVID, our country was still stagnant at a growth rate of just 0,26%. Over the last eight years, foreign investors have dumped South African stocks to the tune of R900 billion.
What about unemployment? Under the Government of National Unity, the unemployment rate decreased year on year, every single year. Indeed, for 10 years, while the IFP held seats in Cabinet, unemployment decreased consistently. However, over the next 20 years, with the ANC firmly in power, unemployment leapt up to a staggering 15%.
When it comes to crime, for the first 10 years of democracy, the crime rate decreased annually for eight years out of
10 years. By 1999, after five years of a Government of National Unity, crime had decreased by 11%. Then, the ANC took over and by 2021 crime had increased by 23%.
The ANC is moving in the wrong direction. Stop looking for a pen to sign the National Health Insurance, NHI, Bill into law. The IFP is on record as supporting universal health access.
However, the National Health Insurance Bill as it stands is a recipe for disaster.
This last Sona of the Sixth administration was not about the South Africa we live in. South Africa is in crisis. Our country is on autopilot mode, as President Mbeki confirmed. Tintswalo’s story is not the story of today’s youth. Unlike Tintswalo, 41% of our youth are unemployed. Thousands of National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, beneficiaries are still sitting at home with their degrees and diplomas, with no job. Doctors protested just yesterday. Their dreams are fading away. Millions of our children of democracy still live in shacks and informal settlements, with no clean water, toilets or refuse removal. Their only connection to Tintswalo is that she too sits vulnerably in the dark, on stage 6 load shedding.
The ANC’s failures are unforgivable. Consider what was achieved in just 10 years under IFP premiers in KwaZulu-Natal. Under an IFP premier, antiretrovirals were rolled out free of
charge for the first time, turning the tide on the HIV/Aids pandemic. The IFP set the trend for the whole country, enabling the Constitutional Court to instruct an ANC government to do in South Africa what the IFP was doing in KwaZulu-Natal. That is how the IFP serves the vulnerable.
By contrast, in January 2023, the ANC fed millions of learners rotting food because of corruption in the School Nutrition Programme and they failed to distribute 48 000 blankets, despite procuring them fraudulently for R22 million. That is how the ANC treats the vulnerable.
Under an IFP government, Ithala bank provided loans to emerging farmers and entrepreneurs, funding countless small businesses, but under the ANC, Ithala bank is closing.
So hon President, do not keep telling us what the ANC has done since 1994. Again, the ANC did not liberate South Africa nor build it alone. There were a number of political parties involved.
The ANC and the ANC alone gave us state capture. They gave us stage 6 load shedding. The ANC gave us nine wasted years. The
ANC gave us close to eight million unemployed people of South Africa. Let us not pull the wool over our people’s eyes and pretend that the ANC is the only party that can protect South Africa and do what is best for her. The ANC serves only the ANC. How many Members of Parliament and Ministers implicated in state capture have been taken to task? How many?
Hon President, you have put party before country. The damage done to South Africa is huge. Another five years under the ruling party is hard to contemplate. The IFP stands ready to be an alternative government to save South Africa. Hon President, you must be ready for the change of government.
Hon President, my generation did not get any solution in the Sona you delivered. As a result, unlike Tintswalo, the people of South Africa and our youth are disillusioned by the ANC, for they have lived through the destruction of our country at the hands of the ANC government.
Therefore, 2024 is our 1994. We will do what we did in 1994. We will remove the government that has failed our people. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Speaker, hon
Chairperson, hon Deputy Speaker, hon President and hon Deputy President of the Republic, House Chairpersons, the Chief Whip of the Majority Party and Whips of other political parties, ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends, Ben Okri once said: “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”
This debate takes place when South Africa celebrates a poignant moment in history, as we reach the 30-year milestone of the country’s constitutional democracy. Parliament’s strategic objective has been to create a non-racial, non- sexist and democratic society. Our primary mission has been centred on mobilising all classes and strata that objectively stand to gain from the success of the cause for social and economic change.
In this context, Parliament gives expression to its mandate, as informed by the precepts of transformative constitutionalism, which the former Chief Justice of South Africa, aptly asserts, as being an enabling instrument, to give expression to the country’s transformation agenda.
In his paper titled, Transformative Constitutionalism, Justice Langa further refers to the postamble of the interim Constitution, which he asserts, also expresses the pinnacle objective of South Africa’s Constitution, where he asserts that the underlying imperative of our Constitution is to provide: "A historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy, a peaceful co- existence and development opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex.
When I stand here, ...
Afrikaans:
Ek dink nou maar net, ons moenie hiernatoe kom, omdat ons oor die verkiesing wil baklei nie; ons met hiernatoe kom, omdat ons die mandaat van die mense wil uitvoer. Die manaat van die mense is om seker te maak dat die Parlement die executive [uitvoerende raad] accountable [verantwoordbaar] hou.
English:
As we reflect on the 30-year milestone of our constitutional democracy, we must bear in mind what we have inherited. We have inherited a system that had inflicted far-reaching damage and oppression to millions of South Africans, on the basis of race. We must therefore observe this 30-year milestone, in the context of the progress made because of our rights-based agenda, which has been put in motion by our constitutional democracy, under the ANC. These rights, collectively represent our departure from a painful, oppressive and discriminatory past, as we lean in towards creating a new South Africa, from the ruinous past of colonialism and apartheid.
During the first 30 years of our democracy, our Parliament had to deal with laws that support fairness and equality. We have repealed that oppressive and discriminatory apartheid laws and enacted laws to overhaul the functioning of the broader state machinery. These actions have helped to solidify our democracy and assisted us to make great strides towards realising our country’s democratic goals.
Furthermore, the efficacy of parliamentary business, particularly through the committees and debates, in applying procedural processes and protocols, particularly, as outlined
in the Constitution and in the Rules of both Houses, has significantly improved throughout the years. Through plenary discussions, questions, motions, and resolutions, Members of Parliament continue to actively and robustly participate in policy debates, while unpacking matters of national importance.
Our improved co-ordination with the executive has also ensured the attendance of Ministers in the sittings of both Houses when required, leading to an increase in executive responses to questions for oral and written reply.
Afrikaans:
Tydens Covid-19 het die Parlement bewys dat ons, deur die gebruik van tegnologie, tot ’n groot mate, die uitdaging wat dit vir ons werk gebied het, kon oorkom.
Twee weke gelede, tydens ons wetgewende summit [beraad], noem Prof Somadoda Fikeni iets baie belangrik. Hy sê wat mense van die Parlement observe [waarneem] is dat elke party op die platform van sy eie party staan, en ’n gesamentlike Suid- Afrikaanse identiteit het nie.
Die enigste tyd wanneer ons onsself as Suid-Afrikaners identifiseer is wanneer die Springbokke die Wêreldbeker wen, wanneer Bafana Bafana goed doen in die Africa Cup of Nations, Afcon, wanneer ons atlete goed doen in die Olimpiese Spele.
Dis die tyd wanneer ons onsself as Suid-Afrikaners identifiseer.
Volgens ons almal is daar foute en die ANC, as die regerende party, is die eerste een om die foute en die tekortkominge te erken. Dit moet ons sê: Ons staan nie hier en regverdig onsself oor dinge wat in die verlede gebeur het nie. Ons staan ook nie hier en regverdig onsself nie. Ons sal ook nie onsself verdedig, as ons nie ’n visie het vir die toekoms, om ’n beter lewe vir alle Suid-Afrikaners aan te bied nie.
Suid-Afrikaners het die reg tot hul eie werklikheid. As iemand hier staan en die President wil antwoord op sy storie van Tintswalo, dan moet jy hom antwoord op die werklikheid van Tintswalo. Elke mens ervaar sy eie werklikheid. Daniel se werklikheid is nie John se werklikheid nie. So, jy kan nie iemand se werklikiheid ontken, as iemand vir jou sê: Ek het onder ’n boom gebly; ek het nou ’n erf met water en toegang
tot elektrisiteit. Ek het in ’n sinkhuis gewoon; ek het nou toegang tot ’n RDP-huis.
Load shedding [beurtkrag] is nie die einde van die aarde nie. Ek, President, is een van die mense wat voel, sodra jy van load shedding [beurtkrag] praat, dan begin hulle jou saboteer. Ons sal iets aan daardie sabotasie moet doen. Ons sal definitief iets aan daardie sabotasie moet doen.
[Onhoorbaar.] ...het nie al die antwoorde nie, maar Suid- Afrikaners weet dat ons van ’n verlede afkom, waar ons by kerslig vir ons matriekeksamens studeer het. Ons kom van ’n verlede af, waar ons emmers gebruik het. Baie van ons het wegbeweeg van die wrede verlede, en ons is nou by die punt waar ons waardigheid as mense respekteer word.
Dit is wat belangrik is. As mense se waardigheid nie respekteer word nie, waar sal ons gaan. Hoe kan John Steenhuisen saam met my in 1981 gedroom het? Ons werklihede verskil. Ons werklikhede verskil. Wat my werklikheid in Blikkies was, kon nie sy werklikheid in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal gewees het nie.
Daar bestaan nie dieselfde werklikheid vir mense wat in apartheid gebenifit [baat gevind het] nie en vir ons, wat deur apartheid geleef het, net om te bestaan, om die dag van môre te kan sien.
Dis waarom ek sê dat ons die werklikheid van Tintswalo ken en ons ervaar die werklikheid van Tintswalo, want ons weet waarvandaan sy kom. Ons kan dus vir ander ’n beter toekoms probeer aanbied, omdat ons die verlede waarvandaan ons kom, ken.
Gewoonlik raak ek nie deel van julle bakleiery nie, want ek glo die Parlement moet ten alle tye probeer om almal te akkommodeer, maar dit is baie hartseer, as jy uitgaan en mense wat baat gevind het by hierdie regering sê dat die President “lieg”. Ek plaas dit tussen aanhalingstekens.
Ek sê weer, my werklikheid is nie jou werklikheid nie. Moenie my werklikheid ontken, omdat jy jou werklikheid beleef nie.
Elkeen van ons weet waarvandaan ons kom. My familie bly vandag nog in die villages [dorpe] van die Oos-Kaap. So, ons sien watter verbeterige aangebring is, as ons langs die pad afry
Koshigaya toe. Ons sien al die huise wat vir die mense gebou is, waar daar voorheen geen huise was nie.
So, hierdie werklikheid wat ek ervaar, is my werklikheid en die werklikheid wat Tintswalo ervaar, is haar werklikheid. President, so, gaan voort met die goeie werk. Waar ons foute maak, sal ons dit aanspreek.
Jy voel jammer vir aunty [tannie] Fatima, wat nog kan samosas bak. Wat van die kinders van Palestina, wat elke dag doodgemaak word, en wat jy regverdig? Wat van die kinders van Palestina, wat elke dag doodgemaak word en wat jy regverdig? Jy voel dat Israel die reg het om homself teen kinders en weerlose vroue en mense te verdedig.
Die werklikheid, wat ons as Suid-Afrikaners ervaar ... Elke een ervaar ’n verskillende werklikheid. So, laat ons hiervandaan gaan en weet, 30 jaar na demokrasie het ons nog steeds die hoop om die ongeregtigheid van 360 jaar uit te wis.
Met daardie woorde sal ek nie terug na my speech [toespraak] gaan nie. Ek wil net een punt lig, kan ons asseblief vroue
toegang tot land gee, sodat ns as vroue kan wys dat ons ’n verskil kan mak waar ons is.
Ten spyte van geslagsgeweld, ten spyte van mishandeling, voer ons as leiers die polarisasie aan, omdat ons net hier staan en mekaar aanvaar en nie begin bou aan ’n gesamentlike Suid- Afrikaanse identiteit nie. Baie dankie.
Afrikaans:
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Agb President, u is nou ses jaar die President van Suid-Afrika maar dit is baie duidelik dat u in hierdie ses jaar ‘n kleinserige President geword het. Suid- Afrika is nie geseën met baie wêreldkampioene nie. U het die Springbokke gelukgewens en ‘n paar ander goeie prestasies op wêreldvlak maar u het nagelaat om vir Dricus du Plessis, ‘n wêreldkampioen, geluk te wens. Dit is kleinserig van u want hy het eintlik ... gesê en kritiek uitgespreek wat die meeste mense van Suid-Afrika weet maar blykbaar weet u dit nie. Ek wil vir Dricus du Plessis in hierdie Parlement sê, baie geluk met jou wêreldtitel. Dit is harde werk, baie discipline en harde oefening.
English:
Hon President, it is just natural ...
The SPEAKER: I’m sorry, hon Groenewald. Please take a seat. Hon member, what is your point of order? Use your microphone please.
Mr M P MAPULANE: Hon Speaker, I could hear the Afrikaans spoken by the Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP but I can’t hear this Afrikaans. [Laughter.] So we are requesting that we get gadgets for interpretation. It’s quite important for us to hear.
The SPEAKER: Hon member, thank you for alerting us to the fact that you want it but there are gadgets on your chairs. Order, hon members!
Afrikaans:
Stilte! Stilte asseblief.
English:
Continue, hon Groenewald.
Dr P J GROENEWALD: Hon Speaker, I think it’s just natural for the President to look back over his term and I want to ask him today, hon President, what is your legacy? What is your legacy as President of South Africa?
Therefore, we must go and look at the real facts. If we go and look at the economy, we will see that when you became the President in 2018, the economic growth rate was 1,3%. Last year, it was 0,9%. So, under your leadership, the economy just retreated backwards, causing havoc for the people of South Africa.
As leaders, we had a meeting on Eskom with you, and you yourself said that 20 years ago Eskom was seen as one of the best electricity utilities in the world. Who destroyed Eskom? The ANC destroyed Eskom. You were in charge of the war room to end load shedding. You failed.
When you became President in 2018, the local currency against the dollar was nothing more than R11,55. Yesterday, it was R18,92. That is under your leadership. If you go and look at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, JSE, and ... the loss of 22% in US dollars, while if for instance you look at the Nasdaq-
100, it gained 147% during your term as leader. The S&P 500 gained 75%. Those are the realities.
If you go and look at the unemployment rate, it was 24% when you became President. It is now 32%. If you go and look at the youth, since you became President and over the years, it increased by 20%, where the unemployment rate for young people, the youth at this moment, is actually 64%.
I want to talk about corruption. The President himself said that the ANC is accused number one when it comes to corruption. That is what the President said and I said to you that you are number one of accused number one. Now, you have a number two who is also accused of corruption but nothing has happened. What happened with corruption in South Africa? In
terms of corruption, the fact is that your secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, said that they lied to protect the former
President. The ANC misused its position to defend and protect the previous President.
Hon President, if you look up at the wall there you will see there is a banner about Parliament’s oversight and accountability. There was no accountability. There was no
oversight. It comes to you as well as the next President after Zuma. When it came to the Phala Phala issue, it was this ANC in Parliament that protected you. Why? You said you did nothing wrong. Why didn’t you come forward to be accountable to the people of South Africa? I want to quote what Archbishop Stanley Magoba said:
It is frightening that as a society, we have become so worn
captured by lies.
I want to talk about crime in South Africa. Hon President, in
terms of the Global Organised Crime Index, South Africa now ranks seventh in the world and third in Africa because of
mafia-style criminal networks and organised crime syndicates. When you became President, the murder rate was 35 per 100 000
of the population. It is now 45 per 100 000 of the population.
Afrikaans:
Agb President, u het in New York ontken dat daar so iets soos plaasmoorde in Suid-Afrika is. Ek moes ‘n paar debatte met u
gevoer het nadat u minstens erken het dat daar wel plaasmoorde is en u het darem in ‘n mate gesê dat u dit veroordeel.
Agb President, ons sê ons is almal gelyk voor die reg. My vraag is wat het in Groblersdal gebeur? Die agb Minister van
Polisie en die agb Minister van Justisie gaan woon ‘n gewone
hofsaak by waar daar besluit moet word of daar bail [borg] gegee gaan word of nie. Het hulle nie werk om te doen nie?
Hoekom gaan hulle daarheen? Hulle gaan daar want hulle het ‘n politieke motief en daardie motief is om die voorsittende
beampte te intimideer. Daar word nou van drie jongmense verwag om te rapporteer. Hulle het gerapporteer.
Ek het persoonlik ‘n klag teen Julius Malema in 2022 sowel as in 2023 gelê, waar hy uitings van shoot to kill [skiet om dood
te maak] en the revolutionary must not be afraid to kill [die revolusionêr moet nie bang wees om dood te maak nie], gemaak
het. Die klagtes is gelê. Waarom word hy nie in hegtenis geneem nie? Laat hy ook aansoek gaan doen vir borg. Onder u leierskap is u besig om ongelykhede te skep. Hierdie manne het hulself gaan oorgee. Hulle is geregtig om borg te kry.
Ek wil oor hongersnood praat. Agb President, u Departement van Gesondheid sê dat meer as 15 000 kinders sterf jaarliks in Suid-Afrika en ‘n derde van daardie kinders sterf as gevolg van honger. Dit beteken basies dat 10 000 kinders sterf jaarliks weens honger. In KwaZulu-Natal, noord van Durban, is
daar kinders wat sand eet sodat hulle net kan voel dat hulle iets in hul mae het.
English:
However, you hon President, have a plane named Inkwazi and I
want to say that there is also a restaurant, the Inkwazi restaurant, in that plane, where you wine and dine at a rate
of R24 000 per person. So, you wine and dine for R24 000 per
person in the Inkwazi restaurant while children of South Africa are dying because of hunger. You are the Commander-in-
Chief. Did you investigate? If you did, what is the result, and if you did not investigate, why not, because that means
that you don’t feel for the hungry people of South Africa. I want to say, and I again want to quote what the Archbishop said:
Meanwhile as politicians begin to realise they might not be in power after the next election, their deceptions, scams
and fraud grow more blatant by the day, as they grow hungrier and hungrier by the day for the proceeds of power. They walk shamelessly and brazenly with their dirty feet through every aspect of our South African life.
I want to say again, “with their dirty feet through every
aspect of our South African life.” The message is clear, hon President. It’s time to go. Thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS: Madam Speaker, greetings to His Excellency the President, Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, presiding officers, Cabinet colleagues, hon members and ladies and gentlemen. I can’t believe that, hon Groenewald, you could stand here in a democratic South Africa and defend what happened in Groblersdal - apartheid and hoisting of apartheid symbols.
Shame on you!
Baba Hlabisa, the worst you could have done to us is reminding us of what the IFP has done to us those who stayed in townships. The IFP was a symbol of mobilisation of tribalism and the death of many who lived in the townships closer to hostels and could not travel by trains.
Despite that, in this democratic government, the ANC-led government has made sure that even hostel dwellers get their hostels upgraded and make them a residential area where families can live, because we believe that it is by doing so that we will build a reconstructed South Africa that is reconciled and a better nation for all despite the past. So, that is the worst thing you can do today.
When the ANC-led government came into power 30 years ago, it undertook to build a new country that is based on equality, fairness and prosperity for all. Fundamentally, the ANC understood that moving away from apartheid did not only mean protection from unjust laws, but it also meant breaking all the pillars of apartheid of which spatial configuration was one, inspired by the Freedom Charter that stated that in the new South Africa that the African National Congress sought to build, there shall be houses, security and comfort.
Our government adopted policies that allowed for the provision of houses for the poorest of the poor. Thus far, our government has already restored the dignity of many people and it will continue to do so by providing them with a dignified shelter. Our government further understood that a house is
made of walls and beams, but a home is built with love and dreams. It is for this reason that our housing policy has shifted since 1996, so that we could provide the majority of the people in this country with sustainable human settlements that are closer to economic opportunities and social amenities which enables them to fulfil their dreams in homes filled with love, health, safety and happiness.
Mr President, in your state of the nation address last week, you narrated a story of a democratic child, Tintswalo - that Tintswalo’s formative years were spent in a house provided by the state, one of millions of houses built to shelter the poor. Indeed, under the leadership of the ANC-led government, the number of formal households grew from 5,2 million in 1996 to 15,8 million in 2022. [Applause.] Households living in traditional dwellings has, likewise, significantly reduced since 1996, with over 1 million fewer households living in traditional dwellings in 2022, as compared to 1996.
Whilst there can be no doubt that government has built millions of houses through the RDP programme, it has also built thousands of units of social housing, rectified housing defects, provided housing material to individuals households
and contributed significantly to cases of emergencies and disasters.
Of the 10,6 million additional households now living in formal dwellings, 4,8 million households were provided with formal houses by this government. [Applause.] In terms of gender, out of those that we have provided in terms of the state houses, 1,9 million are households led by women as beneficiaries. For example, last year we handed over a newly built house to Mme Ela Thabane from Bela-Bela.
Sepedi:
... Mme Ella Hlabane kua Bela-Bela. Ge re be re bolela le Mme Hlabane, o ile a re botia gore e sa le a thoma go dula ka gare ga mokhukhu mengwaga ye lesome-hlano ya go feta. O be a ikwa a thabile kudu ge a bona a tsena ka gare ga ntlo. O leboga mmuio wa ANC ge o mo file bodulo moo a ikwago a iireletiegile ka nnete.
English:
Last week, Mr President, you called on all of us to join the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, GBVF, which has been characterised as a second pandemic in our country.
The provision of houses to women has gone a long way in helping women fight GBVF. A woman who owns a house and has security of tenure does not have to be trapped in an abusive relationship that often ends in femicide.
For this reason, we have also intensified our title deeds release programme to ensure security of tenure and provide economic asset to the beneficiaries. When we handed over a title deed to Mme Mabel Sokgopa – in the City of Tshwane, Garankuwa under MAWIGA. It was a very moving ceremony where we heard ...
Sepedi:
... mme a bolela a re mafelelong o hweditie thaetlele titi moo a tsebago gore ga go na motho yoo a tla mo ntihago ka mo gare ga ntlo. O re o tla dula moo a ikhutia, a tseba gore batlogolo ba gagwe le bana ba gagwe ba a tseba gore ke mo a dulago gona.
English:
Similarly, when we handed over a title deed to 100 years old, Ms Prakash, she said it was an exciting moment for her to receive the title deed as a homeowner at that age. She moved to that house 40 years ago during the Group Areas Act
movement. This is our restoration of dignity in ensuring that women who could not own title deeds under apartheid government have a say and have properties in their hands. [Applause.] Mr President, stories such as this one are a clear demonstration that we are not passive observers of our history, but authors of this history.
Not only have we provided housing to women, but we have also embarked on a women empowerment programme through procurement processes. You will recall, Mr president, that when you marked National Women’s Day in 2020, you announced government’s plans to expand women’s access to economic opportunities by setting aside 40% of public procurement for women-owned businesses.
For our part as the Department of Human Settlements, including our entities, we have made this our policy in all our grants. I can report today under this programme and your vision that not only are we talking about the past in what we have done, but in this Administration, we have ensured that 40% out of the R13,2 billion is set aside in this financial year for women owned companies. As we speak, already R1,7 billion has been spent on their companies and we believe that we will reach our 40%. [Applause.]
This is an instance where you find Limpopo and Mpumalanga the entire budget on HSDG in building houses is spent on women contractors. I must say that they deliver, Mr President, within budget and in record time and quality houses. [Applause.]
In the 2020 state of the nation address, Mr president, you spoke about the social housing programme to build rental housing for low-income families, which could leverage as much as R9 billion private investment in the construction of 37 000 rental apartments. Again, I am pleased to report that working in partnership with Infrastructure SA, which was launched under this Administration, the Social Housing Regulatory Agency, SHRA, has increased the pipeline of social housing projects, some which are complete and some halfway.
Just here in the Western Cape, three projects, Goodwood Station worth R464 million with 1055 units has been completed. Maitland Mews valued at R94 million with 204 units completed. Eight projects in Gauteng: Riverside Mews phase three and four valued R531 million will be completed in October this year.
Lufhereng valued at R184 million, with 407 units completed.
Fochville valued at R105 million, with 258 units completed. There are many more.
You go to KwaZulu-Natal, we have Hospital Street Social Housing Project which is seating at 54%, Bridge City Project seating at 78%, and also in the Northern Cape we have Hull Street seating at 40% to the value of R144 million. Mpumalanga with Kwandokhuhle valued at R193 million, with 492 units at 32%. This is work that we continue under your leadership, Mr President.
Yesterday, I had an engagement with community-based organisations, CBOs, non-government organisations, NGOs and civil society organisations, CSOs here in the Western Cape who were appealing to national government to protect and provide services. They narrated how they live in a city that doesn’t care about them. Similarly, I went to Nomzamo community, they narrated the conditions they live in where rubbish is not collected, and sewer is running in the street. They reminded us that, Minister, don’t listen to them when they say they govern better and rule better. It is a fallacy and for a few.
With regards to our policies, we committed to them that we will change our policies, principles and programmes to ensure that if a government, province or municipality does not care about our people, we will come in as national government and show that we care as we continue to do.
Mr President, the Draft White Paper ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: As you conclude, hon member.
The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS: Thank you very much. As I conclude, as we say we can never allow people who tell us not to talk about apartheid because it is 30 years later.
Shockingly, the same people who are supporting apartheid are Israel under us.
Mr president, our policies are geared to help South Africa, and that is why we say that with the work that we have done, the foundation that has been laid, we continue to provide services for all, not discriminatory. This is a government that can be trusted, and vote for the ANC ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: Hon Speaker, Mr President, Members of Parliament, honoured guests and the most important people - fellow South Africans, from our history it is evident that we are resilient people, able to adjust and survive even in extreme difficult times and circumstances. However, Mr President, after your five-year term of empty promises, you and your ANC government are certainly testing our resilience. From constant load shedding, forever increasing violent crimes, high levels of unemployment, especially the youth, loss of investments due to corruption, poor management, and cadre deployment – all of it has ultimately contributed to our critical economic situation.
A government’s main task is to create an environment for economic growth and opportunities, as well as to provide service delivery through effective policies and legislation. None of which you have been able to achieve in your term. In fact, Mr President, you have done the exact opposite.
If we take only but one example, the National Health Insurance, NHI, Bill, which has just been bulldozed through Parliament with your ANC majority, will actually provide people with less health care – specifically affecting the
poorest of the poor. It is clear as day that the NHI Bill is unconstitutional and unimplementable. This has been pointed out not only by the DA, but also by organisations such as Business for South Africa, BSA, and Business Unity SA, Busa. Even medical associations such as the SA Medical Association have warned that we will have a complete skill drain of medical practitioners should this Bill be implemented.
Mr President, it is clear that the NHI Bill will be the final nail in South Africa’s economy and will completely collapse an already underfunded and decimated public health sector.
Despite passing this Bill, South Africans still do not even know how it will be funded. The only conceivable way would be to increase taxes on an already overtaxed population. One only has to look at the troubles our public healthcare system is facing to know that this Bill is nothing more than a cheap political tool for the ANC to try and save itself from inevitably losing its majority.
Almost all public health facilities are understocked and underfunded with many not having the necessary equipment to complete lifesaving operations. In fact, most public hospitals do not even meet the minimum criteria for certification by the
Office of Health Standards Compliance. Some public hospitals do not even have computers or electricity at times, with doctors having to operate with cellphones’ torches. In Some hospitals, patients are pulled up flights of stairs to the operating rooms because the lifts either don’t work from lack of servicing, or because they are not exempt from load shedding.
How can we possibly implement this Bill when we have the shining beacons of maladministration and corruption such as Livingstone Hospital in the Eastern Cape, Pelonomi in the Free State, or Rahima Moosa in Gauteng? We have a massive shortage of doctors and nurses in the country. Just the other week, we heard how approximately 800 doctors who recently graduated and finished community service are sitting at home without a job because the ANC government cannot fund them – all the while we pay millions of rands a year for Cuban doctors to come to South Africa. Even your own Minister of Health admitted that there is no funding for these posts – where are we supposed to fund the NHI from when we can’t even put doctors in our hospitals.
The budget implications for the NHI Bill are enormous. Again, one of your very own, the Minister of Finance, has stated that there is no money to implement the NHI. If your own Minister has admitted this, then why, Mr President, are you playing with people lives for the sake of cheap politicking. Its time you play open cards with us all, admit that NHI is not financially feasible and put business and medical associations and the people of South Africa at ease.
But I can go on. The feedback received during the public participation processes of the NHI Bill was not carefully considered by neither the National Assembly nor the National Council of Provinces. Public participation is one of the core elements of what makes our Constitution and lawmaking one of the strongest around the world.
Mr President, the DA wrote to you requesting you to refer the NHI Bill back to Parliament as it will not pass constitutional muster. Both Busa and BSA have written to you requesting you not to sign the Bill. You cannot just stick your head in the sand and pretend that these very real issues do not exist. It is prescribed in the Constitution that you must refer a Bill back to Parliament if there are constitutional concerns, but
it looks like you would rather pander to your ANC colleagues than to your constitutional obligations. You have had your chance, but your time is now up, Mr President.
The DA will fight for the achievement of realistic universal health care and will ensure that public facilities are strengthened to improve service delivery and accountability without detrimentally financially burdening our country, as the unconstitutional NHI Bill will do. Under a DA-anchored government, no person will be excluded from accessing quality health care. Under a DA-anchored government there will be a progressive realisation of these rights, as enshrined in Section 27 of the Constitution.
Sepedi:
Mna C N MALATJI: Sepikara sa Ngwako wa Bosetihaba, Mopresidente wa rena, Motlatiamopresidente wa rena ...
English:
... the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, I am not going to greet those who contributed to the killing of the people of Palestine. I am not going to greet the IFP, the political party that was funded by the right-wing murderers
who have killed the people of Thokoza, KwaZulu-Natal, Sebokeng, and many other parts of South Africa - the people who worked against the people’s power.
President, the story of Tintswalo is a story of hope reflecting on opportunities and possibilities created by the breakthrough democracy, touching and transforming the lives of people from as far as Dzingidzingi and Dhlomo in the deep rural areas. We also acknowledge that there are many young people who are not employed or in education or in training programmes, and their social economic challenges must be addressed urgently. They also want to be the Tintswalos.
Thirty years into democracy, our challenge to ensure that we sustain areas of progress to make sure the people of South Africa continue to have access to electricity, water, sanitation, waste collection and other basic services. South Africans want a consistent and effective policy implementation led by the ANC. Despite technical glitches impacting on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, over 4,1 million university students and 2,4 million Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, colleges’ students have been supported by NSFAS since 1994. Those are the achievements.
President, just to remind them that in 2024, after a clear outcry, NSFAS must also try to assist those whose combined household income bracket exceed R350,000 per annum, and were not funded before. The ANC-led government is committed to assist to fund those that have been missing in that area.
Because we understand as the ANC that there are people who are too rich to access NSFAS, but too poor to afford education.
President, we also welcome the 1,6 million presidential employment programme opportunities created for youth placement in various sectors to gain skills and experience. Digital technology has created many opportunities as the youth earn income through online platforms, building their own creative careers. For example, President, through the influence of the ACD-led government, our local DJ’s are able to showcase their talent and promote their music internationally. President ...
Sepedi:
... ga re bolele ka mamina mo; re bolela dilo tia nnete.
English:
In the previous financial year, the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, empowered 2 320 youth-owned enterprises through
the financial interventions which took from the NYDA Grant Programmes and NYDA Voucher Programmes. Through this financial business interventions 6 796 jobs were created for young people employed by youth-owned businesses. Those are the achievements of the ANC.
Sepedi:
Ga re bolele ka mokete wa dikatse. Le Steenhuisen a ka holega ge a nyaka.
English:
Through the mentorship access to the market and business management training programmes, the NYDA provided 34 209 young people support. There is a direct relationship, President, between funding of youth-owned enterprises and the creation of jobs. One of the most significant achievements was the removal of work entry experience and entry-level employment by government. We call upon the private sector to follow the instruction of the President – your funders, DA.
Mr President, we welcome the Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF- funded Labour Activation Programme, Lab, that seeks to support employment and the training of the youth. We know the
intention is to create 2 million work opportunities in the immediate future. We urge the Department of Employment and Labour supported by Treasury to roll out this programme without delay.
President, the following programme must urgently be fast- tracked. We must reskill the youth to respond to the economic demand of the country, the challenging world of intelligence and digital transformation. We need a massive higher education through data transformation to ensure that we target and make sure we meet the National Development Plan target. We shall continue when we come back in the 7th administration to open the doors of learning and teaching.
IsiXhosa:
Siyabuya.
English:
President, Unisa and other universities during COVID-19 demonstrated such capabilities. We should develop the state- of-the-art specialised universities and TVET colleges aligned with our national strategy and the capabilities of the various districts. Our higher education institutions do not only
contribute to the skill development, but also a high impact on local economic development where there are institutions of higher learning. Higher education institutions should also be aligned with our mega infrastructure projects of development.
President, it is only the ANC-led government that was able to break the cycle of poverty in many families and one of the key achievements were delivered by the ANC. Today, a child of a domestic worker, a child of an informal worker, or a child of unemployed parent is a doctor, an engineer, a chartered accountant, a pilot, a CFO, a CEO, and many other professions. It is only because of the ANC-led government in the past 30 years.
It is clear, President, that even if they deny, some in the DA are products, they are the Tintswalos, they know that they are the products of the Tintswalo programme of the ANC. President, Premier Panyaza Lesufi has demonstrated that provinces can also expand new development programmes through the Nasi iSpani programme. The provincial employment programme should be doubled, and all provinces should show the example of Gauteng, including the Western Cape.
We must address the market dominance in the telecommunication sector. President, the youth of the country has long demanded a free data for all, and we know that when we come back, it shall be implemented. The global trends have shown that the small business sector is the highest job creator supported by national economy. South Africa remains the most unequal country, where the wealth is still controlled by the white male minorities, and that shall be restructured. We urgently call upon the restructuring of the economy, for the economy of the country reflects the demographic of the country. We shall decisively address the land question to agricultural production and human settlements so that to address ... [Time expired.]. Thank you very much.
Mr B H HOLOMISA: Chairperson, hon President and Deputy President and hon members. Mr President, the UDM fully agrees with the sentiment that South Africa must be rebuilt, as you had indicated in your state of the nation address. The UDM will give its perspective on this question, where I will have more time on 2 March at the Gallagher Convention Centre, when we will be launching our manifesto for the 2024 national and provincial elections.
IsiXhosa:
Xa sisakha le ndlu iza kusikhumbuza ke Mongameli ukuba phaya eBhayibhileni kwincwadi yoMprofeti uHagayi isahluko sesibini ivesi yesibini neyesithathu ithi:
Ngubani na kuni apha oseleyo, apha owayibonayo le ndlu isebuqaqawulini bayo? Niyibona iyintoni nak e ngoku?
Siza kubeka ke izinto ezifana neKomishoni kaZondo sijonge ukuba kulo monakalo wenzekileyo siphi ngoku.
English:
What I would like to raise with you Mr President, in the limited time I have, is the matter that you had last year instructed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to attend to, which is the matter of the SATBVC states pensioners. Your public instruction created a legitimate expectation within the community of thousands upon thousands of ex civil servants and their families, that their complaints will at long last be attended to.
Mr President a year has lapsed, and nothing has happened to fulfil your instruction. Aside from a meeting I had with the
Minister on 22 March 2023, that created some expectations with the Pensioners’ Committee, nothing further happened.
As you might be aware, the SATBVC pensioners have now resorted to a legal route to seek to affect your instruction, which will take time and resources, yet National Treasury, Government Employees Pension Fund, GEPF and the Public Investment Corporation, PIC did not go to court or consult with anyone before they used pensioners’ moneys to bail out state-owned enterprises, SOEs and funded Black Economic Empowerment, BEE transactions to the tune of billions of rands.
I would therefore strongly recommend an alternative solution from your office, and that is, that an independent body, with chartered accountants and tax experts, be mandated to handle the matter with subpoena powers to clear the house. That the erstwhile asset managers like Sanlam and others, the GEPF, the PIC and National Treasury be made to give answers to this independent body.
With its primary goal to clear as many claims as possible, as soon as possible because the consequences of our decisions
affect people’s lives Mr President, as some of these pensioners have passed away in 2023 and others long before that, who did not get to enjoy the benefits of their labours.
IsiXhosa:
Oomakhulu nootatomkhulu bale ntwazana kuthiwa nguTintswalo bafuna imali yabo ababeyikhuphe kwingxowa yomhlalaphantsi. Abalwi nani bafuna iimali zabo zabo abantu. Yekani ukuthatha iimali zemihlalaphantsi nizisebenzise ...
English:
... to beef up BEE companies ...
IsiXhosa:
... ningabanikanga. Musani ukutya yonke into le.
English:
A similar scenario is playing out amongst ex mineworkers who had been promised attention during former Presidents Mbeki and Zuma’s tenures, who had been retrenched using the so-called blue-card system. The UDM proposes that a task team ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: As you conclude.
Mnu B H HOLOMISA: Hayi ndinemizuzu emihlanu. Awuphazami kuba ndinemizuzu emihlanu emihlanu hayi emithathu?
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No hon hon Holomisa, look at the watch on your right.
Mnu B H HOLOMISA: Hayi uyandikhohlisa. Kodwa ke sithi kuyo yonke loo nto, kwezingxaki zasemigodini eMahlabathini naseRustenburg, abantu mabanikwe iimali zabo. Abanye baseMahabathini bekuthiwe baza kunikwa amalungelo ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Your time is up.
IsiXhosa:
Mnu B H HOLOMISA: Hayi ndisathetha makwedini yimani. La masala la.
Mr A N SARUPEN: Mr President in November 2017 you promised, if you were elected leader of your party that, you would implement a 10-point new deal, echoing Franklin Roosevelt and you promised to pull millions of South Africans out of poverty and into the mainstream economy.
We stand here six and a half years later, and that utopian landscape that you painted then has not come to pass. What we instead have, is the shadow of unfulfilled promises and a deepening economic crisis. This is because of the failures of your government particularly in job creation. You broke the very promise that you made to the country and the young bear the brunt of this crisis. Seventy per cent of young people aged 15 to 24 have been unable to secure jobs.
The government’s stranglehold on the business environment has choked the ability for this economy to create jobs.
Unemployment has surged from 20% in 1994 since we hear a lot in this debate about its progress since 1994. So, let’s us look at some progress. Twenty per cent in 1994, we now have 32,9% in 2024. When you include people who have given up on employment because they cannot find a job, that unemployment rate is an alarming 42,4%.
Now, to add insult to injury, instead of rectifying our economic mistakes, the ANC has shifted the burden onto a shrinking tax base and plans to do this again later this month in the budget. Slow economic growth has created a tax-to-GDP ratio of 25%, which is one of the highest in the world. South
Africans perhaps have the highest tax-to-GDP ratio in the world. South Africans are overburdened with tax. The citizens pay much more tax compared not to wealthy countries, but to developing and middle income countries. The citizens through tax are paying a huge financial price to fund the ANC’s failures.
The government’s failure to manage public debt has pushed us into a fiscal crisis, and 20% of all government revenue is now dedicated to servicing debt, not health care, not police, not teachers, debt. This means that we have limited resources for investments into infrastructure and essential services. The national debt is now over R5,2 trillion and South Africa cannot go on like this.
In the debate today so far, we heard that the ANC doubled down on black economic empowerment, BEE and cadre deployment. This shows who their constituency is. It is not the millions of South Africans looking for work or looking for opportunities. Their real constituency are a handful of cadre deployees and a few thousand BEE billionaires. Their entire system as they debated today so far shows us who they are going to take care of should they attempt to win another election.
South Africa cannot go on like this. Thankfully, every piece of information shows us Mr President that you are the outgoing President. If the voters make the right choice, we will not face a green coalition of doom, but we will have a blue coalition of change. Now, le t me tell you what the blue coalition government for change of the DA-led government will do. I see the ANC is heckling a lot when we mention the coalition for change. It is precisely because they are terrified that they all will be prosecuted for corruption and maladministration whenever we mention the change of government. [Interjections.]
With this blue coalition of change, we get the economic engine revving again. It is essential to do so to lift millions of South Africans out of poverty. We will do so by overhauling labour regulations that limit job growth. We will make sure that young people and older people that have been locked out of the economy get skills and apprenticeship programmes. We will boldly put an end finally to apartheid classification of race and employment equity and preferential procurement. We will no longer use those outdated and ... [Inaudible] ... categories to classify people. Our focus will be on
meritocracy and nonracialism, to make sure that diversity and merit thrives.
On the tax system, we will commit to no new taxes, unlike what the Finance Minister will be announcing from now. We will also prevent hidden tax increases, and to make sure the poor are taken care of, who are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. The ANC Members of Parliament who all earn more than a million rands love to heckle about the poor. None of them are in that basket. But, for the poor out there, we will expand the zero-rated vat food basket so that you can buy chicken, you can buy ... [Inaudible] ... nutrients and you can feed your families.
Lastly, we will make sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes by ensuring that SA Revenue Service, Sars has the capabilities. We will undo the gutting of Sars under state capture. We will also rescue public finances from the fiscal cliff. We will stabilise public debt. We will make sure that we don’t waste government money, unlike the hecklers on this side here. We will end this obsessive culture of bailouts to state-owned enterprises and looking forward to the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday because I believe SA
Airways, SAA has lost another R7 million in the last year. We look forward to taking you on bailouts there.
We will also rescue small businesses, and make sure that we will build an export-oriented economy that make sure that we rescue South Africa from this economic calamity. This is not going to come about through any new deal or new dawn. As we look back, we have gone from the new deal to the new dawn, to a false dawn and now to rarmageddon.
So, the choice for the country is clear. We can’t carry on with unfulfilled promises. Thank you to the ANC, your time is up as mine now ends as well. But we will get a better tomorrow with a blue coalition of change that will rescue South Africa. [Time expired.] [Applause]
IsiZulu:
UNGQONGQOSHE WEZOKUTHUTHUKISWA KOMPHAKATHI: Naye lo Tintswalo
osuka la Sihlalo ohloniphekile ukwazile ukuthi azofika la ngoba samlwela ukuthi uTintswalo lo azoma lapha esitikini akwazi ukukhuluma. [Ubuwelewele.]. Nawe Tintswalo noma uhleli ngale walwelwa yithi. Uyafuna noma awufuni.
English:
Chairperson, hon Speaker is still here in the House, Your Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, Your Excellency, Deputy President Paul Mashatile, my colleagues, members of the executive who are here today, hon Members of Parliament...
IsiZulu:
... nani nonke emakhaya. Ngicela ukubingelela nina ikakhulukazi ngoba sime la ngenxa yenu. Sila, sikhuluma nje, sikhulumela imisebenzi esiyenzayo, siyenzela nina. Sila nje ngoba sathunywa yini kusukela ngowe-1994. Nathi kithi: Nawa Amandla, hambani niyosisebenzela. Hambani niyolungisa izimpilo zethu. Hambani niyobonisa ukuthi i-South Afrika entsha ingaba khona, futhi kungenzeka.
Ngibonge kakhulu Sihlalo ngokuthi nginikezwe leli thuba inhlangano yami engihamba ngiziqhayisa ngayo i-African National Congress, enginikeze leli thuba lokuthi namhlanje kengithi qaba qaba kancane ngokuthi yenzeni, isazokwenzani, uma siqhubeke ngomsebenzi ozayo. Ngime la Mhlonishwa Mongameli nawe Sekela likaMongameli ngingumama kaTinswalo, ngingu anti, ngingugogo kaTintswalo. Lapha phakathi kwethu sinabomkhulu, sinabomalume, sinobaba bakaTintswalo. Labo abazinikezela
kudala ngaphambi konyaka we-1994 ukuthi kukhona uTintswalo ozophila. Abaqala ukumenzela imisebenzi ngonyaka we-1994. Kodwa ngicela ukusho ukuthi baqala kudala ukwenza lokho ngaphambi konyaka we-1994.
Mnu Mongameli ngicela ukuthi ngithi ukhulume ngoTintswalo, uthe ungekaqedi ngokukhuluma ngaye useselapha eNdlini. Baqala abanye le ngaphandle bafuna ukubonisa i-South Africa ukuthi akekho uTintswalo lo okhuluma ngaye. Ngifuna ukuthi mina namhlanje, umlayezo engiwusa kuTintswalo ngithi kuye...
English:
...you are not alone in this journey, reach out for help, share your story and connect with others who have faced similar challenges like you, but also reach out to the government of the African National Congress whose sole purpose of existence is to change you into a better Tintswalo. I want to say to...
IsiZulu:
...aboTintswalo abaningi lapha ngaphandle...
English:
... you are worthy, you are capable, and you are deserving of a better future.
IsiZulu:
Ngicela kuthiwe namhlanje ngiyini, ngiwu- swepper, kodwa anginikezwanga umshanyelo ngoba uma ngabe benginikeziwe umshanyelo ngabe ngithathe wonke lamazwi avela ngapha ngawashanyela kancane, kancane, ngaze ngayowakhipha ngomnyango. [Ihlombe.] Kodwa aninginikangaka umshanyelo esikhathini esizayo ngicela ninginike umshanyelo. Ngicela ukuthi ngithi ningalaleli u-Steenhuisen ...
English:
... with his lot. Don’t listen to people whose sole purpose of existence is to demoralise you. They tell you that nothing has happened since 1994. Don’t listen to hon Steenhuisen and his lot who don’t listen to nobody but himself and his lot. Don’t listen to the so call moon-shot. Don’t listen to pessimism.
Don’t listen to those people who want to tell you that nothing has happened since 1994.
Mr President, I want to say today we are here because we are a government that cares. We are here because many of my
colleagues have spoken about the past of where we came from and where we are. I do want to remind you, the Chairperson and hon members, that those who struggled to bring this South Africa to where it is today, at the time that we were struggling thought that it would not be possible. We thought that democracy would not come. We thought we were lost, and we would die outside. Those who were in prison and all that thought it wasn’t going to be possible, but what made it possible was the commitment of all South Africans irrespective of race, colour, or creed, who stood up and said apartheid - like Israel apartheid - would not survive because many people commit themselves to changing the lives of people.
Hon Chairperson, let me remind the naysayers and those with self-inflicted amnesia of what we inherited when we came into office. The destruction of the family units and communities torn apart by the slave trade and a migrant labour system, which we still suffer from today. Apartheid policies that impoverished individuals created spatial poverty traps and negatively impacted on the human capital formation of black people, in particular. A fragmented social welfare system based on race, gender, and geographical location. Welfare policies, legislation, and programmes were inequitable,
inappropriate, and ineffective in addressing poverty and basic human rights. I would like to say Mr President, as a Minister of Social Development it pains me to walk up and down the streets of Cape Town and see the number of people who are homeless. It pains me to hear the DA speak so much, just 200 meters away from here walk down the street Mr President. I will invite you one day to walk and see how many of our people are languishing in poverty on the streets of Cape Town. [Interjections.] I say to the people of South Africa, we care even for those who are out there because they are part and parcel of ourselves. We care for them. This government of the Western Cape that pretends to be taking care of our people, just walk out there and see what it is. [Applause.]
Mr President, in your state of the nation address, you outlined the remarkable journey we have traversed and the massive gains we have achieved under this government for all South Africans. As you sit here watching me, I want to tell you something. I don’t look at any South African from any point of view other than the fact that they are a South African who needs assistance. This is a South Africa that needs to be paid attention to by the government of the National African Congress. What have we done since then? [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Ngiyambona noSolly ukhona la phakathi kwenu. Mina noSolly sithathene laphaya e-NCOP. Ngiyabezwa nje o-Steenhuisen namhlanje sekuyibo asebekhuluma ngezibonelelo zemali[grants.] Impela? Nina? Hhe! [Uhleko.] Yinina esenikhuluma ngezibonelelo zemali, nina ebenisitshela ngokuthi...
English:
... the economy is not capable of paying the grants.
IsiZulu:
Yinina esenikhuluma ngezibonelelo zemali ngoba sesiya okhethweni. Yini ebenisitshela, nisasitshela namanje ukuthi...
English:
... if the economy does not grow ...
IsiZulu:
... asikwazi ukubhadala izibonelelo zemali.
English:
Let me tell you, we have been paying the grants from 1994 to date. [Applause.] Even when the economy is not doing very well.
We have stood up and said we shall be with the people of South Africa, whether the economy is doing well or not. It remains our responsibility and our capability to make sure that those who have absolutely nothing at least we can give them something and help them to lift themselves up.
You are saying give the man a rod to fish. I am saying where is that river. Where is that fish you are talking about? We have a river, and we have the fish. [Interjections.] What we have done, hon Speaker, we have improved access to sustainable livelihoods and entrepreneurial opportunities through grant funding and capacity-building of civil society organisations. Progressively expanded social protection coverage from
R2,4 million in 1994 to a hopping R28 million to support those who cannot support themselves.
We are currently providing regular income support each month without fail, to more than 4 million older persons, about one million adults with disabilities and 160 000 children with disabilities. More than 13 million children from poor households receive the child support grant, while another
237 000 children are supported through our foster care grant.
Provide financial support to the tune of R8,2 billion to non-
profit organisations. Increased the number of children benefitting from early childhood development, ECD. Mr President, you spoke so eloquently about ECD because it was Tintswalo, the first one that we have in the 30 years. The Tintswalo of the future next 30 years will be very different from the one of the current 30 years. [Applause.]
We have created over 500 000 employment opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme. Addressed the disproportionate impact of poverty on women through women empowerment initiatives. Passed progressive pieces of legislation such as the Children’s Act to ensure the protection of children. Intensified international collaboration with development and UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP and ILO on best practices. Expanded access to care and support services for victims and survivors through the implementation of Pillar 4 of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence. Capacitated the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre and the National Emergency Response Team, NERT.
I also would like to say, Mr President, we need not look any further than the 2023 National Senior Certificate results. Of the 897 775 Grade 12 learners who wrote the NSC, 543 786 full-
time learners were social grant beneficiaries, with 62 out of the 110 top performing learners in different categories. Mr President, we do say today...
IsiZulu:
... qaba, qaba sisazobuya...
English:
... when we further explain during the budget speech. [Applause.] Thank you, Chairperson.
IsiZulu:
Nina hambani niyolala.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you very much. We will now have a lunch break and returning at 13:30. We will leave in the following order: the Speaker, the President, Deputy President and the rest of us. I am told that the lunch arrangements are as follows: Please note that the lunch will be on sale at the following venues: ground floor David Bloomberg Reception Hall, second floor Banqueting Hall.
The HOUSE suspended (LUNCH BREAK) at 12:24
BUSINESS RESUMED AT 13:35
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Please be seated.
Order hon members. Hon members, we shall now resume with the debate on the President’s state of the nation address. I will now invite the Gauteng MEC of Finance, the hon Mamabolo.
Mr J MAMABOLO (Gauteng): Hon House Chairperson, your Excellency, President and Deputy President, the Chief Whip, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, premiers and MECs and all hon members, to the people of our country and to the people of Gauteng, I am deeply privileged to stand before you representing the hon Premier of Gauteng, Mr Panyaza Lesufi to participate in this very important debate on the state of the nation address as delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Hon members, in welcoming the state of the nation address, allow me to reaffirm our overarching strategic thrust and vision that guides our work in the Gauteng province which is well-known as Growing Gauteng Together 2030, with elevated prioritise which includes a focus on Townships, Informal Settlements and Hostels, Tish, otherwise known as Tish areas.
Let me upfront state that Mr President, it is very clear beyond any shadow of doubt that you have delivered one of the most overwhelming and resounding Sona underpinned by strategic leadership. Certainly, you were very frank and honest to the people. We therefore commend and congratulate you on your well delivered state of the nation address, Mr President.
Hon members, allow me to share with you some of the remarkable and commendable work that we are doing in the province which resonates very well with the state of the nation address. With respect to initiatives aimed at boosting economic growth we commend government for its commitment on enhancing investments. We welcome the fact that these conferences have already raised as the President said, R1,5 trillion in new investments. Already about R500 billion is already injected into the economy.
As the economic hub of the country, we appreciate the privilege of being the selected hosts of these conferences. Also, Mr President, we thank you and the national government for affording our province to host Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics Summit. Indeed, Gauteng is open for investments and business.
Hon members, as you know, and you surely agree that Gauteng is the inland hub of freight hub of logistics and warehousing and therefore we welcome one of the reassuring statements well- articulated in Sona stating as follows and I quote:
To deal with severe inefficiencies in our freight logistics system, we are taking action to improve our ports and rail network and restore them to world-class standards.
We welcome this point because as a province with a small landmark, but a point of interface connecting and linking key arterial roads that are critical to the economy, we do feel the impact of inefficiencies in the rail and port infrastructure.
In addition to its negative impact on price competitiveness in our freight, we do feel congestion in our province. We therefore welcome and support this particular intervention, Mr President. This is definitely in line with one of the most profound policies of the ANC to migrate from road to rail.
We also welcome the announcement made to create a high-speed rail link between Joburg and Durban. As you know this also
link very well with the partnership between Gauteng and Limpopo to create a speed train between the two provinces.
Hon members, the Sona makes a point about the special economic zones. We are very much pleased that already in Gauteng we have the Tshwane Special Economic Zone, the O R Tambo Special Economic Zone and that in the Vaal. Of course, we are working on the West Rand in Lanseria. We are also supporting the Roslyn Automotive City. Of course, the Rainbow Junction as a smart city in the Apies River in the City of Tshwane. We are rolling out a programme to rehabilitate about 40 roads in Emfuleni Local Municipality. [Applause.]
With respect to supporting Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises, SMMEs, we welcome the point made Mr President and I quote, “As we grow the economy, we are making it more inclusive.”
Hon members, in our province and I guess, subject to correction, we are the only province in the country that has passed the Gauteng Township Economic Development Act. In this regard having passed the Township Economic Development Act, we are now creating a provincial Development Bank, focussing on
strategic goal of providing flexible and friendly credit clients and loan facilities to the people in the townships.
Hon members we cannot leave townships as they are. Of course, as you know the current banks and financial institutions treat the townships as places that threaten their profit margins and rate of return and they do not want to put them in their balance sheet.
Now with respect to energy hon members, we have already concluded a partnership with City Power, and it will inject about 100 megawatts into the grid. We are rolling out transformers and high mast lights to our people in the province, making electricity accessible. [Applause.]
Hon members, you know in our province with respect to what Sona said with respect to job creation, we have found a very dynamic innovative and creative way of addressing youth unemployment through “Nasi iSpani” which is a very popular programme in the province. The premier will speak to this matter.
With respect to e-tolls, we welcome the announcement made by the Minister of Finance, the hon Enoch Godongwana when he said government will absorb the debt with the split between Gauteng government, taking 30% and the national government 70%. We did say we will approach the national government with a plan, to say how we are going to pay. Next week the premier of the province is going to make an announcement on this matter. Let us welcome the premier’s announcement.
Hon members, with regard to crime fighting, we have our crime prevention wardens, otherwise known as Mapanyapanya. They are already doing a good job to fight crime in the province. Let me assure the hon members that already the statistical evidence is proving that our crime prevention wardens are doing an excellent job and are making a positive impact in reducing the rate of crime in the province.
Hon members, while we celebrate the work done by the crime prevention wardens, we just want to place on record as a province our deep concern that whilst the crime wardens are doing a good job, however we were really taken aback and shocked when the DA Leader the hon John Steenhuisen descended
on our province and all what he did was to launch a scathing attack on the crime prevention wardens in our province.
It is reported that the hon Steenhuisen has referred to these members as drunkards, pulled from shebeens wearing clothes from Pep Stores. That is what he said. Now when there was a popular request for him to apologise, he refused to apologise! Even when the members of the crime prevention wardens said that they were deeply hurt by what you said. They did nothing to you; they have done absolutely nothing to you, and you are busy doing this standing by your point that they were drunkards! Hon member you must apologise, and you must immediately apologise. I would like to challenge the members of the DA: How can you allow this hon member whose turning your party to be almost like the old Herstigte Nasionale Party and are taking the liberal values that you claim, and you still have him as your leader. Hon members we know this Parliament has been very decisive in dealing with people that bring Parliament into disrepute. Therefore, we request that Parliament look into the conduct of the hon member. [Applause.]
We believe that he has violated his oath of office because he is not allowed to make such type of racist remarks.
Hon members, we also believe that if he does not apologise and withdraw on what he said, Parliament should consider taking strong action. To that effect we look to this House to provide leadership and we will wait for feedback on holding him accountable. Thank you very much hon members. [Applause.]
Mr V ZUNGULA: Mr President, the reality is that things are worse off for the country as compared to 2019. There has been an increase in load shedding, unemployment, crime and the cost of living. To prevent the collapse of the country and restore the dignity of the people, the following must happen. The recognition of AmaHlubi is crucial in restoring the dignity of Africans. Ingonyama Langalibalele I, was the first political prisoner in Robben Island. It is hatred of our people that the king and the nation of AmaHlubi are still not recognised in our country. The government must act on all these establishments that are selling fake foods. Environmental health practitioners must be employed and deployed to remove all unsafe foods from being sold to our people.
Mr President, the fact that you went for a foreign trader, who is probably not legally in the country, not paying taxes, selling fake and expired foods, whilst our children died of fake foods last year and you did not go to their families, let alone condemn the action, shows how much you disregard South Africans who have been calling on for the government to act on illegal immigration and foreign domination in the township economy. The government must secure borders to ensure legal movement of people. Mr President the rate at which illegal immigration is happening in the country can’t be characterised as illegal immigration anymore – it is an invasion.
The government must criminally charge all these companies that are employing people who are in the county illegally. There must be an end to load shedding now. Power stations must be serviced and maintained, and the evergreen contracts that are draining the finances of Eskom must be terminated. There must be a commission of inquiry to look into rand manipulation and unethical practices of the banking sector. The actions of the banks in fixing the rand is economic freezing that has destroyed the lives of many people.
Mr President, people lost their homes; they lost their cars and some even took their lives because of these banks. We will not let it slide. Those banks must be held accountable. All police reservists must be employed to boost police visibility in the fight against crime.
The government must be harsh against drug and human trafficking. Drug dealers are killing our country, and they deserve no mercy. The government must aggressively deal with the protection fee phenomenon. Poor people who are trying to make an honest living cannot be held ransom by criminals.
Mafias who forcefully demand 30% fee from local projects and businesses must be brought to a stop.
The digital industry such as Uber and Bolt must operate in line with our national interest. They must comply with our immigration and labour laws, protect the drivers and pay the applicable taxes. The film and television industry must be regulated. Film personnel are currently being exploited by the industry producers and production companies. There must be educational content that builds the spirituality and moral character of our country. Mr President ...
IsiXhosa:
... asiyindawo...
English:
... with a television content that is full of alcohol abuse, drugs, sex and crime. The government must go on an aggressive local manufacturing drive. We can’t be importing toothpicks, basic goods such as cutlery, towels and soaps must be produced in all districts in order to make citizens to be economically active.
The township economy must be transformed and restored to the citizens. They must be more skills development centres, libraries, arts centres than taverns in the townships.
Townships and villages cannot be the face of social ills, alcohol and drug abuse. Access to health care is a basic human right. Patients are not receiving adequate health care due to the shortage of doctors. The unemployed doctors must be employed now. There must be a farming revolution where all people are assisted to farm wherever there is arable land.
This will reduce food prices and ensure a people-driven food security. The agricultural assistant practitioners must be employed to drive this farming revolution.
Mr President, I want to call on all South Africans to rescue our country from being a failed sate. Come election and vote for a people-funded and people-centred party that puts the interests of South Africans first. All South Africans, come these elections, must vote for ATM. Citizens, you have a responsibility of shaping the direction the country is taking. The country is collapsing right under your watch, therefore, you as citizens, you have the responsibility of shaping the direction of the country by voting for ATM. Thank you.
The MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: Hon
Chair, the President of the Republic of South Africa His Excellency Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, our hon Deputy President Paul Mashatile, colleagues in the executive, Members of Parliament in this Joint Sitting, premiers of provinces, members of the media and most importantly the people of South Africa, who celebrated 30 years of democracy this year. I don’t want to forget to say happy Radio Day.
When the President delivered what I would pronounce as the most blissful state of the nation address in the absence of our rowdy neighbours on Thursday evening, he demonstrated that South Africa is a much better country than when we found it.
Indeed, essentially, we are Tintswalo all of us. The ANC-led government has accomplished much in its pursuit for a peaceful, united, nonracist and nonsexist South Africa. The ANC has fundamentally altered the socioeconomic conditions of our people.
Mr President, the phenomenon connectivity and internet penetration from a mere 21% in 2011 to a staggering 79% in 2022, has elevated our people in this rapidly changing world which is driven by digital technologies. Mr Mgugudo, an entrepreneur selling chicken in Mount Olive had this to say. Since we had access to connectivity because of its affordability at R5 per gigabyte and R250 per month unlimited, from R80,90 to R5,00, as an ordinary person this made it possible to increase his market of chicken because more people knew about his business in his village. Here we speak about what a developmental state is doing. We are intervening through connectivity all over the country to create conditions that make sure that data price goes down. Because of this experience of Yamukela, we felt it affirms the plan of 2022, the SA Connect which commits to make sure that in four to five years 5,5 million houses are covered through an enablement of
32 055 Wi-Fi hot spots. At the end of this year we expect the
coverage of not less than 1,5 million households enabled by not less than 8 415 Wi-Fi hot spots. By the end of March this financial year, we commit to cover not less than 747 000 households enabled by 4 250 Wi-Fi hot spots. All these thousands and millions of households will have access to internet at R5 per gigabyte. [Applause.] This is going to determine the bigger price environment in as far as this technology is concerned. What we expect here is that no less than 76 small medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, are also participating. A number of 4 500 direct jobs and many more indirect job opportunities are in the downstream.
The other thing we want to state upfront, Mr President, is that we are happy to report that we have completed the most important part of the digital migration. We had freed spectrum above 694 megawatts for use by mobile operators. It is this spectrum that will connect public institutions and deploy 4G and 5G throughout our country. Cabinet approved the next generation spectrum because the government wisely took a decision that you cannot allocate the entire spectrum to mobile operators. The government must have a say in ensuring that inequality is prevented in executing this programme.
Against this background we want to say 4G connection is
expanding to townships and rural areas under the democracy of uTata Mandela.
Information and communications technology, ICT, is a great equaliser. Everyone in South Africa must and will access modern digital technology. A digitally disconnected South Africa automatically removes itself from participating in the global community of the future. The social and economic impact will be catastrophic if that is allowed.
Quickly, Mr President, I want to say, on the State Information Technology Agency, Sita, we have made an urgent intervention to deal with the issues of procurement. A ministerial task team is doing wonderful job. A full report will be given in this regard.
I’m happy to report stability and seamless performance at the bank which are critical factors for grant recipients. As a result, Post Bank still services close to five million grant beneficiaries and close to three million other customers. In total, Post Bank serves close to eight million customers, making it and admired institution by most banks currently.
This means that the relevance of Post Bank to South Africa
remains critical. Post Bank is on track with its licences. These are the financial service provider licence and the designated clearing system participants licence, both of which give the bank the authority to not only issue cards, but to also sell loans and take deposit and sell insurances. It shall therefore always be remembered that although the full banking licence is critical, Post Bank is authorised to perform at the level I have already articulated.
A lot has been said here, Mr President. You said in your speech that R14 billion constitute the value of what has been granted as freezing application. You said R8,6 billion is what has been recovered. You said R64 billion is on litigation by our civil law enforcement, but no one listened. You said 200 people are under prosecution, no one listened. The point is, a party that is not nonracial which is a party purely of blacks and whites is not able to listen to the facts of the nonracial course.
We have accepted our challenges as the movement. I am happy to hear a multiracial black and white party accept its challenges of discrepancies in the Western Cape. It has not done so. We are yet to see a policy of affirmative action of the DA in the
Western Cape province. The DA is not capable of doing that because it is a party of blacks and whites. Its struggle is about which race weighs against which race, that’s why the black race is always a loser. They come out marching like rats running from methane underground. We know you are not going to listen. So, we must not waste our time struggling to be listened to or heard by a multiracial party when you pursue a nonracial course.
You have eight years in Tshwane. You cannot do 20% of what Sputla did in five years. [Applause.] You had some couple years in Ekurhuleni. What we did in five years you have not started 1% because you are a multiracial party. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr B N HERRON: House Chair, we don’t believe that the fabric of South African society can tolerate mediocre state management for much longer before ripping apart, nor do we believe that in order to fix South Africa we have to redivide it, which is the essential position of many in the opposition benches. What we need is a cohort of capable leaders steeped in the human values of humility, integrity and community.
The President is correct that South Africa today is fundamentally different to that of the apartheid-era. Nobody can seriously deny the existence of our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our democratic institutions, independent judiciary and free media. These instruments have been used by political parties and citizens across the spectrum to hold the state to account.
The quandary we have is that despite the gains we’ve made – subsidised housing, electrical and water connections and social grant system included – about one in three South Africans are living in extreme poverty. Our efforts to right the wrongs of the past, from land dispossession and spatial injustice, to prosecuting apartheid and postapartheid state criminals, have proven feeble.
Our constitutional values which the President correctly said we should celebrate impose a duty on the state to rectify our inherited injustices and forge unity between our historically divided people. What we don’t need is to throw our postapartheid values out with the bathwater. We need to create space for more babies in the bath.
If we are unable to eliminate poverty and inequality by fixing the economy and thereby creating jobs, the state has a duty to do so through social security. The President introduced us to Tintswalo as a symbol of a young South African nourished by the fruits of democracy. Bongeka Buso, from Butterworth on the other hand, murdered her three children last August before killing herself. She was 38 years old. She was driven to desperation by poverty, by the failure of the state to meet its section 27 obligations to provide social security. The President’s failure to commit the state to implementing a basic income grant for the 12 million unemployed adults who qualify for no other social grant and cannot find a job, was very disappointing. As poverty becomes increasingly entrenched the state must implement a basic income system that at least meets the lower bound poverty line.
South Africa will be unable to create jobs for as long as we are trapped in an economic growth crisis. We need an annual growth rate of 5% or 6% to seriously address the crisis of unemployment when our population growth rate has exceeded 19% over the past decade. We need the basics for growth, stable and reliable electricity, functioning transport networks and functional digital communications connections.
We welcome the President’s commitment to adding renewable energy to the grid, but the independent power producers, IPPs, procurement process has been bogged down in long processes that bizarrely don’t recognise any urgency. The 2020 risk mitigation IPP, which was to urgently add 2 000 megawatts to the grid by end of 2022, was barely off the ground in November 2023, with just five projects totalling 353 megawatts under construction. We also welcome the President’s strong commitment or recommitment to the green economy and a just transition.
In 2010, government adopted the New Growth Path framework which recognised the green economy as a key driver that could create at least 300 000 jobs. Fourteen years later it would have been good to learn about practical steps to begin reskilling coal workers and to localise the production of components for the renewable energy industry in South Africa.
South Africa’s National Infrastructure Plan was gazetted by the previous Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure in February 2022, identifying a number of Strategic Infrastructure Projects, Sips, across the energy, freight transport, water infrastructure and digital communications
sectors ready for implementation. But government-led infrastructure projects have been slow in implementation and the construction sector, which could be a key driver of job creation has been contracting.
Mr President, we need one coherent economic growth plan to address our worsening economic growth crisis and provide for inclusive growth for all South Africans and for black South Africans who were left behind but where black is as defined in the Employment Equity Act and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Ac as a generic term which means Africans, coloureds, and Indians. Without inclusive economic growth the democratic values and freedoms South Africa has achieved will be overshadowed by suffering on a magnitude that betrays those values and our constitution. Thank you.
IsiXhosa:
USEKELA MPHATHISWA WEZOLIMO, UHLENGA-HLENGISO LOMHLABA
NOPHUHLISO LWAMAPHANDLE: Sihlalo weNdlu yeNCOP, ndiyakubulisa neNdlu yoWiso-mthetho ngokubanzi. Ndiza kuwe Mongameli welizwe noSekela Mongameli ndizibulisela, ndisitsho nakuni zikumkani neenkosi zelizwe lakowethu, ndisithi bendingubani ke mna ukuba ndingachukumisa umququmbelo weengubo zenu. Ndiyaqiniseka kodwa
apho nikhoyo ukuba niyalazi idabi leenduku zomlomo ukuba livuliwe nguSomlomo. Ndiyafuna ukuba ndiqale kokuthi iimbali zibalisiwe namhlanje, kuqalwa kwezamhla sasicinezelwe satsho sathunakala, kwayiwa kwezamhla sakhululeka satsho sachulumanca. Zixeliwe zonke izinto ezingalunganga ezenziwe ngumbutho iANC kodwa asikazifumani ezenziwe ngabanye abantu.
Silapha nje, silungisana nobubhutyubhutyu obebenziwe phambili phayaa. Kumhla ngengxaki, mhla zaqala iinqanawa ezintathu, zagabha abantu kula malwandle ethu. Beza bethwele amasiko amazwe abo bezokusicinezela ngawo. Balibalisa ibali besithi
...
English:
... they have discovered.
IsiXhosa:
Bafike kukho izinto ezifana nabantu, benamandla okuthatha umhlaba wonke, kuquka nabantu baze babenza amakhoboka abo. Ewe, kwaye kwakubana. Ubukumkani bamaNgesi bayikhulula le nto yokuba kumiliselwe iPalamente yabantu abangengobalapha.
Abanikazi bomhlaba babekelwa ngaphandle kwisiganeko se-1948, kwatsho kwanyembeleka. La magqwirha namasela alithatha ilizwe
avala zonke iinkalo, bebethelela izikhonkwane zokuba singaze siphakame. Le nto bayenza ngokungabinanceba, ngezinyanzeliso kungekho mntu ubanqandayo. Ngelingeni, yade yavela iANC, yathi niza kuma kule ndawo, akudlulwa. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
Kuthe kwakubonakala ukuba banale Palamente yabo bodwa, ababinazo iintloni, balityakatya ilizwe. Bajika amagama afana naseMgungundlovu bathi kuseMaritzburg, neendlela zathiywa ngeekumkani zabo, zabizwa ngooKing’s Way, kwathiwa ukumkani wamaNgesi uza kuhamba apha. Ukuba yeyaphi loo ndlela, kwazi bona bodwa.
Makhe ndisondele kweli xesha lokusondela kwenkululeko. Kukho into entsha ngoku ekuthiwa kukudutyulwa kwenyanga (Moonshot) [Kwahlekwa.] Le nyanga iza kudutyulwa, yiANC. Abantu abathi banamandla babiza abanye ukuba mabaze kwiphulo lokudubula inyanga. Eli phulo, liza kukhupha iANC elulawulweni. Njengoko sebe kwelo phulo, kubizwa nabanye abakhululwe yile ANC ukuba mabeze, bangcatshe iANC bayikhuphe ekulawulweni.
Ingaba lityala ukwakha iiyunivesithi ezininzi? Ngoku kuthiwa abantwana abanazo iindawo zokuhlala. Baza kwakhelwa njani
indawo yokuhlala ingekakhiwa indawo yokufunda? Zininzi ezi zinto zithethwayo. Xa abantu besiva ukuba kufuneka kubekho...
English:
... the National Health Insurance, NHI...
IsiXhosa:
... bangumqobo. Impazamo esayenzayo kubavumela sibekunye kweli qonga. Siyabhala, bayacima bona. [Kwahlekwa.] KwaMthetho esiwakhayo xa bengakwazi ukuwuchitha, bawutshixela kwiinkundla zamatyala ukuba mawuhlale phaya ungade usetyenziswe ukuze aba nqalintloko bazokuthi iANC akhonto iyenzayo, yikhupheni.
Siyayazi thina loo nto kodwa inga abantu bakuthi bayazi nabo leyo.
Uyabona ke, ukuba ikhona indawo enzima, kuxelwa iphondo laseNtshona Koloni. Ndifuna ke ukuba ndingaxoxi ingathi ndisetywaleni. UMongameli uthe makukhawuleziswe kunikwe abantu umhlaba. Hayi ke abalapha abafuni nokuva. Umhlaba walapha eNtshona Koloni awuthengiswa kuba boyikisela ukuba sakuwuthenga, siwubuyisele kubantu abathathelwa umhlaba wabo.
English:
They block the opportunity to buy land and give it back to the previous owners.
IsiXhosa:
Ningacingi ukuba xa siwuthenga sakuphinda siwubuyisele kulo ebewuthengisa. Hayi, akunjalo. Ndiza kuxelela ngamanani, le nto kuthiwa...
English:
... is portfolio evidence.
IsiXhosa:
Hayi kuhle kakhulu andisayi kuxoxa njee ingathi ndihamba emasimini. Phaya, phezulu, sinembeko yokuba sibe noMnu Hilton Klein. Bendinqwenela ukuba angaphakama umntwan’omhle. Ndifuna sithethe ngezinto ezibambekayo. Nakuyaaa! Ungumntu ontsundu ovela emkhosini, ongumntu ozihluphekeleyo kwaye uneshishini lefama yokuxhela imfuyo (abattoir). Uthumela inyama emazweni angaphandle.
English:
Out of the 46 commercial abattoirs, he is the only man in this Western Cape.
IsiXhosa:
Abanazintloni bona ukuba babe nala mashishini angaka bodwa, babe abanye abantu bengenawo? Hayi, mabaxube neentloni. [Kwahlekwa.] Ndiyabulela, Mnu Klein. [Kwaqhwatywa.] Mandiphinde, ndiphakamise uMnu Nethling, onefama ekuthiwa...
Afrikaans:
... Saam begin ...
English:
...Us Beginning.
IsiXhosa:
Nguye ke ngoku umntu osebenza nabasebenzi basezifama namanye amafama asakhasayo.
English:
He is a commercial farmer, actually...
IsiXhosa:
... ephume izandla kodwa osebenza nabantu abahluphekileyo. Singayenza loo nto endaweni yokuba abantu babenekratshi ngomhlaba ababewubile. Ndiyabulela, futhi uhamba nomphathi
okhutshwe kula mafama asakhasayo. Ndicela aphakame lo mphathi ndimbone. [Kwaqhwatywa.] Sinaye noMnu Evan oshishina ngeegusha nombona. (Sheep and Grain). Uhamba phambili ekulungiseni aba bantu bamoshayo. Ezi ndaba zorhwebo (markets) neendaba zabasebenzi (labour) nayo yonke le nto ifihliweyo zaqala mhla kwatshintshwa izinto. Bathi ngeminyaka ye-1990 ukuya kwi-1994 makubekho ...
English:
... organised white farmers.
IsiXhosa:
Le nto bayenzileyo yile eyenza ukuba kuthi kunamhlanje kube izinto zisengakubo. Siyaya phaya evotini akukho mntu onoyikayo. Masiyeni phaya evotini. Ndiyabulela, bantu basemzini. [Kwaphela ixesha.]
IsiZulu:
Nk B S MASANGO: Sihlalo ohloniphekile, angibonge kakhulu ukuthola leli thuba ukuzobeka induku ebandla ngicacisele abantu baseNingizimu Afrika ngesimo saleli lizwe. Bantu bakithi, nizizwile izethembiso zikaMongameli ohloniphekile esezineminyaka emihlanu ubudala kodwa izimpilo zenu sisaloku
zisezingeni elinyantisayo. Uma evula Isishayamthetho uMongameli ngo-2019, wanika iningi labantu baseNingizimu Afrika ithemba ngokuthi athi:
Asivumelane, njengesizwe nanjengabantu ababumbene ezifisweni zethu, ukuthi kuleminyaka eyishumi ezayo sizobe sesenze inqubekelaphambili ekulweni nobubha, ukungalingani kanye nokuntuleka kwemisebenzi. Akekho umuntu eNingizimu Afrika ozolamba. Lolu wuhlelo engikholwa wukuthi sizolufeza.
Ucwaningo olwethembekile luthi inani labantu abaphila endlaleni selenyuke laze lafika ngaphezu kuka 30 million. Abantwana abashone ngenxa yendlala balinganiselwa kwabangu
2 818. Laba abantwana abashonela ezibhedlela, ngingababali abashonela emakhaya. Bese kuthi abantwana abangeke baphinde bathole ithuba lokuthuthukisa izimpilo zabo ngokwenyusa izinga labo lemfundo ngenxa yokuba nalesi sifo esibizwa nge-child stunting babalelwa ku-27%.
Esinye sezibonelo eziningi zale nhlekelele yokuphathwa kwabantu budedengu abavele behlupheka engingasinika abantu baseNingizimu Afrika siphuma kwisifundazwe sase-Gauteng lapho uzakwethu u-Refiloe Ntsekhe, iLungu lePhalamende Lesifundazwe,
abike zolo lokhu ukuthi uMnyango Wezokuthuthukiswa Komphakathi wakulesiya sifundazwe usebenzise u-17% kuphela wesabelo sezimali samabhange okudla.
Uma ubheka ubuningi babantu ababulawa yindlala imihla ngemihla uliqhathanisa nesabelo sezimali esisetshenziswe ukuxosha indlala, kuyacaca bha ... [Akuzwakali.] ... wokuthuthukiswa kompakathi. Ukweseka inkulumo kaMongameli ka-2019 engiqeda ukuyicaphuna, i-DA izame unyaka nonyaka ukubeka ezithebeni zale Ndlu yeSishayamthetho imibono nezinhlelo zokutakula abantu baseNingizimu Afrika abazithola besotakwini olujulile noludabukisayo kodwa Umthethosisekelo wezwe ube ukubeka ngokusobala ukuthi akekho noyedwa umuntu wakuleli lizwe okufanele ablawe yindlala. Lezi zinhlelo-mbono zikwinqubomgomo ye-DA yokuthuthukiswa komphakathi eye yacwaningwa nawongqondongqondo bezokuthuthukiswa komphakathi bakuleli lizwe. Le mibono-zinhlelo elandelayo i-DA isizoze izifezekisele yona ngoba lo Hulumeni osuzobeka phansi izintambo awufuni nokukubheka kodwa lokhu.
Okokuqala, sizokwengeza ohlwini lokudla oluzongabi nantela ukuze abantu bakwazi ukuxosha indlala kulesi sikhathi samanani okudla aphakeme kangaka. Okwesibili, sizokwenyusa inani
lesibonelelo sezingane ukuze silingane okungenani nezinga lokuhlupheka lalana eNingizimu Afrika. Okwesithathu, sizokwelulela isibonelelo sezingane kulabo abasazithwele ukuze ukuthi kuqinisekiswe ukuthi abantwana babo bayanakekeleka bengakabelethwa ukuze izimpilo zabo zivikeleke ezifweni ezidalwa yindlala.
Lesi sibonelelo sizokwelulelwa nakulabo abafika eminyakeni yobudala eyishumi nesishayagalombili bengakaliphasi ibanga lika matikuletsheni ngoba bahlangabezana nezinkinga kucace ukuthi lolu sizo abebeluthola selumisiwe. Sihlalo, lezi zinhlelo zizobuyisela isithunzi kubantu baseNingizimu Afrika uHulumeni kaMongameli ongenandaba nabo kodwa bebe benoMthethosisekelo obagunyazayo ukuthi belekelelwe lapho izimpilo zabo zihlukunyezwa yizimo ezingaphezu kwamandla abo.
Lezi zibonelelo aziyi ngokuthi yiliphi iqembu elikuHulumeni, njengoba uMongameli ohloniphekile eke wazama ukukhohlisa abantu baseNingizimu Afrika, zishicilelwe kuMthethosisekelo waleli lizwe. Abantu abakhulile bahlangabezana nezinkinga le eNingizimu Afrika njengomama wase-Aliwal North owahamba waya kwa-SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, eyovuselela isibonelelo
sakhe, u-Sassa wase-Aliwal North wathi makaye e-Burgersdorp
...
English:
... 240 kilometres away.
IsiZulu:
Njengoba ukhetho selungqonqqoza emnyango, sifaka inselelo sinxenxa ukuthi abantu baseNingizimu Afrika ukuthi ake basiphe ithuba lokubakhombisa ukuthi lokhu esikwenza eNtshonalanga Koloni singakwazi kwezinye izifundazwe. Ngicela ukuthi Inkosi yomusa inibusise. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.]
Mr M G MAHLAULE: Chairperson, President, Deputy President, Mr President, the world and South Africa are at a crossroads. We are faced with a choice between going along with the declining Western-dominated order that exploits our natural resources and treats Africans and the global South as second-class citizens of the globe or embracing the possibilities of development and sovereignty provided by the growing Brics bloc of countries. In South Africa, the opposition is firmly wedded to the former, a unipolar world of exploitation, oppression and genocide against those who dare to resist.
The ANC has a duty to ensure that Tintswalo is protected and nurtured. Tintswalo’s future is in the Brics and the Global South. Historically, there is not one single country that has developed following the DA’s discredited nor the EFF’s make- believe policies. The neoclassical or market-led approach lacks the tools to facilitate the required industrial catching up that our Republic must do to truly join the ranks of the developed world. The state-owned enterprises, SOEs are the only tools available to drive the unique element of the state- led approach that was crucial to the success of economies such as those of the Asian Tigers and the Marshal Plan of post- World War II. SOEs are better placed to minimise costs and maximise the potential for successful state-led development.
They are a more practical way for a country striving for economic development, eradication of inequality and a better position in the international economy. SOEs present a rapid, more stable, and effective way to qualitatively change the living conditions of South Africans. Mr President, your inaugural Sona swept the nation with the optimistic spirit of Thuma Mina after many years of despondency. Your speech engulfed the nation in the spirit the whole world felt when the father of Tintswalo walked out of Victor Verster Prison exactly 34 years and three days today.
The Thuma Mina wave of optimism affirmed you as a choice- worthy leader to deliver South Africa from the clutches of state capture. The reforms you have since led have shown your high appetite to return the country to the promised land of Mandela’s and Tutu’s Rainbow Nation. So here are some facts for the naysayers recorded since you assumed office, Mr President. You have clarified the role of political leaders in relation to the day-to-day operations of SOEs, which has allowed the boards and leadership the space to implement the much-needed reforms, as well as execute their mandates in support of the country’s socioeconomic transformation.
Our SOEs have started to function remarkably better and have yielded best-in-class impacts as evidenced from the Auditor- General’s audit reports. Now, here are the facts, you must just listen carefully. Six SOEs under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy have improved their good governance practices and financial prudence by almost every measure compared to the previous administration. Beyond this, all SOEs under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy have passed the cash ratio liquidity tests and are able to cover all their short-term obligations from their strong
balance sheets, not this nywe nywe nywe. [yada yada yada.] We are talking facts here.
All SOEs except one under the Department of Transport are going concerns and have received unqualified audits. The Road Accident Fund is the only one being supported to ensure that it also improves governance and delivers on its mandate. These are facts. Alexkor’s revenue increased by 116% whereas its profit increased by 63% in the past year. Similarly, Safcol’s revenue has kept an upward trend for a prolonged period and paid a dividend for the first time after so many years.
Alexkor’s and Safcol’s improved financial prudence demonstrates that the seemingly impossible has become possible under your leadership, Comrade President. SA Airways, SAA, is back in the sky proudly carrying our flag.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, has opened rail corridors and now moves 19 million passengers. Eskom and Transnet have successfully restructured their business models to enable private sector participation and investment in the electricity, ports, and railway networks. Similarly, efforts have been made and put into resolving the conflict between the 2006 Ports Act and the 2008 Companies Act to establish the
Transnet National Ports Authority, TNPA, as a subsidiary of Transnet. The corporatisation of the TNPA will unlock the
much-needed investment to expand the Port of Durban’s capacity for container handling from 2,9 million units to more than
11 million units.
Mintek has manufactured a range of Point-of-Care test kits for the detection of diseases, and viruses including malaria, TB, HIV and Rift Valley Fever. This will ensure that South Africa and the global South are ready to tackle the next pandemic. We will be supplying vaccines and not begging for them. The Council for Geoscience has intensified the identification and drilling of selected mineral target areas deemed critical for development, including input to pharmaceutical applications, food security, industrialisation and energy security. Mr President, Siyabuya, [We are coming back.] and when we come back after the elections and you are the President, we will be able to report more progress on these issues.
No sane person can maintain the fake news commentary that SOE reforms have been frustrated and ineffective. The Thuma Mina spirit will never be diluted and abandoned because Tintswalo depends on it. Thuma Mina’s successes are a threat to those
who view the barbaric era of apartheid and colonialism with an appetite and support for their return. These people were either direct beneficiaries or secondary beneficiaries or collaborators. They are not dissimilar to those that benefitted during the height of state capture. They view clean governance and the development of the majority as a threat to them.
My advice to the opposition, Comrade President, is that a fact-based view, like a healthy diet, therapy, and regular exercise, should be part of their daily lives. Practicing a fact-based view will enable them to control their overdramatic views and longing for the past. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
The PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL (Ms N Dube-Ncube): Hon
Chairperson, hon Speaker, His Excellency the President of the Republic, Cyril Ramaphosa, hon Deputy President, Members of Parliament, members of the NCOP, and all my colleagues, we rise before this august House, full of hope and optimism about the next 30 years of the ever-better life for all the people of South Africa. Equally, we have no doubt that this better
life can only be championed by the African National Congress- led government.
This confidence is borne out of the fact that over the last 30 years since we attained our freedom in 1994, the ANC has had a steady hand in navigating the country through a buffet of challenging storms visited upon us by both historical and external factors, such as changing geopolitical situation, architecture, natural disasters and difficult sociopolitical- economic dynamics.
Your Excellency, Mr President, in your state of the nation address last week, you meticulously outlined the successes that we have realised together with our people in the last 30 years, but equally you admitted where there were challenges, and we can say the least for others somewhere else where they fail our people.
Hon members, we must be frank and admit that whereas in 1994 we assumed that all the compatriots were committed to constructing an equal society. This was not the case. There are some in our midst whose preoccupation has been to
undermine the democratically elected government under the guise of being honest critics.
IsiZulu:
Kubona ayikho into enhle engenziwa umuntu omnyama. Abantu bakithi kodwa bakubonile lokhu, yingakho abantu bakithi ...
English:
... rejected them. They rejected them in 1994 and they are still going to reject them in 2024. [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Ake siqale lapha malungu ahloniphekile, Mhlonishwa uBulawayo, umholi weNkatha. Mhlonishwa, kubuhlungu ukuzwa umuntu omdala edukisa isizwe, abantu bakithi, ngesifo esiwubhubhane isifo sengculazi. Ayikho into eyenziwa yiNkatha bakithi KwaZulu- Natali ukuvimba lolu bhubhane. [Ihlombe.] Uyakwazi nawe Mhlonishwa Hlabisa ukuthi imishanguzo yaqala ngohulumeni ka- ANC. Namhlanje yingakho KwaZulu-Natali sesenza ngcono ...
English:
...even on United Nation goals in ending the epidemic by 2030
...
IsiZulu:
...okungu 95:95:95. Inkatha nginesiqiniseko sokuthi ayimazi nalowo 95:95:95. Namanje abantu baKwaZulu-Natali yingakho bayiphika Inkatha bayikhahlela ngo-2004 ngoba intuthuko ibingekho bakwethu. Imigwaqo oyibonayo kwanamhlanje, ukufukulwa kwabantu besifazane ngaphansi kohlelo “kwazibambele” lwaqala ngabahlonishwa ababengaphansi kohulumeni weNkatha. Omhlonishwa uNdebele, oMhlonishwa Mkhize yibona yibona abaqala imitholampilo. Namhlanje mina ngimi la ngikhulele ngazalwa kwa-L KwaMashu lapho esasihlala khona endlini enamagumbi amabili. Namhlanje sesihlala endlini enamagumbi amane. Abanye ababehlala lapho bakhishwa yiloHulumeni ka-ANC bahamba bayokwakhelwa kwezinye izindawo, bahlala ezindlini zabo ezinamagumbi amane. Ayizange iNkatha ize ikwenze lokho Mhlonishwa. [Ihlombe.]
Asibonge nje ukuthi ngesikhathi kusekhona oMhlonishwa uNdebele oZweli Mkhize, oDumisani Makhaye, oMike Mabuyakhulu, uyakhumbula Mhlonishwa ukuthi yilabo bahlonishwa kuHulumeni weNkatha ababeletha intuthuko ezindaweni zabantu bakithi baze babizwa ngokuthi i-4x4 ngoba kwakwaziwa bona bodwa. Namhlanje sinezikole ezifana noMandla Mthethwa, eMkhanyakude le, lapho abantwana bakhona bangaphathi izincwadi zokubhala, abaphathi
amapeni basebenzisa ubuchwepheshe. Sinezikole namhlanje ezifana no-Anton Lembede ...
English:
... that are paperless, that are using technology.
IsiZulu:
Abafundi bethu lapho ngisho othisha basebenzisa ibhodi elimhlophe. Ubuchwepheshe banamhlanje benziwa yilo Hulumeni we-ANC. Inkatha, nkosi yami, yayingekho ndawo. Yayingeke ize yenze kwaleyo nto. [Ihlombe.]
English:
In this sixth administration in KwaZulu-Natal has been characterised by disasters. The triple challenges of COVID-19, civil unrests, devastating floods, and this as we live bettered our economy. Considering...
IsiZulu:
... Ukuthi isabiwomali sethu saKwaZulu-Natali singamabhiliyoni ayi-R130,4 futhi umonakalo owenziwa yilezi zikhukhula ungaphezu kwamabhiliyoni ayi-R160. Uyacabanga
ukuthi isabiwomali sethu sanyamalala kangakanani ukuzama ukulungisa lo monakalo.
English:
Hon members, we have worked hard to harness our relationship with the private sector to retain their investment in our country in the toxic, rhetoric and scepticism championed by some of our learned friends on my left-hand side, seated across in the opposition benches, about this country and pulling our country down at every turn that they can get.
For the period 2019-24, we have really committed ourselves to the tune of R18,1 billion worth of new investment in KwaZulu- Natal that has created more than 30 000 jobs across a spectrum of sectors. Six billion of business expansion projects were realised that created more than 16 000 jobs. In line with the government’s quest to transform the economy, 98 priority group investment projects were also brought into the mainstream. If we look at the Dube Trade Port Corporation as the SEZ in KwaZulu-Natal, today it has reached R759 million in December 2023 and this is expected to increase to R1,3 billion. The investments that are in existence currently and if you look at the jobs that have been created there, you can see that even
the jobs that were impacted by COVID-19 we are able to regain them.
Mr President, your investment drive, through your Presidential Investment Conferences in KwaZulu-Natal has really set its course of aggressively rebuilding this country, but also repositioning our province as an investment destination. We had to work extra hard to restore and rebuild investor confidence. As a result, in the last year alone, KwaZulu-Natal witnessed several investments launched by our hon President,
including the SA Pulp and Paper Industries, the SAPPI, of R8 billion.
IsiZulu:
I-SAPPI ngiyafisa ukusho la ukuthi isezindaweni zasemakhaya yilapho abantu basemakhaya nezindawo ezisemakhosini abakwaziyo ukuthi bahwebe ne-SAPPI bakwazi ukuthola ukuthi babe yizinkampani zabo bazimele ngomsebenzi owenziwa nguwena Mongameli waseNingizimi Afrika. [Ihlombe.]I-Hesto elaphaya eMandeni nayo isise ngo-R1 bhiliyoni, wafika wazoyithula ngokusemthethweni Mnu Mongameli.
English:
That has created massive jobs in the area of Mandeni.
IsiZulu:
Phinde futhi iqhasha abantu. Uyakhumbula nawe wababona abantu ukuthi bakwazi ngisho ukuqala ucingo olufakwa emotweni, benze imoto ize idume. Yenziwa abantu abancane, abantu abasha kodwa abanye yizinkampani zabo ezisebenza nazo lezi zinkampani.
English:
Toyota, one of the notable automobile brands in South Africa and beyond, has pledged more than R1 billion towards renewable energy and the expansion that they are doing. Rainbow Chickens announced R620 million as part of their confidence in the KZN poultry sector, boosting investments in the rural areas.
We have had many other investments such as the Defy, the Serenity Hills, and the multiple property developments that we have seen. The Woman-owned business in the Royal Shakaland that was announced by yourself, Mr President at the last Presidential conference. The strategic partnership that we have had with the IDC has also benefited a lot of young people
192 beneficiaries of young people have been given grants and
has created more than 1050 jobs. These beneficiaries are spread across KwaZulu-Natal.
We have also positioned KwaZulu-Natal as a smart province, as the Minister has said here. We are working with other telecom companies. Vodacom has an investment of R60 billion, in KwaZulu-Natal, which will go a long way in boosting Smart province campaign. In this regard, we are also creating what we call data centres in the townships and in the rural communities and in the height of other schools where we have created and trained data analysts so that they’re able to get into the job market and create their own. We have trained
100 000 young people as data scientist and data analysts. [Applause.]
IsiZulu:
Ubani owayazi ukuthi umuntu omnyama, ingane esesikoleni elokishini iyofunda ngo-Coding nawo-Robotics? Zingama-26 izikole kwezingama-23 KwaZulu-Natali abantwana befunda ngama- robotics no-coding. Okwamanje sisaqale ngalezi. Zingama-211 ku-Intermediate Phase izikole nazo esezingene ku-robotics kanye nasebuchwephesheni ezifundweni zabo.
English:
With the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, Mr President, when you launched the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and you announced the report from there. We also established the KwaZulu-Natal 4IR Advisory Commission that is helping us to advise on the Digital Transformation Strategy so that we can expand the broadband connectivity of our people.
IsiZulu:
Ngiyazi ukuthi iNkatha izothi kukhona eyakwenza ngo-4th Industrial Revolution. Nginesiqiniseko sokuthi kwakusese yi- 1st Industrial Revolution ngesikhathi seNkatha njengoba sesiya ku-5th Industrial Revolution. Awu 8 000 ama-wi-fi hotspots esihlele ukuthi kulonyaka sizobe sesiwafake asabalala kuzona zonke izindawo. Okuhle kakhulu ngama-wi-fi hotspots ukuthi amanye siwafaka ezindaweni zasemakhosini lapho amakhosi siwafakela amakhamera ukuze avikeleke. Sibanike izimoto sokugada, sibanikeza umphakathi ovikelekile. Sibathengele izimoto ukuze bakwazi ukuphepha ezindaweni zasemakhaya nasezindaweni zasemakhosini. Abantu bakithi sibafakile emkhakheni wensangu. Sabanika amalayisensi ayi-649. [Ubuwelewele.]
IsiXhosa:
Mnu B B NODADA: Sihlalo weNdlu yeNCOP, malungu ahloniphekileyo nabantu baseMzantsi Afrika, ndiyanibulisa ngale njikalanga.
Molweni.
English:
Mr President, on Thursday evening I sat on these benches in awe of your out of touch speech about the reality of South Africa today. In 1994, millions of South Africans believed that they would live a better life under the ANC. However, today not in 1994, 30 years later South Africans have been plunged into a life of dependency, unemployment and poverty.
Since 2018, you have promised interventions in Basic Education, yet eight state of the nation addresses, Sonas, later nothing has changed. Mr President, Minister Motshekga has led you to believe that all is well in the education sector, relying on information she gets from air-conditioned boardrooms. You went as far as calling it a silent revolution. Getting quality education in democratic South Africa should not require revolution, Sir, it should be the norm. [Applause.]
Generations of parents have lost all hope of their children in having economically prosperous futures. Mr President, your new dawn has become our daily nightmare. Now, we would like to dispel some of the illusions about the children of our democracy today. While conducting oversight in the Eastern Cape I met a young girl called Thando ...
IsiXhosa:
... eQonce, kwilali yaseCwengcwe ...
English:
... who is forced to walk long kilometers through dangerous bushes and risk of being raped. She crosses a dangerous river to get to school despite qualifying for scholar transport. I walked those long kilometers with her and many other learners. Her bravery and desire for education makes her do this every single day because she knows that her family is part of the
30 million poor South Africans that are jobless suffering under the rising cost of living. She knows she needs quality education to change the circumstances of her birth.
However, Thando’s school is a dilapidated mud and asbestos building that poses a danger to her health and unconducive
learning environment with a strong stench of deadly pit toilets wafting through the broken windows of her classroom. She shares her desk with three other girls in the classroom that is overcrowded with 60 other learners. Despite the many excellent teachers that goes the extra mile under the difficult circumstances, Thando’s teachers have failed the very same test for the subjects that they teach, assured in the knowledge that SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, would protect their incompetency.
At break time if the food is delivered, Thando collects her only meal for the day. However, last year she was part of the thousands of learners that starved for weeks in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal because the school nutrition tenders were given to the ANC cadres who must eat while children starve.
Thando’s school is part of the 74% of schools without libraries. She will likely be part of the 81% of 10-year-olds and 56% of grade 6 learners that cannot read for meaning in any language. Attending one of the 82% of schools without laboratories, no doubt, she will be one of the grade 9 mathematics and science learners that do not have basic
subject knowledge and skills. If Thando is lucky enough to complete matric, she would have to prepare her exams in darkness because of load shedding. Thereafter, anxiously wait to be misled by Minister Motshekga and the ANC’s quantity over quality matric pass rate leaving thousands of learners behind.
Mr President, the real matric pass rate is only 55,3% not 82,9%. Your government has, in fact, left behind more than
345 000 learners that dropped out or were discouraged between grade 10 in 2021 and matric in 2024. They have now joined the 3,3 million youth, not in education employment or training. Only 40% of this cohort of learners achieved bachelors. Let me tell you what you get when you need to get bachelors. You need four subjects at 50%, one subject at 40%, two subjects at 30% and attain a bachelor’s pass. What is worse, you can even fail one subject and still get a bachelor’s pass.
Therefore, a high quantity pass rate with the pass marks this low means little if quality, depth and skills are left out of the equation. At the end of 12 years of school struggles; Thando, Tintswalo’s daughter Esona and the millions of young people under this ANC government are destined for the unemployment queues joining the seven in every 10 young people
that are jobless, denying them the opportunity to access tertiary institutions because you have failed to give them quality education. You see, Mr President, you can fool your comrades with your out of touch speech but you cannot fool South Africans. This is their reality.
Fellow South Africans, we can wake up from this nightmare. In 2024 elections, you must vote for the DA’s blueprint that will rescue the millions of learners from a failing public education system. Whether a child is born in Khayelitsha or Wynberg, Umlazi or Ballito, Alexandra or Sandton, in Qumbu or Cape Town they should receive the best quality education. The DA will ensure that every learner receives 210 full days of school prioritising reading, writing and numeracy at the foundation level. Poor quality teaching will be rooted out and teachers will be tested every three years. We will introduce literacy and numeracy assessments at grade 6, 9 and grade 3 to improve quality.
Trade union strangleholds on teacher appointments will be broken. Learner dropouts would be cut by introducing a curriculum that is diversified from grade 9 for learners to acquire skills responsive to economic opportunity.
IsiXhosa:
Niyabona nina, ingxaki yenu kukukhathalela iingxaki zamanye amazwe nisohlulwa zingxaki zalapha ekhaya. Nihoyene namanye amazwe kodwa nohlulwa ukunika abantwana bethu imfundo esemgangathweni. Oodade bethu kunyanzeleka ukuba balale namaqabane kaTambo ukuze bafumane imisebenzi nokuba bafunde kangakanani na. Nithanda, ningathandi, anibuyi.
English:
Mr President, Madiba was correct when he said that, once you climb a great hill you will find many more hills to climb. The ANC is that great hill that we had to climb for the last
30 years and it is time we left it behind. In 2024, we will do to the ANC what our parents did to the apartheid government in 1994, to vote you out.
IsiXhosa:
Sonele nini nina.
English:
I thank you.
The MINISTER OF HEALTH: Chairperson, let me convey my greetings to the Speaker of the National Assembly, hon Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Amos Masondo, President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, the Deputy President, hon Paul Mashatile, my Cabinet Colleagues, hon members.
I appreciate this opportunity by the Presiding Officers, the Presiding Chair and my Chief Whip, to participate in the debate of the 2024 State of the Nation Address of the President. Thank you very much, Mr President, for a comprehensive report to the people of South Africa on the achievements of the 6th Administration, while acknowledging challenges which we are still addressing.
Indeed, over the last few days, many Tintswalos have come forward to say what this democratic state has done for them to open up opportunities for a better life. Shame on those who want to rubbish these lived experiences of many South Africans. Mr President, thank you also for highlighting a few key areas in the health sector has also performed, which shows the progress we have made, indicating where we are going form here. Indeed, we are coming back.
IsiXhosa:
Siyabuya!
Setswana:
Re a boa!
I wish to start by joining the President in acknowledging the contribution of many South Africans in our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which consumed a major part of the term of this government with very devastating impact. We thank the gallant health workers who carried the burden of looking after the sick, even while many of us were staying home as a result of the call by the President that we should all stay at home. The co-operation between the public and private sectors, especially during mass vaccination campaign, laid a very solid ground for the implementation of the NHI.
Since the lifting of all restrictions in June 2022, the health sector has been on a recovery path, and I am pleased to say that all key indicators show that we are well on this recovery path. Our key focus is to lay the foundation of Universal Health Coverage as envisaged by the Freedom Charter and also in Section 27 of our Constitution.
This is a path which foundation was laid by the founding President of our democracy, President Nelson Mandela, when in his very early days of Presidency, declared that all children under the age of six and all pregnant women should receive free services in all public health facilities. We are combining broadening of access to services together with improvement of quality.
In this regard, the deployment of appropriate human resources is key to both access and quality, and this applies to multiple qualifications and skills within the health care sector. The medical profession is very key in the multidisciplinary teams and that is why we are doing everything to retain as many doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and members of these health teams as possible within the public health system.
I am therefore pleased to announce today that working with my colleague, the Minister of Finance, we have indeed found a solution to address the current difficulties of employing doctors who want to stay in the public service. [Applause.] We are going to fund these posts, working with the Minister of Finance. The details of how this is going to be funded will be
stated by the Minister of Finance next Wednesday, when he will be delivering his Budget Speech.
Our national team is working together with National Treasury and Health to thrash out the details, and also working with provincial health departments to speed up the process, so that by 1 April 2024, all those who wish to work in the public sector – all those doctors who want to work - will be able to get jobs. [Applause.]
I am confident that through this, as we will detail after the Budget Speech, the provinces will already start to make sure that recruitment and all the processes are carried on. Also, I am quite confident that many of the provinces will bring forward some of the funding to start in March, so that when April comes, those doctors will already be working.
In this regard, I want to say hard luck to those who had been wishing to use this crisis as a political football in the elections campaign. Amongst them is hon Labuschagne who spoke earlier on, thinking that there is somehow a discourse between National Health Insurance and the fact that we are not
employing doctors. So, if you thought you were going to use this for your campaign, forget!
I am sorry for that. We have taken it off the table. Think about other issues!
This, hon members, is also an example of how the achievements of this ANC-led government can also be a challenge. Over the last 15 years, we gave rendered the training of doctors, both locally in our own universities and also through the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro Programme in Cuba.
The number of graduates has almost doubled over the last ten years: In 2014, there were 1 338 graduates who entered internship; while in 2022, there were 2 511, almost a little short of doubling. This year, we have admitted just over 2 210 new medical interns who have already started working. It is just a little around a thousand more than they were 10 years ago.
We are committed to work with associations – your medical association, the trade union and all of them – to make sure that we create even more opportunities for these young
professionals – not only doctors or nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, but all of them. Amongst others, we want to work together to look at creating multidisciplinary group practices in communities, where these young doctors can work once they are fully registered.
They can come together to either join those who are already in practice or else start their own practices. In this regard, I also want to urge my colleagues in Finance and also Trade, Industry and Competition that the funding which is available for small businesses should also be available for young doctors who want to start their practices. Some of the challenges are based on funding. It is very important because these group practices, especially multidisciplinary, are very key to establishment of the National Health Insurance in communities.
As stated by President in the state of the nation address, the other area of serious interventions to improve quality of health services is the upgrading of infrastructure. I can confirm that the construction of Limpopo Academic Hospital is progressing very well and should be completed on time and on budget by 2028.
The construction phase of this hospital is creating more than
2 000 jobs in Limpopo. Even, when the hospital is completed and start operating, it will generate an equivalent number of jobs, just over 2 000 fulltime jobs. Over and above that, it will provide critical specialised clinical services which it will cut the necessity for people of Limpopo to be referred to Gauteng Province when they need major surgeries and other specialised services.
Last year, in 2023, the hon President also had the opportunity to open a state-of-the-art tertiary regional hospital in eThekwini – hon Premier, you were there – at the Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Hospital, which will also complement the existing Inkosi Albert Hospital and King Edward Hospital, now currently known as the Victoria Mxenge Hospital.
Late last year, I joined the Premier of Eastern Cape when we opened the state-of-the-art Siphethu District Hospital in the area called Ntabankulu, with modern equipment. Also late in 2022, I joined the MEC of Limpopo and the Premier to unveil modern equipment at a rural hospital, where Minister Motsoaledi and I worked for many years in the areas of Sekhukhune, at St Rita Hospital.
They unveiled equipment that included a CT Scan, advanced digital X-Ray machines and mammogram. All this equipment is backed up and connected to an advanced digital system called Picture Archiving and Communication System. When you take pictures or X-rays or CT Scans, you can transmit that even to the doctor’s cell phone, so that they don’t have to come and look at the picture. They can also be transmitted to specialists, radiologists even if they are abroad, so that they can be able to interpret and send to the doctor who is on the bedside. So, they can be guided in terms of what to do to intervene. [Applause.]
I am stating this to indicate that indeed, ...
IsiXhosa:
... siyaqhuba!
Sesotho:
Re tswela pele!
English:
We are matching forward! There are a number of other hospitals which are upgrading across the country. In Limpopo we have
Siloam, which has taken a long time but is currently under construction. In the Easter Cape, there is Zithulele Hospital. In the Free State, it is Dihlabeng Hospital. To the Premier of Mpumalanga, we also upgrading there at Witbank Hospital.
There are a lot of others which I cannot mention here today because of time.
We are also rolling out the digital health information system in all these hospitals. The President would have seen also when we were at Pixley Ka Seme Hospital that the hospital is already paperless. So, we are not talking theory here; we are talking practical in terms of bringing the fourth industrial revolution, Minister Gungubele. It is already being implemented in the health sector in preparation for the rolling out of the National Health Insurance system.
Our Health Patient Registration System, HPRS, is already being rolled out to well over 60 million people who are registered in this regard. What is important is that as we do this, we are using the intellectual property that belongs to the state. We are bringing in private players, not to own the system, but to just be partners in developing the system.
Let me also, as I conclude, just say, as the President also indicated, we have made huge progress in ascertaining that HIV and Aids will be defeated. I am not only one saying this, but it also indicated in the international reports from UN-Aids and others. On the fight against Tuberculosis, TB, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has already indicated that South Africa is on course to meet its SDG targets of 2030 in the defeat of TB. [Applause.]
Lastly, I wish to say that those who fear that the NHI will become an SOE, like some say it will be like Eskom, you can go ask the Auditor-General about this. In this last audit, all health public entities either got clean audits or got unqualified audits – all of them without exception! [Applause.] So, we can assure you that NHI will be safe in our hands. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE SUSPENDED – COMFORT BREAK AT 15:10
Business suspended at 15:10 and resumed at 15:30.
The HOUSE CHAIRPESON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon members, we shall now resume with the debate on the President’s state of the
nation address. I now invite the hon Minister of Basic Education to the podium. The hon Minister! Order, hon members, order!
The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: House Chair, Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, the Deputy President of the Republic, Mr Mashatile, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, as well as the South African public at large, hon Speaker, it is with profound honour that I rise today to echo the sentiments of the inspiring state of the nation address delivered by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa. It was certainly not his last...
IsiXhosa:
... kuba uyabuya. Tat’uNodada, andisayi kuzihlupha ngokuphendulana nawe, mntwana wasekhaya, ndakuba ndidlala ngamandla am, kuba nawe uyayazi ukuba sisebenzile kakuhle. Sisebenze kakhulu, ngoko ke andisayi kuphikisana ngento engekhoyo.
English:
Therefore, reflecting on our democracy, now three decades strong and embodied by the generation of Tintswalo and her
peers, it becomes clear that our advances in basic education form a cornerstone of this government’s legacy, member from the Freedom Front Plus, a testament of the ANC-led democratic breakthrough, not a legacy of hewers of wood and drawers of water. Because as we explore the narrative of basic education in our nation, we have to acknowledge the resilience and achievements of our ANC-led government amidst various challenges, a difficult legacy, stubborn, evil and very cruel.
Over the past 30 years, government at all levels implemented policies, programmes and interventions, which clearly demonstrated the ruling party’s unwavering commitment to expand and enhance basic education through the implementation of social justice principles, which over the years yielded remarkable outcomes.
IsiXhosa:
UNodada uyazazi ntonje uyaphika njee.
English:
The ruling party’s decision to make education its apex priority does reflect government’s unwavering dedication to
opening the doors of learning for all as enshrined in the Freedom Charter.
In the past 30 years the ANC-led government made significant strides in eradicating illiteracy. Statistics South Africa, Stats SA, not me, says that by 2021 the adult literacy rate of this country stood at 86,4%. This wouldn’t achieved by magic, we had to open the doors of learning for all and run a literacy campaign, which reached 4,1 million adults through the Kha Ri Gude Literacy campaign for eight years. It has been a long, long walk to get to where we are.
As we celebrate the steady upward trends in our basic education system, the next phase, indeed, Minister Zulu, is to ramp up early childhood development programmes, and focus on foundational skills of reading, writing and counting, as well as diversifying the curriculum for skills and competencies of a changing world and continue to ensure a reduction of failure, repetition and drop-out rates which happen after the basic education phase. Early childhood development, ECD, is with us now, we will strengthen the foundations for learning.
The decision of the ruling party to shift ECD from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education was driven by an understanding of ECD as a launching pad for a reinforced continuum of learning and development, from early years to early grades, so that we can use solid foundations for learning. This fact cannot be overemphasised. It is critical for early identification of developmental delays to enable us to provide early integrated support for our children.
In addition to the policies that we received from the Department of Basic Education, we run a number of studies, amongst them, the ECD census which indicated that only 34% of children between three and five years are at school. We did another study of Thrive by Five study which also confirmed that even the kids where the ECD programmes were not on track in terms of developmental studies. We also run quite a number of studies like the Public Expenditure Framework Review. We also had a review to inform us on what we need to improve for the ECD programmes to improve their quality. These studies and different other studies inform our practical actions in our new strategy, which will be published shortly as indicated by the President. The President himself will be the convener of
the special Inter-Ministerial Committee for ECD to ensure that all the relevant government departments come together to drive our ambitious integrated ECD programme.
Allow me to lift some of the critical areas in the basic education system. In the last few years, as the Department of Basic Education we adopted the theme which we said, “the system on the rise”. However, given the improvement trajectory that we have observed over the past few years, then our theme is “Growing together, a sector on the rise”. In the 2023 results, given credence to this theme because we have cohesive improvement, not even one of our provinces performed under 75%. [Applause.] More heartening and encouraging is the narrowing of the percentage gap between provinces, but also between fee-paying schools and non-fee-paying schools.
House Chair, hon members and the general public, we wish to restate the fact that the overall pass of the Class of 2023 is 82,9%. [Applause.]
IsiXhosa:
Ilungu elihloniphekileyo, uNodada, ulanda nabantwana abangabhalanga, nabaswelekayo, ubazisa apha. Wonke umntu
umzisa apha, nofumene umntwana akabhala, naye umzisa apha. Apha sithetha ngabantu ababhalileyo, hayi abantu abangabhalanga. Kwaba babhalileyo bangama-82,9 ekhulwini. Abanye baye kwiikholeji, abanye basweleka, abanye bafumene abantwana, bakreqa phakathi ezikolweni. Sithetha ngaba babhalileyo kuphela. Ngoko ke, ndincede musa ukundinika ama-60 ekhulwini abantu obabhalise beswelekile.
English:
More poignantly, we have to report the pro-poor policies of government which are showing good fruit. The difference as I said of performance between fee-paying schools and the no-fee schools is narrowing. The no-fee schools have been consistently producing high proportions of bachelor since 2015. Yes, indeed, Ntate Nodada, the President calls this the silent revolution, because yes, indeed, and that is the legacy, Mr Freedom Front Plus. That’s the legacy, we are not talking about hewers of wood and drawers of water, this is our legacy.
Finally, around the 2023 results, 441 000 social grant recipients, as member Zulu said, Tintswalo and her peers, passed matric. Of this 202 000 of them got bachelors.
Therefore, from this grip of Tintswalo we got more than
160 326 distinctions. However, even more heartening is that of the young people who are castrated in correctional services, of the 137 that wrote 90 of them got bachelors. Surely, this clearly account shows pro-poor policies and the restorative justice programme of this government. [Applause.]
Quickly, one of the remarkable progresses that has been made is the introduction and implementation of the Three-Stream Curriculum Model in the past few years. This project, which is overcoming, we are running it with the Department of Higher Education and Training, Department of Basic Education and the Department of Employment and Labour. The project has been anchored around the Three-Stream Curriculum Model with milestones, such as the finalisation of occupational and vocational subjects, the convention of our schools to schools of skills, but also making sure that we have pilot schools. If I had time, President, I would list all the number of schools that we have converted to be able to be aligned to the Three- Stream Curriculum. We’ve also piloted the General Education Certificate.
IsiXhosa:
Uyayazi ukuba oomakhulu bakaTintswalo, noomama bakhe, oothina ke ukutsho, salibhala ibanga elalibizwa ngoForm three.
Siyalibuyisa ke ngoku ukuze...
English:
... at Grade 9 we can, indeed, as member Nodada said, begin to implement the Three-Stream Curriculum which is engendered innovations in assessment approaches in the Department of Basic Education. We have appropriate different modalities which will ensure that our learners are guided in terms of careers, guide them into each stream that is appropriately aligned to their individual interests, aptitudes and abilities for them to thrive.
Research informs us that language acquisition begins well before a child is born. This phenomenon, which is a natural occurrence, supports the claim that language is hardwired in the human brain. Therefore, the system will leverage on this innate gift of language perception, as it is essential for language acquisition after birth. We are using this understanding for the mother tongue-based bilingual education, because we are convinced that the system must transform to
address the underlying reasons for the underperformance of African language learners in international studies.
By the end of February 2024, we will be announcing the full rollout of a mother tongue-based bilingual education in our schools. [Applause.] This will not just break the domination of learning in English and Afrikaans, but hundreds of years of exclusive advantage enjoyed by English and Afrikaans learners in our schools ... Hayibo, I’m halfway. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Mr M NYHONTSO: Mr President, we would rather like to see more practical responses to the challenges that poor communities are facing. Critical challenges in the economy are made more difficult by the load shedding saga, which continues to destroy small and medium businesses who depend on the state to provide basic electricity on a sustainable basis.
Health services facilities are overcrowded and in a dire state. We need urgency on health and education facilities. We need our own skills base to be on par with the rising fourth industrial revolution. We must not only be a member of the Brics countries.
We must add value to rise of the new international order wherein the Global South gains traction in the world economy.
The state is failing to address these conditions seriously. Basic maintenance of national and provincial roads in critical areas, where entry level jobs could boost local development, are not attended to.
The loss of a critical manufacturing plant in the North West province recently because of poor road conditions is a problem squarely in the hands of the state machinery.
One of the major poultry concerns in Standerton has had to build water infrastructure to draw from the Vaal River at exorbitant costs, without any contribution by the state. The jobs that are the mainstay of the local town residents threatened, not by the business competition, but by the inability of state to do its job.
These types of clear and apparent failures on the part of the government, do not offer any hope and trust in the future. The empty promises and the comparison of the good story which must be told since 1994 are a waste of time.
Mr President, I have invited you to come and see roads in Centane near Butterworth in Eastern province. The disaster waiting to happen has not been addressed by your esteemed office.
IsiXhosa:
Intliziyo yam iphantse yayeka ukubetha xa ubusithi iindlela zaseMpuma Koloni zintle. Nayo inkulumbuso yephondo lethu seyisuka kuxinga kweza ndlela zakuCentane...
English:
... he can attest to it.
IsiXhosa:
Zingantle nje iindlela kwezinye iindawo kodwa kuCentane thina siyafa.
English:
The communities in these areas only understand practical solutions to the problems. Their faith in the state providing answers is growing thin, and will soon evaporate.
We all know that reforms from the state should be seen to be done on the ground. Not what we hear stated in fairy tales
Communities complain about the rigidity of the state to make ordinary lives liveable. This is a case of feet of clay in State President's office.
There is apparently insufficient legislative framework to deal with mining tailings and protect communities of the poor near these mines from the apparent climate and environmental challenges. This includes the hazards posed by illegal mining by the zama zamas.
If the state of the nation address is not attending to these challenges, it leaves unanswered questions to the disputes over the mining dumps between the communities and authorities.
In the Limpopo province, for example, truck owners are harassed and excluded from access to the mining dumps. The PAC would like to propose a moratorium on exorbitant fees that are charged for the mining tailings.
The state must work out a framework for these nearby communities, through the Department of Mineral Resources, to play a role in the management of the dumps so that local truckers can legally participate in the removal of mining sand to use it for beneficial projects in building construction material.
The PAC is concerned with the debt ratio and the imbalances of trade relations and on international level. Borrowing on this large scale to paper over the cracks is not a prudent way to go. That is mortgaging the assets of the people and making high liabilities they will struggle to turn around.
We just do not hear what plans your office is making to avoid a crisis of paralysis in the state of the nation.
What is clear, however, is the rise of a moral high ground taken by South Africa when the genocide in Gaza Strip in Occupied Palestine was raised at the International Court of Justice. We support the stand taken. We are proud of the best legal brains sent from our beloved motherland to save humanity from the atrocities conducted by the insensitive amongst us.
That was indeed an amazing grace and from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.
The MINISTER IN THE PRECIDENCY FOR ELECTRICITY: House Chair,
hon President and Deputy President, Cabinet, colleagues, Members of Parliament, the media and the people of the Republic, in the recent state of the nation address, the President introduced us to Tintswalo. This eloquent metaphor encapsulates the lived experiences and journey of progress our nation has undertaken over the past three decades of democracy. As we reflect on this metaphor, we are reminded not only of the strides we have made but also of the challenges we continue to face, particularly in the realm of energy supply. Much like Tintswalo, the path to achieving a stable and sustainable energy landscape has been fraught with obstacles, uncertainties, and temporary setbacks, and yet – with each passing day, we continue to register progress as we chart the path to energy security.
Moreover, just as Tintswalo symbolises our people's resilience and perseverance, so does it inspire our resolve to confront the complexities of the political economy of energy provision. South Africa stands at a pivotal juncture where the imperative
to modernise and diversify our energy infrastructure is paramount.
It is incumbent upon us to harness the potential of renewable energy sources, foster innovation, and cultivate partnerships that will ensure the reliability of our energy supply, drive inclusive growth, and further expand the reach of reliable and affordable energy. Our definition, therefore, of energy security is not only to keep the lights on; it is about the empowering communities, driving progress, and ensuring a future where every individual has access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy sources.
Through collaborative efforts and unwavering determination, we have and continue to navigate the currents of change and emerge stronger, guided by the spirit of Tintswalo towards a brighter, more sustainable future for all South Africans.
House Chair, as part of our immediate relief to load shedding last year, Units 1 to 3 of Kusile, which had been out of service since October 2022, were successfully returned ahead of schedule. As planned, Unit 5 was synchronised to the grid
in December 2023, contributing 800 MW. The four Kusile Units collectively injected 3 200 MW of capacity into the grid.
The Standard Offer Programme has been hugely successful. It has been developed and implemented whereby generators can sell energy at a standard determined rate or according to the dynamic rate. As of January 2024, 720 MW was contracted, with
100 MW made available to the grid, and a further 316 MW have been approved for contracting.
Medupi Unit 4 will return to service this year in September, a year ahead schedule. Unit 6 will be synchronised in late November 2024. These units will add 1 600 MW to the grid. In addition, Unit 2 of Koeberg will return to service in September 2024, giving us 980 MW following a planned outage.
These interventions will collectively add another 2 580 MW to the grid in 2024. The end of load shedding is indeed within sight.
Our demand-side interventions have similarly yielded exceptional results. South Africa's installed rooftop solar PV capacity increased from 983 MW in March 2022 to 4 400 MW in June 2023. It is expected that private generation will
continue to contribute to rooftop solar and embedded generation growing exponentially; an additional 1 500 MW is expected to come online incrementally in 2024
Since September 2023, planned maintenance increased sharply. This meant that whereas we could have opted for the short-term gain of reducing load shedding; since then, we opted for the more enduring approach of ramping up planned maintenance.
This will ensure that going into the winter of 2024, the fleet's reliability will have been significantly strengthened. This also means that heading into the winter peak demand period, we can claw back up to 2 000 MW by tapering planned maintenance and strengthening available capacity. From March 2024, we will begin reducing planned maintenance from the current 6 000 MW to 5 000 MW in April 2024 and to around 3 500 MW in May 2024, a threshold that will be sustained during the winter demand period.
Whilst the unbundling of Eskom continues, the sustainability of the Generation Division is critical to ensure the national utility remains the backbone of our energy supply capability and, ultimately, our energy security. Eskom will increasingly
leverage its vast portfolio and transmission infrastructure to expand its renewable energy and battery storage systems investments.
Eskom will be proceeding at pace to appoint a Transaction Advisory Team to undertake a procurement process for partners to develop both Richards Bay Closed Cycle Gas Turbine, which is planned to yield 3 000 MW.
Gas will increasingly feature prominently in our short to medium term base load requirements. Eskom is working on converting Gourikwa and Ankerlig to gas from diesel on the Open Cycle Gas Turbine technology. This initiative is anticipated to yield an additional 2 000 MW, with a further
1 000 MW expected from the conversion to Closed Cycle Gas Turbines.
Emphasising the pivotal role of nuclear energy in our energy mix, the government will commence the procurement process of an additional 2 500 MW of new nuclear capacity this year on an affordable scale and pace basis, as well as the 1 500 MW of pump storage facility at Tubatse in Limpopo.
As we delve deeper into the intricate web of the political economy of energy, it becomes evident that our expansion plans for generation and transmission serve as linchpins for fostering industrialisation, massifying skills development, and catalysing job creation. The interconnectedness of the energy industrial complex and broader industry underscores how a robust energy infrastructure is pivotal in driving economic growth and fostering industrialisation.
The Ministry of Electricity will lead the process of establishing an Independent Transmission Project Office to fast-track procurement, planning and financing for upgrading, modernisation, and expanding our transmission infrastructure. Over the next 10 years, this intervention will attract up to R400 billion in transmission infrastructure. To this end, plans are at an advanced stage with various fit-for-purpose South African Development Finance Institutions to confirm the institutional locus of the planned Independent Transmission Project Office, ITPO; an announcement in this regard will be made in the coming weeks.
As part of this work, in the short term, the focus will be implementing a set of interventions, or priority corridors, to
strengthen transmission capacity in the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape. Projects will inter-alia be delivered to include 2 335 MW of new grid capacity, including the Aries Upington 400kV line, the Juno Gromis 400kV line and also transformers in Nama, Kronos and Upington sub-station.
Madam House Chair, I also want to confirm that, we will be, in the coming days finalising an MoU, Memorandum of Understanding with sister departments to ensure that we are able to industrialise, reskill to ensure that we are able to commit up to 25 000 beneficiaries to participate in the transition into a green economy.
As I conclude, I want to say to Tintswalo as your honest uncle, uncle Sputla, I know of your anger, I feel your pain and I understand your cries, that load shedding is contracting and closing your capabilities. Its narrowing your opportunities. I draw from the counsel of Oliver Tambo when he said, “The future is bright. The end is glorious; it is peaceful. The intervening period is dark and bitter and finds its glory in acts of struggle.”
To you, Tintswalo, I say, the end of load shedding is indeed in sight; the future is bright. Thank you, Minister. [Applause.]
Afrikaans:
Mnr S F DU TOIT: Agb Voorsitter, ...
English:
... our President’s attempt to sit South Africa down for story time of the tale of a young child who has allegedly benefited from government programmes, while he blatantly ignores the fact that under ANC rule we’ve seen increased unemployment, dependency and poverty.
The ANC creates the constant need to address social ills as they create poverty and dependence.
Mr President, government can only provide for the poor as long as they can get tax from the taxpayers. So, the only ones that needs to be thanked for this little child’s performance is the taxpayers in South Africa.
Afrikaans:
Die toenemende armoede, misdaad en die brutale moorde van soveel Suid-Afrikaners kan als aan die regering se onvermoë en ook opsetlikheid toegeskryf word.2
English:
Jacob Zuma was not the sole reason for state capture, you were. Your failure to act decisively made you complicit. Turning a blind eye made you an accomplice.
The ANC created loadshedding, not Eskom. The ANC initiated state capture, not the Guptas. You are the ones with the Cadre Deployment Committee.
Afrikaans:
Geen gepoleerde woorde of skyn-empatie in u toespraak, kan die herstel bring wat Suid-Afrika nodig het nie.
English:
No word of encouragement from your speech can rekindle the faith that South Africa has in government. You cannot be trusted.
2024 will be yet another year we will have to face the giants in our lives. At times, we might even feel overwhelmed.
Afrikaans:
Ons sal reuse soos die Nasionale Gesondheidsversekering- wetgewing, die Bella-wet en onteiening sonder vergoeding in die oë moet staar, maar die stryd is nie tevergeefs nie. My Bybel sê: “Al val daar 1 000 aan jou sy en 10 000 aan jou regterhand, sal ons nogsteeds oorwin”. “Al stap ek deur ’n dal van doodskaduwee, sal ek geen onheil vrees nie, want U is met my, u stok en U staf, die vertroos my.”
English:
It’s up to us to put an end to this destructive and oppressive government and rebuild South Africa.
Setswana:
Motl Modulasetilo, batho ba lapisitswe ke maaka. Ga go na metsi, ga go na dijo, ga go na ditiro.
Motl Ramaphosa, o se ke wa lebala Phukwi 2021. Ga e isi e fele kgang eo. O tlile go bona moputso wa gago.
English:
Remember July 2021.
Afrikaans:
Al jul haatspraak kan ongelukkig die vonk in die kruitvat wees. Die moontlikheid bestaan selfs dat ons, soos ’n Nehemia van ouds, met die troffel slegs in een hand, die land kan herbou, waar ons met die ander hand moet waak.
English:
Hon President, your oppressive laws and legislation didn’t break us as a nation. [Interjections.] The unfair yoke we had to carry didn’t discourage us, it made us stronger. Your economic restrictions forced us to be more innovative and productive.
You boast about a non-racial, non-sexist society, but in the meantime institute more radical Black Economic Empowerment, BEE, legislation.
Mr President, the ANC tried to break our spirit, you only managed to break this country.
Afrikaans:
Ons moed is nie gebreek nie. Ons is nie verpletter nie. Ons het juis op ons knieë die krag ontvang om die teenstand te bied en met trots te veg vir ’n nalatenskap vir ons kinders, ’n toekoms met geleenthede, ’n toekoms sonder die ANC.
Ek staan nie net hier as ’n politikus of as ‘n Parlementlid nie; ek staan hier as ’n pa, ’n broer, as ’n seun, as ’n man, as ’n stryder vir ’n beter Suid-Afrika, om hier in Suid- Afrika, my vaderland, ’n bestaan te maak.
Ons weet waar ons krag vandaan kom, ons weet dat ons behoud nie in ’n enkele politieke party of ’n regering gesetel is nie, maar in ons vertroue in God. Hy is die een wat heersers aanstel en verwyder. Selfs Drikus het houe gevat, maar hy het geweet, om te oorwin, moet ons tot die geveg toetree. Dit is wat van elke Suid-Afrikaner vandag verwag word.
Wat is jou plig, jou vooreg, jou verantwoordelikheid? Suid- Afrika, staan op en doen jou deel. Moenie gaan stem, omdat iemand jou sê om dit te doen nie. Gaan stem, omdat dit jou deel maak van die oplossing. Gaan stem, omdat jy beheer het om jou eie toekoms te besluit, en jou nalatenskap sonder vrees,
sonder veragting, sonder diskrimminasie te vestig, omdat jy hier in Suid-Afrika hoort.
Doen dit met trots, erns, waardigheid en die heel belangrikste, vertroue in God. Bou Suid-Afrika, hou goeie moed, dapper held. Ons toekoms is in ons hande. Dankie.
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY FOR WOMEN, YOUTH AND
DISABILITIES (Ms N G Tolashe): Hon Chairperson of the House, his excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Deputy President of the Republic, Deputy President Mashatile, hon Members of Parliament, fellow citizens.
It’s wrong that the ANC campaign for ... and Constitution campaign. Some of the men still belong to the borders where they will go and fight and be eaten by the ... [Inaudible.] [Interjections.] [Applause.] They come here with a lot of emotions, these Koevoets.
I take this opportunity to welcome the 2024 state of the nations address delivered by his excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa. His account does not only cover the 6th term Administration, but it covers 30 years of ANC-led government
in which in application and implementation of the Freedom Charter has been successful in producing intended results especially its clause 1 “people shall govern”, and clause 9 “there shall be houses, security and comfort”.
It is also highly influenced by the 1954 Women’s Charter that articulates itself on the total emancipation of the motive forces as defined by the National Democratic Revolution.
Hon Chair, as the ruling party we headed the call as women and put the numerous policies and programmes which were taken forward by government with respect to the socioeconomic empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity. They have resulted in the improvement of women’s lives and livelihoods.
These policies centre around addressing women’s poverty, women’s social protection, women’s health including sexual and reproductive health, education and advancement in skills provision and sanitary dignity packs for indigent girls and women, 40% public procurement to women-owned businesses among many.
Although there are policies addressing teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and femicide, GBVF, women’s burden of unpaid care and household work, among other such persisting problems, unfortunately, these are challenges that continue to negatively impact the lives and livelihoods of women and girls and therefore, negatively impacting their socioeconomic status, because they all need hands on deck and the reconstruction and development of minds.
Hon Speaker, the story of Tintswalo is the modus operandi of the ruling party, that all children born after 1994 live a decent life, have access to opportunities that their parents didn’t have and be able to create better lives for themselves and their families.
Youth-focused programmes in South Africa have played a significant role in fostering skills development and employment opportunities by providing education, support, vocational training, mentorship, and support in career development. These initiatives have helped to bridge the gap between education and employment.
Furthermore, initiatives focusing on entrepreneurship and leadership development have empowered young people to create their own opportunities and contribute to the economy.
Hon Chair, as you are aware that this government has spared more effort and resources to improve access to quality education, so as to unlock the potential of young people by building their capabilities to their full potential.
IsiXhosa:
... utshilo uMphathiswa apha.
The presidential pronouncement on the upscaling of the initiatives to address youth unemployment. According to the World Economic Forum, WEF, of 2021 skills development can reduce unemployment and underemployment, and increase productivity as well as improve standards of living, when implemented properly.
In contributing to the efforts of our government’s spent to improve access to quality education, our department together with the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, and other departments have reimagined the National Youth Service to be
responsive to industry demand. Its approach to solving the challenge of youth unemployment is that of “all of government and all of Society” [Applause.] to skills development for the unskilled, livelihood restoration, wealth creation, poverty and hunger alleviation for the marginalised.
The culture of science will significantly shape how women, youth and persons with disabilities think about, perceive and solve the socioeconomic challenges they encounter daily and empowering them to create their own opportunities and contribute to the economic growth of the country and employment initiatives.
Hon Chair, the initiatives have six employment steams that will be established and they are as follows: firstly, maritime skills and the oceans economy; secondly, engineering, construction and manufacturing for infrastructure rollout and maintenance; thirdly, food and agricultural value-chain industries; fourthly, digital, Information and Communication Technology, ICT, and 4th Industrial Revolution, 4IR industries; fifthly, defence, safety and security; and, lastly, community-orientated services.
Hon Chair, with South African Sign Language becoming a 12th official language, all duty bearers, private and public, have to ensure that at all service points including training, provide SA Sign Language, SASL, physically or digitally to remove the communication and information barrier affecting persons who are deaf in particular. [Applause.]
Chair, it is an honour that I stand before you to highlight the remarkable progress made by the Sixth Administration in responding to the gender-based violence and femicide.
Throughout our tenure we have prioritised accountability across all tiers of government by ensuring the implementation of the National Strategic Plan, NSP, on GBVF and enforcing compliance with reporting. The establishment of the Gender- Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund signifies a crucial step forward in our commitment to address this societal scourge; the private sector availing funds to implement GBV programmes.
Hon President, I salute you because you are on the forefront of this important initiative. [Applause.]
The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill was approved by the National Assembly and sent to the National Council of Provinces in 2023.
Through legislative measures, six critical pieces of legislation related to GBVF have been signed into law, with implementation costing well underway.
Furthermore, the Intersectoral Shelter Policy and the Psycho- Social Support Services Policy serve as cornerstones in providing holistic support to the survivors of gender-based violence and femicide.
We have expanded our reach with the establishment of additional Khuseleka One Stop Centres to assist victims in rebuilding their lives. Our commitment to economic empowerment is exemplified by the launch of the Women Economic Assembly, WECONA, initiative.
Hon Chair, we launched the third National Femicide Prevalence survey in March 2022. We reaffirm our resolve to confront gender-based violence and femicide with unwavering determination. Through collaborative efforts and steadfast
dedication, we will continue to work towards a society where every individual feels safe, valued and empowered.
Both government and private sector can leverage separated data to design programmes and services that cater to the specific needs of our department. Separated data acts as a precision scalpel exposing hidden inequalities and guiding targeted interventions.
The Stats SA’s Inequality Trends 2020 report states that women earn an average 30% less than men in the same jobs.
Our department has developed a law, the Promotion of Women’s Rights, Empowerment and Gender Equality Draft Bill, which incorporates a clause on equal pay or remuneration for equal work or substantially same work or work of equal value. This clause criminalises discrimination on pay on the basis of gender. [Applause.]
The approval by the National Assembly of the Sign Language and the President signing it into law will drastically improve access to justice for many persons with disabilities.
Hon Chair, we call for the Public Procurement Bill to be swiftly finalized to effectively implement set-asides in South Africa, thereby fostering tangible opportunities for the advancement and inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities.
Hon Chair, for more than 300 years South Africans, and black families in particular, were deliberately rattled and disorganised by the white supremacy. However, through their resilience and bravery our people rose to the occasion by producing the likes of the Mandela, Tambo and the Maxeke. [Applause.] [Interjections.]
As a result, post 1994 the ANC became hard at work having the capacity to provide basic services like houses, water and electricity, led by that resilient leadership. It was through the ANC’s commitment that South Africans, for the first time, their dignity was restored. We can proudly say families play a critical role in providing support to the young and old.
As I conclude [Time expired.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Mr C DUGMORE (Western Cape): Hon President, Deputy president, House Chair, members of this House and guests ...
Afrikaans:
... ek wil net sê dat agb Du Toit nie hier moet kom en die Bybel gebruik nie, want dit was mense wat die Bybel gebruik het, wat apartheid met die Bybel in een hand ondersteun het.
English:
Please, don’t do that again. It needs to be said that the speech delivered by our President last week places beyond doubt the fact that South Africa is a better place than it was in 1994. The work done a successive ANC-led government, working with our people, has seen massive improvements in the quality of life of the vast majority of our people. At the same time, our President was honest about the challenges and the problems that we face as a nation.
Afrikaans:
... maar ons weet almal dat, as die car [motor] begin spoed optel, dan blaf die honde baie.
IsiXhosa:
Siyayazi Sihlalo weNdlu, ukuba izinja zikhonkotha imoto ehambayo.
English:
These DA speakers will not tell you, Mr President, that in the Western cape less than 3% of agricultural land is owned by black South Africans, coloured, African and white. That white South Africans own 70% of open land in the Western cape, making up 18% of the population. That coloured people, while they constitute 48% of the Western Cape’s people only own 10% of open land and African people who make up 38% only own 3% of the land.
I want to also especially thank the Minister of Electricity and also tell them that when you go and buy R100 of electricity in Cape Town ... say you live in Cape Town and you buy that electricity from Eskom, you get 42 units, but when you buy for R100 from the city, DA, you only get 22 units. Why is that? it is a no surcharge and over and above the no surcharge, they are putting more and now they want one of their powers to take control of energy.
IsiXhosa:
Asoze!
Afrikaans:
Julle gaan dit nooit regkry nie.
English:
Only 15% of Cape town residents, Mr president, have access to internet, compared to the 77% that you mentioned nationally. Workers in our province are amongst the 6 million workers in our country who have benefitted from the minimum wage. This has helped many domestic and farm workers in our province.
Yet, it is the DA who actively oppose the minimum wage, and I want to quote from the 2019 manifesto, page 12. It calls for allowing potential employers to opt out of the sectoral minimum wage which would have a new minimum wage of no less than an old age pension. So, the DA wants the minimum wage to be R2000, that’s what they want.
Afrikaans:
Hulle wil ’n minimum loon van R2 000 betaal, terwyl die ANC- regering ’n minimum loon van tussen R4 100 en R4 600 gee.
English:
It is simple ...
IsiXhosa:
... icacile lento...
English:
This DA does not like ...
IsiXhosa:
... icacile...
English:
... the DA does not like black people, they like coloured people, they don’t like Palestinian people, because a senior DA leader in the Western Cape, when one of our legislature staff members was wearing a keffiyeh, he was intimidating her and saying you cannot wear that here.
IsiXhosa:
Haybo, kutheni ngoku begeza bona?
Afrikaans:
Dis hoekom die mense, wat die ...
English:
... the flower sellers are saying on the streets of cape Town
...
Afrikaans:
... hulle gaan nooit weer vir die DA stem nie.
English:
They are voting ANC. That is why that is happening. Thousands of workers in our province are benefitting as part of 550 000 workers in South Africa who have worker ownership of companies. These gains are due to national legislation and political will. The reality is that we have a DA-led government in this province which opposes each and every piece of transformative legislation. They do so to defend the privileges of those who have benefitted from colonialism and apartheid.
Afrikaans:
Kom ons praat vandag die waarheid.
IsiXhosa:
Kufuneka sithethe inyaniso ePalamente namhlanje.
Afrikaans:
’n Stem vir die DA is ’n stem teen die minimum loon.
English:
A vote for the DA is a vote against employment equity whose regulation say that regional demographics must be taken into account which benefits Africans, coloureds, Indians, the disabled and women.
Afrikaans:
’n Stem vir die ...
English:
... a vote for the DA is a vote against National Health Insurance for all. A vote for the DA is a vote against the Expropriation Bill which when it becomes law, land will be distributed to those who work it. And this will happen in terms of our Constitution. The DA are panicking, their supreme leader, Hellen Zille ...
Afrikaans:
... is nie gelukkig met die matrieks nie.
English:
She is not happy with the matric. She doesn’t believe that her matric can appeal to voters.
Afrikaans:
Zille is eintlik kwaad vir die matrieks.
English:
... and now she wants Gordin. So, now they are trying to come up with a Bill which wants devolution of powers, they are pushing for federalism and with a right-wing ally such as the Freedom Front ... [Sound lost]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Just take your seat, please. Just take your seat. Order, hon members! Order! Hon members of the ANC, order! I want to recognise the hon Radebe. Order, hon members. Hon members, I will not be able to hear the Whip of the ANC taking a point of order if you continuously interrupt him.
Mr B A RADEBE: Hon House Chairperson, one member of the DA seated there has exhibited an unparliamentary conduct by showing a middle finger to the speaker on the platform.
According to our Rules, it is not allowed; we cannot do gestures in the House.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Who is the member? [Interjections.] Order, hon members!
Mr B A RADEBE: Bagraim. They say it’s Bagraim. It’s Bagraim
... [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order! Come down, hon members, come down. Where is the hon Bagraim? [Interjections.] Order, hon members!
May I ask the ANC Whips to please ... please ask your members to remain quiet so that I can deal with this matter. No amount of shouting and screaming will address the issue. So, stay calm. Hon Bagraim, did you make that gesture?
Mr M BAGRAIM: Yes, I did.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Please leave the House. [Interjections.] Hon Bagraim? Order, hon members! Order, hon members. Hon Dugmore, you may now continue. May I
also remind all hon members in the House that the Joint Sitting has very specific Rules, and when a point of order is taken, the Rules clearly indicate that the member raining the point of order must be granted a fair opportunity to raise the point of order. I do not expect screaming and shouting. You are not making the point; the member who will raise the point of order will raise the point and it will be dealt with.
Please let us observe that so that we can continue with the business of the House. Hon Dugmore?
Mr C DUGMORE: Thank you, House Chair. It is not surprising that even though the ANC in this province is working with the South African Jews for a free Palestine, the Muslim community that that hon member who showed the gesture is one of the arch Zionist in the Western Cape and maybe he can’t handle the fact that I am wearing this.
The provincial government is clear of wanting more powers. Our Republic’s Constitution does not create a federal state; it provides for a unitary state with clear powers and functions to provinces.
IsiXhosa:
Asokuze sibuyele kwinkqubo yamaphandle apha eMzantsi Afrika. Asoze!
English:
We want one country. That is what we want. We want to unite South Africans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Coloured, African, white in this province. We don’t want that division. This provincial government undermines our Constitution and in fact, they undermine co-operative governance.
The provincial legislature’s three legal advisors - not the ANC but the DA - all three of them said that this this Powers Bill of the DA is unconstitutional. It’s been rejected by 80% of those attending the hearings. The DA is trying to spread a rumour that we are disrupting and wanting ungovernability.
We’ve never said that as the ANC. That’s not our politics. Maybe it’s the politics of people who are not here today. The DA wants more powers, but I want, Mr President, to draw this House’s attention to one of the powers that the province already has, which is basic education.
It's impossible to be silent about the unimaginable descend of the state of education in the Western Cape to the point where
the metric pass rate for 2023 was below the national average for the first time. In 2004 under the ANC-led government, the Western Cape pass rate for Grade 12 was 14,3% above the national rate. Twenty years later, the graph shows that the Western Cape pass rate is now 1,4% below the pass rate. While the rest of the country has been working hard and equitably to improve, the Western Cape is frankly letting its people down and effectively going backwards.
Not only have four provinces now overtaken the Western Cape at the top of the log, but criminally it sits at the bottom province in respect of the percentage of bachelor passes coming from no fee schools. The top province in no fee schools is in fact the province of Limpopo, and we can be proud of Limpopo because they have 85% bachelor passes coming from no fee schools. The Western Cape by stark contrast is the bottom, with the mere 26% of bachelor passes coming from no fee schools. That is almost 60% below.
Now they try and claim that they have got the top mass pass rate, but what they don’t tell you because ...
IsiXhosa:
... i-DA iyaxoka yona.
English:
They ignore the fact that only 25% of the learners in this province actually do Maths. The DA is crushing the hopes of our new Tinstwalos, our ... [Inaudible.], our Cindys, our Bonganis, our Jonathans. That is why this crises, I believe, Mr President, and I say this with all seriousness, needs for our national executive and the President to consider invoking section 101 of the national Constitution, which says that where a province cannot perform its function, there needs to be an appropriate intervention.
The speaker ... DA was celebrating the outcome of cadre deployment. Those celebrating this outcome are the biggest hypocrite you will ever find. In 2022, and I brought it again today, we provided evidence where the DA instructs local councils who to a point – hon Schreiber, do you remember the letters of MEC Bredell telling them who we to appoint on a DA letterhead? This DA deployment was actually racist because the best candidate, even the DA Council agreed, was a black person but the DA wrote and said you cannot appoint that person. They are the biggest hypocrites in the world.
So, when we discovered, we wrote and we said give us all your cadre deployment, but they are not even cadres; the DA doesn’t have cadres.
Afrikaans:
Hulle het maar baantjies vir boeties.
English:
A cadre is someone with the skills and the ability to drive the transformation project. Four years later, no information about all these DA so-called ...
Afrikaans:
... baantjies vir boeties, net soos die Broederbond gedoen het.
English:
I want to clarify that a cadre is a capable public servant who advances for transformation project and the national democratic revolution from within the state. It’s about bringing diversity.
Now, I want to move towards the end to say that comrade Minister Mantashe said that when the ANC took over, there was not a single black Director-General. All over the world, deployment of those who support the ruling party’s policies and meet the qualifications takes place. We as an ANC support the resolution of our national executive to review but never abandon cadre deployment ... [Time expired.] I thank you.
The MINISTER OF CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: House Chair, the Speaker of the National Assembly mama Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Chair of the NCOP, Your Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa His Excellency Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the Chairperson of our House of Traditional Leaders and Khoi-San Leaders Kgosi Seatlholo, premiers, my Cabinet colleagues. Good day to all fellow South Africans.
President, just last week, you addressed our nation, delivering your state of the nation address that filled us with pride. As we gather here today, we are all reminiscent of Tintswalo, for each one of us has reaped and continues to reap the benefits of the rewards of the tireless efforts of our
democratic government, especially a developmental local government.
As we stand here, three decades into our democratic journey, we reflect on the significant stride we have made that has touched so many citizens in ensuring that they are able to live a better life for themselves assisted by a government that cares.
We do these and continue to deliver on the basic services in ensuring that we look into the subject of the evolution of the multiparty democracy necessitating us to be agile and maintain an upward trajectory in the service delivery scorecard including ensuring that our coalition are functional.
We are aware that the strategy of the opponents, which is to consolidate the anti-transformation forces through these coalitions and the moonshot pacts.
But just yesterday, 7 February 2024, hon Steenhuisen, Moneyweb article, “City of Tshwane is sinking deeper into debt and its debt ballooned to R1,1 billion in September”. No, wait that’s
little. In February ... now as we conclude they are at R3,9 billion.
Even so, on 30 June, the city owed its creditors about R12,6 billion. Not a dream, a record. Google “Moneyweb 7
February 2024”, an increase compared to the balance of a year.
But let me tell you the worse dysfunctionality that has ever happened in the history of municipalities in South Africa. The Johannesburg Stocks Exchange, JSE, listed the City of Tshwane yesterday, as one of the measures that needs to be looked into and your bonds may be suspended, yesterday. Just yesterday you turned back R2,6 billion of the money meant for the people of the City of Tshwane, for services.
That was not enough, in 2016 when the City of Tshwane under the Minister “Sputla” Ramokgopa, they were spending 96% of their grant, today you have returned R2,6 billion.
In 2022, we granted you permission of R900 million, of our grant money to pay an Eskom debt, which has now tripled. So, the City of Tshwane as of June, could only submit financial statement, three months down the line after the time had been
set. And as a result, all municipalities in the country have given their audit outcomes in January to their councils, except the City of Tshwane.
Yes, you will be quick to remind me of Ekurhuleni as if I’ve forgotten it, precisely because they have been granted authority to do so. And that comes just after an adverse outcome of Randall Willams and you quickly hid him under the carpet as if South Africa doesn’t know why he left – adverse outcome, for the first time in the City of Tshwane. We are still waiting for the audit outcome.
But is a history of recurrence; where does it come from? Before Randall Willliam, you gave us Stevens Mokgalapa, who had a sex in the office scandal, not even in a small building. What did you give us before that, you gave us Solly Msimang, we have a report written by the auditor-general into a multibillion GladAfrica contract that we ... [Inaudible.] Come with you moonpact we will shoot it.
It is for the first time in the history of South Africa under the capable leadership of the DA, that we are able to have a capital of a country with a possibility of not having bonds,
congratulation John, you have done well. You are quick to say the President and the story of Tintswalo is not feasible, you have killed Tintswalo in the City of Tshwane.
Let me remind you, before 2016 what Tintswalo could do, in the city centre of Tshwane, there were even doves, as a sign of peace. Go to the city now, kuhambe ngisho amajuba [even doves have gone] I had not dread for this, but you have introduced, you have looked what Statistics SA, Stats SA and the census have given us in the city. And we are saying today we are looking into the replication of what we have been able to deal with as the lessons of what we have been giving throughout our systems.
The lessons from our presidential imbizo have given us a total of about 60 projects which give a total of R60 billion for Ehlanzeni District Municipality, 13 funded catalytic projects. And Gert Sibande District, has given us R29,4 billion, President, 10 projects and of which three of them have already been successfully completed.
The institution of traditional leaders though is still in the process that the President will be addressing it at the end of
the month. We are looking into 10 Social Labour Plans, SLP, as a start, covering as such Bakubung Ba Rantheo, Royal Bafokeng and Barolong Bo Ratlou. We look forward to having you officially open the House, President, at the end of the month.
And this will accelerate all the projects that have been listed through all the partnerships that we have to ensure that there is governance, there’s water management, there’s disaster mitigation additionally, there’s spending of resources.
I’m joining the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, DFFE, to Nyanga to pick up garbage for the people of the Western Cape who are not well taken care of even when money has been allocated.
The Development Bank of SA, DBSA, has refocused itself into ensuring that all our municipalities, starting with our capital, the City of Tshwane needs to be repurposed, and we will look into that.
Since 2018, R7 billion has been allocated to look into the issues of disaster to ensure that the permission of the
Seventh Administration carries the journey of the Tintswalo further.
If you look into The Diphichi Water Scheme which came under the capable leadership of the ANC-led government is already in completion and house taps instead of communal taps have been
...
Extension 7 in Kwazamokuhle where residents tabled a request for a road, that road is currently under construction and will be handed over to the communities.
We have said it before, [Municipal will show you a ghost]. Come with the pact, we come with delivery, we come with integrated planning, we service you, till we get it right.
As I step down, I urge all of you, those who resonate with the spirit of Tintswalo to join me in ensuring that you go back and clean the City of Tshwane to make sure that we do not have cholera that kills people anymore. We have 40 plus people who died because you did not service the Rooiwal. The money was allocated for Rooiwal, the money is going back to the fiscus so that more people can be able to die.
The three next decades to come because hhayi siyabuya ningawari siyabuya [we are coming back, don’t worry, we are coming back] will even surpass the loftiest and biggest aspirations of what the ANC has for you. If you want to know who Tintswalo is, go and look for the Bus Rapid Transport System, that Tshwane once had, the buses that it had. The
wi-fi that it had, the bursaries that it had. The products that it produced for the world and for the city to ensure that we are inspiring leaders.
What do we have to show today, 20 years under your rule, zero. You will move like that, zero. [Time expired.]
Afrikaans:
Dr L A SCHREIBER: Agb Voorsitter, dis opvallend dat die President, tydens sy toespraak, ons wêreldkampioen, Dricus Du Plessis, geïgnoreer het. Meneer die President, Dricus bly ’n Suid-Afrikaner, selfs al ondersteun hy nie die korrupte ANC nie, en hy verdien erkenning vir sy heldedade.
Gelukkig gaan kiesers binnekort aan die ANC doen, wat Dricus aan Sean Strickland gedoen het. Die ANC weet nie wat ons weet nie!
English:
As I listened to the ANC, I was struck by a recurring pattern. Every time they spoke about an element of the collapse of South Africa, what they euphemistically call challenges, they pretend to not know that the ANC is the root cause of all of these crises. In the ANC’s world, the causes of loadshedding, corruption, and state capture, are as puzzling as some of the world’s great mysteries, like Stonehenge, or how those dollars ended up in the President’s couch. There is just one problem, in each of these cases, the DA told them so.
Back when Mbeki was still merrily chewing his garlic and the Guptas were but a twinkle in Zuma’s eye, the DA warned that we would soon run out of electricity. When it later emerged that the ANC plan to use loadshedding as an opportunity to loot through Chancellor House, the DA warned that this corruption would lead to cost inflation and substandard work, as well as serious shortages of electricity. All of this has come to pass.
Then the hon Lucas has the gall to stand here and say that loadshedding is not the end of the world? Loadshedding is the end of the world for thousands of workers who have been laid
off because of it. Loadshedding is the end of the world for small business owners who have lost everything. The only people for whom loadshedding is not the end of the world are ANC fat cats who live in taxpayer funded mansions with generators paid by the same people who are suffering under loadshedding. But then again, we do remember how the hon Lucas spent over R50 000 on KFC during her first 10 weeks as Northern Cape Premier. At the time she responded by: “How would we have eaten without taxpayer money?” I suggest the ANC should make this their slogan for the 2024 election. Clearly, for hon Lucas, loadshedding will be the end of the world when it eventually shuts down her local source of streetwise feasts
... [Laughter.] ... When it happens, just remember one thing, the DA told you so.
Then there is state capture. For decades, the DA warned that ANC cadre deployment would lead to an explosion in corruption, and an implosion in service delivery. So, the ANC should not be shocked by yesterday’s Constitutional Court judgement that they must hand over their cadre deployment records to the DA dating back to January 2013, when President Ramaphosa became king of the cadres.
It was good to hear the hon Mantashe say that the ANC will abide by the court’s order. I do have some empty boxes at the back, and he is welcome to start dropping off some of his cadre secrets on the way out of this room and out of government. But Minister Mantashe then went on to posture that the ANC will continue with cadre deployment even after it caused state capture and collapse service delivery. There’s just one problem with that, hon members, the DA is currently awaiting judgement in a separate court case to declare cadre deployment unconstitutional and unlawful, whether the President likes it or not ... [Applause.] ... When that happens, just remember one thing, the DA told you so.
Sometimes one must also observe what is not said. What stood out today like a cadre’s sore thumb that got caught in a cash register is that the ANC was too afraid to let Deputy President Paul Mashatile speak. He’s sitting right here. So why was he not allowed to speak today? I’ll tell you why.
Because the ANC is too afraid to put its corruption accused Deputy President on this stage. Imagine! Just imagine! A President that protects his deputy from corruption allegations but is too scared to even allow him to open his mouth. The DA told you so.
Now there’s one final thing that the DA warned the ANC about. But they didn’t listen properly. I’m sure we’ve all seen the reports that Jacob Zuma’s new MK party is already polling at 24% in KwaZulu-Natal and at 9% nationally. It is clear that Zuma took millions of ANC votes with him, when he poached the MK logo from right under the ANC’s noses.
As far back as 2009, the DA warned them with our stop Zuma election posters over 1 million times. We warned them on lampposts, on billboards, on TV and on radio, but they did not listen properly. Now those chickens that grew up at the Nkandla coop have come home to roost at Luthuli House. The biggest irony is that this is all a crisis of President Ramaphosa’ s own making. Instead of upholding the rule of law, the President freed over 15 000 criminals as an excuse to keep Zuma out of prison. He kept feeding the crocodile, hoping that it would eventually stop being hungry. But now, the crocodile is coming for ANC votes and it’s hungrier than ever. Mr President, in just a few months from now, as the crocodile locks his jaws around you, I want you to keep one thing in mind, the DA told you so. [Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Hon Radebe, can we give him a microphone, please. Order, hon members. Why are you rising hon member? I can’t hear you. Can we switch on that microphone please?
Mr B A RADEBE: Thank you, hon Chairperson. I’m rising on Rule
34(g). Joint Rules clearly states that we cannot bring the placards into the House, and then that’s what the person who was at the podium has done. I request you make a ruling around that. Thank you, Chair.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Order, hon members. Hon members, as all of you are aware, the Rules are there to protect the decorum of the House and the dignity of the debate. Now we understand it’s an election year and its election season, but we are not here to campaign. Campaigning will take place outside of this Chamber. We are here to debate. Hon member, are you challenging me? Are you challenging me, hon member? Read the Rules. It ensures that the business of the Houses of Parliament is conducted in an orderly manner. In fact, the Rule is clear that members are prohibited from bringing placards into the Chamber.
Now, the hon Schreiber, you are not a new Member of Parliament. You know the Rules, but you just display your campaign poster from the podium, and you do it at the end of your speech and then just leave. I will look further into the matter, but hon members, we must desist from this type of unacceptable behaviour. The hon Dr Schreiber, should go and read the Rules again so that the hon Dr Schreiber, has a better understanding so that I don’t need to make a ruling against the hon Dr Schreiber, again. That applies to all members, whether you are academic doctors like, the hon Dr Schreiber, or not. Read to understand the Rules, please.
Order! The next speaker is the hon Minister of International Relations and Co-operation.
The MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION: Mr
President, Deputy President, Speaker, Chairperson of the NCOP, and hon members, there is one thing I know right now, Tintswalo will vote ANC in 2024. [Interjections.] There is another thing I know, Fatima in Eldorado Park will not ... [Inaudible.] ... [Interjections.]
Hon Chairperson, it is a privilege to participate in this debate on the President’s address, as the President indicated
in his well-balanced speech, there are many challenges and many more opportunities. In fact, Chairperson, the second term will be a term when many of our governments and our people’s ambitions and desires will come into full realization. [Applause.] As we anticipate such progress, Chairperson, we truly hope that there will be no pandemic to put a brake on our ambitions, no economic crisis amongst world powers holding trade back, and no conflict involving great powers inflating oil prices, narrowing markets, and impacting on jobs and growth.
There are many in this House, Chairperson, who are naysayers all the time. They believe the ground will open and swallow them if they tell the truth about the challenges that confront this government and the many bold steps taken to address them. It is the task of the opposition to seek to point at failures, and we should not be surprised at that. They must point to the inadequacy of electricity and our failure to address speedily the expansion of energy access when we should have done, but they cannot, Chairperson, they dare not recall that before the advent of freedom and democracy, nearly 70% of our citizens had no access to electricity.
Today, Chair, as you drive from East London to Umtata, you see the changes vividly. Changes brought by this democratic government. This progress is found in our various President’s work in international relations and co-operation. In the past
30 years of South Africa’s foreign policy, we have consistently seen South Africa punch above its weight on the global stage. South Africa is considered a champion of human rights around the world, a leader in the global South, and a leader on the African continent driving continental integration. [Applause.]
The work of the Department of International Relations and Co- operation has been guided by our national interest and we continue to work towards contributing to the improvement of the lives of all South Africans with a view to building a better South Africa, Africa and the world. Our government has honoured the undertaking we gave the South African people in 2018, that we would attract new investments into our economy. The pledges at the annual South Africa Investment Conference exceeded President Ramaphosa’s of R1,2 trillion in investments by R306 billion, overachieving the target by 26%. These investments will go a long way in stimulating economic activity and creating jobs. We’ve also played an active role
in the development of international human rights and humanitarian law. South Africa was elected to serve on the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term starting in January 2023. This is our third term on the Human Rights Council having successfully served previously on the Council. We have also ... [Inaudible.] ... government in the establishment of the African Union and have taken on leadership roles at various levels of the continental organization.
In 2002, President Thabo Mbeki served as the inaugural chair of the African Union, and from 2012-17, Minister Nkosazana Zuma served as the AU Commission chair. From February 2020-21, our President served as African Union Chair, and South Africa chaired the African Union’s Peace and Security Council on numerous occasions. President Ramaphosa chaired the African Union at a very difficult time as the world was combating the coronavirus. South Africa was praised by the World Health Organization, WHO, for the strategies it devised to deal with the pandemic. As chair of the Union, President Ramaphosa appointed special envoys to mobilize international economic support for the continental fight against COVID and established the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. By August 2021, the team had managed to secure 400 million
vaccine doses for African countries despite hording by the north. [Applause.]
There are many on the benches in our position who wish to pretend that there was no such thing as COVID, that it didn’t affect us severely, socially, as well as economically. Our country played a major role in the fight to make COVID vaccines more accessible to the developing south. We couldn’t get vaccines until President Ramaphosa intervened. [Applause.] South Africa and India argued effectively for the temporary Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, TRIPS, waiver at the World Trade Organization, WTO, to enable developing countries to manufacture COVID vaccines and therapeutics. We faced huge resistance from the rich developed countries, but we won a partial temporary waiver. As a result, in 2021, the African Union heads of state established the partnerships for Africa vaccine manufacturing under the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC. The Africa CDC is working with four other national regulatory authorities to boost capacity to manufacture 60% of vaccine needs in Africa by 2040 for the first time ever for Africa and South Africa led the way. [Applause.]
In June last year, the WHO referred to how South Africa managed its response to the pandemic despite the many challenges. Dr Ryan, at the Who said South Africa used its initial lockdown very well and put in place a Four-Point Plan for preparedness and response. He said the deployment of mobile laboratories across the country was a huge innovation, and the training of 30 000 community health workers to do contact tracing and testing was effective. He lauded South Africa for its swift technological response, which allowed it to develop COVID-19 testing capacity early on and assist other countries on the continent to test for cases. None of this will be mentioned by the opposition.
South Africa has capitalized on its membership in important multilateral organizations such as the G20 and Brics to advance the priorities of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Our continent’s development blueprint. We have played a significant role in the development of continental infrastructure, the procurement and development of vaccines in science and innovation, and we are determined to play an even larger role in the second 10-year implementation plan of Agenda 2063. But we still have a long way to go, as President said, despite major successes.
Our country has been playing a role in advancing peace and security on the African continent for many years. From the 2003 Sun City unity talks for the Democratic Republic of Congo to 2021 signing off the Pretoria Agreement between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, TPLF ... [Applause.] We are a country and a government that is doing. We have also made a noticeable impact in our country in science and innovation on the world stage. In fact, Mr President, I don’t recall you saying Tintswalo was a factory worker. Did you say that? [Interjections.] I don’t remember. And I was wondering why is it when it’s a young black woman referred to, that the only career she might have is a factory worker? I found that odd. Nonetheless, in the space of science, innovation and intellectual development, we are very proud internationally of Dr Tshilidzi Marwala ... [Inaudible.] ... of the UN university. He was appointed in August 2023 and serves on the UN’s Scientific Advisory Council. He wouldn’t have had that opportunity had we not had democracy ... [Applause.] ... because we know that hon Du Toit would have prevented it from happening. [Interjections.] [Applause.] Dr Marwala served as Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, is a specialist in artificial intelligence, in computer science, and is also a qualified mechanical
engineer. This male, Tintswalo, is not a factory worker whose factory is closing. [Applause.]
We also have a further list of world award winners - black women scientists. We celebrate Prof Nyokong, who is Rhodes University director of the Institute of Nanotechnology Innovation. She has received many global awards for her research on Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer and on Eliminating Antimicrobial Resistance. If the hon Steenhuisen had said Tintswalo was a physicist who lost her job, I would have said transformation is happening, but the factory worker, no. The pioneering research of Professor Nyokong is paving the way for safer cancer detection and treatment without the debilitating effects of chemotherapy.
Last year, Pope Francis appointed Professor Nyokong to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. And then, we have Senamile Masango who is a nuclear physicist and an esteemed scholar who presents her work on some of the biggest science stages in the world. She mentors young girls in science through her foundation and has declared that she wishes to be the first African woman to travel to space, not for the moonshot, but to shoot it down. [Applause.]
Our country, hon Chairperson, has a myriad of influential talented minds and we are proud that they represent South Africa so well. Some of these inimitable minds comprised our world-class team of international law advocates who presented our case to the International Court of Justice, ICJ, last month, on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. I was absolutely shocked at hon Nodada suggesting leave the genocide and focus on your domestic issues. [Interjections.] I find it horrifying that that is the future South African we have. People worldwide have hailed South Africa’s case before the ICJ and the finding of the court that there’s a plausible case of genocide. This has had reverberations worldwide. The case is particularly significant in that the ICJ is seized by such an important matter of peace and security where it is a country of the South that is asking the world’s highest court to hold a country of the north accountable for their violations of the Geneva Convention. [Applause.] We all know that provisional measures were set out by the court. We all know that the silence of the DA has been deafening. We all know that the Western Cape government, on 10 March 2022, through their premier, referred to Ukraine in the following way: It cannot, we cannot and will not remain silent in the face of a major international crisis that threatens the very foundation of our
liberal international order - the Premier of Western Cape, hon Nodada - about Ukraine. But today you say we must ignore genocide in Palestine. We are embarrassed by you. [Time expired.] Thank you. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr C T Frolick): Thank you, hon members. Hon members, please take your seats. Order, hon members. Please, take your seats. Thank you. That brings us to the end of the list of speakers for today. The debate will resume tomorrow.
Debate concluded.
The Joint Sitting adjourned at 17:06
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