Transcript of speech by Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, in the debate on the State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Cape Town, 15 February 2023

The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: President Ramaphosa, Chairperson, my colleagues in the executive, and all hon members, the President has presented a pragmatic and decisive speech to resolve the challenges of the people of this country.

I expected a debate from the opposition parties, but what did they come and do here? All of them, without exception, the EFF, DA, FFPlus, presented election manifestos [Interjections.]

They weren’t here to present solutions to the people of this country. In fact, the commander-in-chief or the supreme leader of the EFF even presented the state of the City of Johannesburg.

Hon Shivambu, who has just left here, attempted to present some ideas. I am very disappointed with hon Shivambu, almost like hon Steenhuisen.

Hon Steenhuisen quoted his hero P W Botha without acknowledging him on the Rubicon speech. Hon Shivambu has just dusted all ANC documents and presented them here as his. [Applause.]

Let me show you how. Hon Shivambu spoke about the state-owned bank. The ANC has resolved on the state-owned bank, and the Minister of Telecommunications has already put a Bill before this House.

The state-owned bank is already in the process of being constituted. On the issue of Eskom playing a role on renewable, Eskom is already repurposing Komati to play a role on renewables. There is nothing new.

As we speak now, Eskom’s Komati is being renewed. We are working to ensure that Eskom plays a role on renewables. He also came here and spoke about China that China only deals with one company with regard to unbundling.

China has various state-owned companies in various provinces and regions dealing with energy generation, with distribution and supply of electricity.

It does not have only one company like ourselves. It is therefore dishonest and an intellectual misrepresentation by hon Shivambu. [Interjections.]

We have a unique challenge and a unique situation which we have to respond to as the governing party. The President has never said that the state must never play a role in renewables or in the energy mix.

It is an energy mix that has been presented over years through Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, ERRP. It is not something that has been brought by President Ramaphosa. Mobil once proposed the unbundling and the divisions in Eskom.

That does not come from President Ramaphosa. We have just dusted off the idea and are rebuilding on it because of the current challenges that the country is facing.

So, hon Shivambu has said nothing new here. He has just spoken about what the ANC is currently doing ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] ...

Hon Gwarube who has just left here, argues that we have not done anything on COVID-19 theft. It is public knowledge that people have been arrested, and monies have been recovered for the theft on COVID-19.

The ANC government has held people to account. Through the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, stolen money during the COVID-19 has been recovered. This ANC government, continues to work on building and strengthening the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA.

She also said that we are not doing anything with Phalaphala. This Parliament debated, considered and thoroughly looked at the report on Phalaphala.

This Parliament decided in terms of its own Rules to reject the report of the Panel. [Interjections.] So, this Parliament has considered and engaged on the Phalaphala report.

Hon members, and the Leader of the Opposition, hon Steenhuisen, fresh from being labelled a mampara of the week by the Sunday Times has unconsciously exposed the true intentions of the DA.

Hon Steenhuisen, who quoted the Rubicon speech without acknowledging it because he is ashamed to acknowledge the source - the leader of the apartheid regime, P W Botha - but in reality, the people of South Africa know that you are cut from the same cloth both in words and in deeds.

Even if you choose not to acknowledge your hero, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, hon Manamela has unmasked you. The skewed racial service delivery in the City of Cape Town, in the Western Cape, Tshwane, the City of Johannesburg, and everywhere where you are governing ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Ndlozi, on what point are you rising?

Dr M Q NDLOZI: Chairperson, I am rising on a point of order ... [Interjections.] ... Which dusty document of the ANC mentions FSRU?

Sepedi:

Akere dilo tṧe le di tṧea kua go lena.

English:

Which document that gathered dust in the ANC talks about FSRU? And how many votes did you get at Nasrec? [Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: That’s not a point of order, and we will therefore allow the Minister to proceed.

The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES: Don’t worry about hon Ndlozi, this is the only opportunity he has to speak ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] ... All the minutes have been taken by the supreme leader.

The position of the DA to attack cadre deployment is also consistent with the P W Botha vision. It is a sophisticated racist trope that black people should not hold strategic and leadership positions in the country.

As hon Kondlo yesterday correctly demonstrated, there are countless incidents of the DA deploying their own people here in the Western Cape and other places where they govern at the expense of the fiscus and rationality.

Let me remind the DA, when Eskom was named the Global Power Company of the Year, it was not under apartheid, it was led by the ANC in 2002 ... [Applause.] ... by the Financial Times’ Global Energy Awards under the chief executive officer, CEO, Thulani Gcabashe.

The Sars, not long ago, was the best tax revenue collection agency in the world. The commissioner was none other than P G Gordhan. This shows that cadre deployment works. We have done it before, and we will do it again. [Applause.]

With regards to rebuilding the state-owned entities, we will continue to ensure that people of unbreakable records and ethical leaders lead state-owned entities, they lead in government and they revive state-owned entities including government departments.

The two institutions that I have just referred to, Eskom and the Sars were not broken down by cadre deployment but by systematic corruption and not just by being led by black people, as the DA strongly says. It was corrupt individuals.

It is for that reason that, last week, here in the Western Cape in court, when the officials of the City of Cape Town appeared for corruption, it wasn’t said that it was the DA, but it was those officials who appeared in court.

The trial of those officials is continuing and we will allow the processes of the law to take place, same as allowing the processes of the law to take place with all the people that have been arrested for the corruption at Eskom. [Applause.] Those individuals will be held accountable, and a free and a fair trial will ensue.

Hon Speaker, here sits leaders of the opposition parties who meets regularly with one sole purpose, to remove the ANC from power. [Interjections.] It has nothing to do with service delivery or about the people of this country.

Their agenda has nothing to do with water, and nothing to do with provision of electricity, it is only ... and nothing else. The people of South Africa must know them because this country is not only run for elections, but we are running South Africa to provide services. It is about the people. [Interjections.] [Applause]

We do not just exist for our own sake, but to deliver services to the people of this country. We will continue, guided by the Sona that the President has delivered, to resolve the challenges of electricity, water provision, unemployment, and the challenges of gender-based violence that were raised here. I will give the statistics.

Hon members, the President has led by sharing his power, even accepting some of the inputs from various political parties in this country. It is what we expect that opposition parties must come to the party.

The crisis we face is not of our making, it is not a crisis of political opportunism to campaign. We will all have the opportunity next year to go and campaign. For now, let’s resolve the energy crisis which is Eskom. The President said, everyone must bring their ideas.

Hon Schreiber made us to play a guessing game yesterday of who said what. Well, let’s see if you could guess this, hon Steenhuisen, if the government declared the state of disaster, it will unlock the emergency reprioritisation of resources. Guess who said this, hon Steehuisen?

It is not Fikile Mbalula, the secretary-general of the ANC, no, it is not. It is hon Cachalia, the DA spokesperson on Public Enterprises ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] ... But what does the DA do? They have flip-flopped, they have changed and are saying a state of disaster will lead to unemployment.

I must tell you, hon Gwarube, it is not the state of disaster that led to unemployment, it was the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was the pandemic that affected a number of jobs, a number of challenges, unemployment and all the issues that we have today that led this country to struggle economically.

We are now working to rebuild the economy and we are back to the pre-COVID-19 economic growth statistics. What we need is to build from there as a society, and we can do so if we resolve the energy crisis, we would be able to resolve the economic challenges of our country, the unemployment and the high crime rate that hon members are bemoaning. Hon Gwarube said there is no conviction on gender-based violence.

I must state that that is totally incorrect and it is wrong. On gender-based violence, we have 74% conviction rate across the country. People are being convicted every day. [Applause.] Our courts convict someone every day and giving them harsh sentences.

And this, I am not thumb sucking. It is a reality. Katlego Mabote was convicted by the Johannesburg High Court. Three hundred and ninety-six convictions from 420 cases. Five additional Thuthuzela Care Centres, TCC, sites were established from the 2020-21/22 financial years, bringing the total to 60. During the reporting period, 34 456 matters were reported to the Thuthuzela Care Centres, a conviction rate of 76%.

It is not true that there is no work that is being done. Indeed, gender-based violence continues to be a challenge, but here comes hon Sharif and said we must not politic and use gender-based violence, but she does the opposite.

She does exactly what she warns us not to do. This is a matter that all of us must work together to resolve as a society. It is a challenge that is facing this country, and we must work to ensure that we eradicate all forms of gender-based violence.

As you spoke here, hon Steenhuisen, hon Gwarube and hon Shivambu, you wanted to continue to play the divide and rule with the ANC, believing that you are going to divide the Deputy President and the President, you’ll divide the President of the Republic and the newly elected Deputy President of the ANC.

You also believe you can divide the hon Mantashe and Pravin Gordhan. That’s why you continue to start playing those games, hon Shivambu, hon Groenewald and everyone. You will not divide the ANC. [Applause.]

We have emerged from a conference, we are united in unison, marching together to address the challenges the people are facing. We are out of Nasrec, we are done.

I heard hon Ndlozi thinking he is mocking me with the numbers. As a true democrat, I have accepted the outcome. All of us in the ANC know that we can only resolve the challenges of our country if we work together as a unit and united. We will call the people of South Africa to march with the ANC through the call that the President has made that all of us must contribute to resolve our social challenges.

I want to conclude, hon Chairperson, by paying tribute to the fallen heroes of our struggle. The fallen heroes who have played very important roles in our country.

The former Speaker Ginwala and the people in the arts and sports, the former captain of Orlando Pirates, Mr John Moeti, who belonged to the golden generation of Bafana Bafana, and also the untimely murder of AKA. We call upon the police to swiftly arrest those who perpetrated this crime including his friend, the chef, Tebello Motsoane.

In 2017, on NTV in Kenya, on an interview with Larry Madowo, who is now an international CNN correspondent, AKA said the following, and I quote:

“We are trying to go to the next stage of our revolution. The first stage of the revolution was political power. Now we are trying to get economic power for the masses in South Africa, but I believe in the potential of South Africa, I believe in my people as our greatest resource.”

Rest in peace Super Mega. May the law take its course! Thank you very much. [Applause.] [Interjections.]

Source: Unrevised transcript, Hansard.