Response by Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip MP, to Jacob Zuma's state of the nation address, June 4 2009
State of the Nation Response: This is a moment of national renewal
Hon. Speaker, President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma wena mfo ka Msholozi, Nxamalala, wena kama - phuma epethe inyama ngapha namasi ngapha, siyakuhalalisela ngokukhetwa kwako msholozi.
Mina neQembu engi liholayo iDemocratic Alliance siyalihlonipha iHovisi lako. Futhi singathanda kakhulu uma ingxenye yeqembu eliphikisayo kanye nabalandeli abangu three million abalikhetile nabo bahlonitshwe.
Mr. President, you reminded us at your inauguration that this fourth democratic term of office is a moment of national renewal, you committed yourself and so to this parliament to the historic undertaking made by President Mandela, that never, never and never again would this land experience the oppression of one by another. You referred to his spirit of reconciliation that shone so brightly through the regrettably brief window of national pride during the late 1990's. The window is still there, all we need do is draw back the dark drapings that have shut out the light in the past decade. This is a task that we are all surely up to.
We were treated yesterday to the powerful words of two Patriotic Poets that gave us soul food. We, the privileged few of this Parliament, must take care of our National "thread".
You committed yourself to this in Pretoria, you said "I commit myself to the service of the nation with dedication, commitment, discipline, integrity, hard work and passion".
I too commit myself and my 66 colleagues in the National Assembly and my 10 colleagues in the NCOP to do the same. Your State of the Nation address was indeed positive, we need to be positive in these difficult times, but we need to be realistic and honest about the economic realities too.
We have no choice in this regard, because the people of this country have become disillusioned by what we do or don't do here. If we do not change the way we do things, we might hear from the people of this country what the parliament of Oliver Cromwell heard from him, when he put their term of office to an end. In 1653, Cromwell said that those representatives had dishonored the parliament by their contempt of all virtue and practice of every vice.
He said "you have grown intolerably odious to the whole nation, you are deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, yet yourselves have become the greatest grievances and enemies to all good government".
Mr. President, your international undertaking to hold ourselves to the highest standards of service, probity and integrity and to build a society that prizes excellence, rewards effort and shuns laziness and incompetence, is the clarion call that our nation so desperately needs and deserves to hear.
The challenge however, is not only to speak these fine words as you did yesterday, but to ensure that they translate into fine actions. There are immediate concerns that this noble intent is being undermined right here in Parliamentary Committees by the appointment of people to positions of public authority that obviously do not espouse these values, people that have actually defrauded Parliament. The ANC will have to consider whether these appointments are in accordance with your public blueprint of national renewal and the call to arms against the cancer of corruption that is ravaging our country.
The DA commits itself to the proposed partnership for reconstruction, development and progress that you spoke of, because you said that in this partnership there is a place for all South Africans, black and white. You significantly made to me no differentiation between the languages they speak or of their ethnicity; this is the essence of a true rainbow nation!
The party that I represent here, is a party for all South Africans and we have promised our almost 3 000 000 voters that we will contribute to building one nation with one future, therefore if you mean what you say, we can be partners in building this country into a prosperous nation.
As jy kyk hoe ons hier, as die DA lyk, sal jy besef dat ons ‘n weerspieëling is van ons bevolking, en nog meer, dat ons almal Suid-Afrikaaners is in murg en been. Ons verteenwoordig nie kolonialiste of uitgewekende Suid-Afrikaaners nie. U of die ANC kan ons nie wegwens nie, want ons is kinders van die stof van die vasteland van Afrika, ons het nie ‘n ander heenkome nie. Suid-Afrika is ons tuisland en ons wil en sal tot haar vooruitgang bydra, deur ons rol as die amptelike opposisie in die Parliament.
Professor George Devenish recently said: "A responsible opposition is as necessary to the proper functioning of Parliamentary democracy as is a responsible government." It requires political maturity to recognise this fact.
Personally, I am South African to the core, my bookcase in my office proudly accommodates my grandfather's Hansard records of his contribution in this parliament, and they have found their way back to parliament more than half a century later. I come from a family that has served this country and also paid the ultimate price over generations. My family and I remain committed to this cycle of service motivated by proud patriotism and a deep love for this country; so are my colleagues.
Mr President, I appreciate the way you welcomed our Party's leader, Premier Helen Zille to your cabinet Lekgotla. You have done what you committed yourself to doing at your inauguration on the 9th May where you said that you "seek a vibrant, dynamic partnership that is enriched by democratic debate, that values diverse views and accommodates dissent." This example will hopefully eventually reach the ANC representatives in the Western Cape Legislature and their alliance partners too.
Amalungu we ANC eKapa. Abonwabanga behleli kwikohlo yendlu yowisom thetho, kodwa bazakuyi qela landawu.
The DA is accustomed to occupying the benches on the left of this Parliament and in most provinces, but all opposition parties aspire to occupy the benches that you and your party occupy- we have achieved this now in the Western Cape and plan to do so here too. We will not be spectators or passive participants. We will hold you to account on your electoral and manifesto promises, we will play an even more vigilant oversight role, but will always offer alternate views and advice in the best interest of the country in this regard. The role of the planning and monitoring commissions with regard to performance evaluation of the cabinet will be closely watched and I hope the evaluation will be implemented better than the PFMA and MFMA have been.
Speaking of that, it is now more important than ever that we recognise the full extent of the international recession and the fact that we are firmly gripped therein. We must begin to isolate the opportunities for South Africa in this global predicament. Many skilled people who left our shores are returning. We must harvest their skills and place them in the vacant critical posts of the civil service to improve service delivery.
For far too long now, too many parents have encouraged their children to attain worldly education so as to be globally mobile - the truth is the pastures are not greener on the other side, we must encourage our family members and friends to contribute to the development of South Africa and Africa. This is a place of enormous opportunity, but we will only succeed if our children and grandchildren become teachers, doctors, nurses, policemen, detectives, transport specialists, engineers, scientists and telecommunication experts with the view to applying these skills to the advantage of a neglected continent and a developing country.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup will be a massive success; we showed that we could host the Indian Professional league T20 tournament to the amazement of the entire world. The tournament could not be hosted in India, because of their fractious elections, yet we hosted it with three weeks notice during our own elections. We cannot allow this golden opportunity to showcase our wonderful country to the world to be jeopardised by self serving parochial protestations.
When we come out of this cycle of recession the focus of the developed world will become fixed on Africa and South Africa in particular and we are the gateway to a continent, blessed in abundance with the natural resources that are in such short supply elsewhere. This will be our springboard to unprecedented economic growth and prosperity if we are appropriately prepared.
Op die oomblik het U Mnr die President, twee dinge in gemeen met die President van die Vereenigde State, President Barak Obama. Julle is albei onlangs verkies en julle moet albei die gevolge van ‘n resessie hanteer en voorkom.
Not the best time to become a president, but many of the greatest in history have emerged from similar adversity. I hope for our country's sake that your name will be added to the illustrious list of successful post recessionary presidents. Remember though, at this time, that it is the poor that need more attention and they depend more on effective and efficient service delivery. The ANC's cadre development policies have compromised service delivery standards and needs for the good of the country to be reconsidered.
What will also make things more difficult for you than President Obama, is the dichotomous composition of our cabinet and party, this is going to prove extremely difficult to handle, especially with regard to your macroeconomic approach in dealing with economic growth and the creation of decent jobs. A decent job is not one created by an expanded public works programme that incidentally abuses most labour legislation and takes people out of penury for a brief while whilst they dig a trench from point A to B, only to be plunged back into having to illuminate their homes again by candlelight or paraffin lamp when they had become accustomed to flicking a switch on a wall.
Your welcome reference to reducing bureaucratic red tape restrictions in order to allow for easier licensing and reception of SMME is good news, but you neglected to tell us what you are going to do with the most inhibiting factor in this regard which is restrictive labour legislation.
Die SAKP leier en Minister van Hoë Onderwys, Dr Blade Nzimande het byvoorbeeld onlangs onomwande gesê dat wat SA nodig het, is ‘n sosialistiese ekonomiese beleids raamwerk, en hy het verder gegaan om te sê dat die ANC nie langer die belange van sy linkse alliansie vennote kan ignoreer of toegelaat gaan word om dit te doen nie. Mnr Heinrich Wyngaard van Die Burger het heeltemal reg gekommenteer dat dit sterk woorde is van die nuut bemagdigde linkervleuel wat kennis gee dat hulle die dividend vir hulle aandeel aan U verkiessing soek. Ons gaan fyn dop hou om te sien hoe hierdie tweedeligheid ontvou.
Your duty is to serve the country, not the communist party or the ANCYL. What is more, is that you cannot afford their socialist agenda. With a constricting economy, tax revenues will decrease drastically and your expensive plans of infrastructure spending, expanded public works programmes and additional social grants can only come from greater deficits which is ultimately irresponsible in this economic climate.
The economic realities of this country are going to determine much of what we do over the next five years and the ANC and its socialist tripartite alliance members would do well to recognise that our population estimates are way off the mark. This has direct impact on planning and the provision of social services such as hospital, housing, education and social security. This situation will have to be dealt with much more effectively and efficiently by Home Affairs and the Department of International Relations and corruption is endemic in these departments. However, this fact also directly affects the Departments of Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, State Security, Transport, Tourism and Trade and Industry. South Africa is the destination of choice for African immigrants and we need to be properly geared to effectively deal with the consequences of these migration patterns.
Mr President, much has been said about the olive branch that you have extended to the opposition - Ndifuna ukuthi namhlanje ukuba andikaliboni elohlahla lomnguma mna - ndi bone bephiwa amaqabi oonumzana ababekekileyo u Pieter Mulder kunye no Themba godi - kodwa thina siyi'DA asikaboninto, pofu thina si xakwe yitolofiya kuba siphumelele apha emphumina kapa.
It is a source of great concern for the DA to be called secessionist by none other than the former Deputy President, Baleka Mbete. It is also unacceptable that the Chief Whip of the ANC in the NCOP can say the following about the Premier of the Western Cape, "I want to say Chair and of course Hon. Chief Justice, that I am not a racist. If she wants to lead her race, she has the right to do so. She has won the race to lead, but not the people of my province. This is my home, and she has to be very serious when she leads the people of this province". My question is, who are "our" people and who says we are not serious? This was said without rebuke from the Chair of the NCOP, the ANC or the media. No-one in the DA here or elsewhere has ever uttered such racist drivel about the ANC electoral victory or indeed your appointment Sir.
Neither have we called people witches or lesbians with the designed intent to malign and foster homophobic or genocidal emotions. We have not called any elected representatives an enemy of the state nor threatened to make anywhere ungovernable. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our society, less so in our Parliament. I hope that this debate will not set the tone for this term of office, so that we can concentrate on the seminal issues that challenge our nation's prosperity.
Incidentally, the DA will be a Government for all the people of the Western Cape.
This Parliament will have to rise to the occasion "en ons sal mekaar se hande moet vat" in die gees van ‘n Suid-Afrikanse gemeenskap as die ‘n periode van hernuwing gaan wees.
Thank you.
Issued by the Democratic Alliance, June 4 2009
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