THURSDAY, 9 MAY 2002 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
                                ____

The House met at 14:00.

The Deputy Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                          NOTICES OF MOTION

Mr T M GONIWE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes that senior members of the Democratic Party, including its leader, the honourable Tony Leon, are reported to have rubbed shoulders, dined and mingled on a number of DA fundraising occasions with the wanted German fugitive, Mr Jürgen Harksen;

(2) further notes -

   (a)  reports that the DA mayor of Cape Town, Mr Gerald Morkel, is
       reported to have received financial rewards from this fugitive;


   (b)  that the investigation into this controversy lacked transparency
       and that the DA moved quickly to clear the mayor; and


   (c)  the deafening silence of the leader of the United Democratic
       Movement, Bantu Holomisa, the self-styled so-called ``crusader
       against corruption'';

(3) believes that the manner in which the Democratic Alliance is handling this scandal reflects double standards … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mr D K MALULEKE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move:

That the House -

(1) congratulates the City of Cape Town for the efficient administration of the city, which contrasts so strongly with the Johannesburg Metro Council in particular;

(2) further notes that the city centre of Cape Town is cleaner, safer and more inviting than it has been for years and that Johannesburg is still dirty and crime-infested, which frightens off tourists and investors; and

(3) recognises that the Democratic Alliance is entitled to claim the credit for the achievements of the Cape Town Unicity, while the ANC must take the blame for the poor standard of government, for which it is responsible, in many towns and cities around South Africa. [Interjections.]

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move:

That the House -

(1) takes note that South African Airways has in one year been turned around from a disastrous failure with losses of R745 million into a successful business, now proudly taking its place amongst the top air carriers in the world;

(2) congratulates SAA’s President, André Viljoen, and his team, on this magnificent achievement; and

(3) taking note of Mr Viljoen’s ability to turn a huge mess into a huge success, recommends that Mr Viljoen be immediately appointed coach of the Springbok rugby team. [Laughter.]

Mr M E GEORGE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes the increasingly frequent reports of arrests of members of crime syndicates by the various arms of the Safety and Security services;

(2) further notes that, in Johannesburg, a raid on a house resulted in the arrests of alleged criminals involved in what are known as ``419 scams’’, which lure people into false money-laundering schemes with promises of huge returns, but which result in their being fleeced and sometimes kidnapped and murdered; (3) commends the SAPS and the Justice Department for their increasing success in tackling the scourge of organised crime; and

(4) gives warning to all criminals that the ANC Government is tough on crime and will do whatever it takes to defend the hard-won gains of the struggle for liberation from criminals who seek to undermine the fruits of liberation. [Applause.]

Dr B L GELDENHUYS: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the New NP:

That the House -

(1) calls on the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Health, as well as on the South African delegation to the World Health Assembly, to support Taiwan’s participation as an observer to the WHO;

(2) believes in the importance of good health for every citizen of the world and that infectious diseases recognise no national boundaries;

(3) believes that health issues concern people’s lives and should not be influenced by political factors;

(4) notes that South Africa’s One-China policy will not be affected because Taiwan will participate as a health entity and not as a state; and

(5) further notes that the European Parliament and the US Senate have already pledged their support for Taiwan’s participation on an observer basis.

Mr T ABRAHAMS: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the UDM:

That the House - (1) welcomes the progress made in the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, or Nepad;

(2) calls on Government to overcome various obstacles with renewed vigour, recognising that the people of Africa are in desperate need of sustainable and democratic development;

(3) calls on all relevant parties to participate openly and actively with a view to making Africa an equal among the players in the international political, economic and social arenas; and

(4) urges the executive to seriously and effectively engage civil society on Nepad and its programmes, and ensure that other governments involved in Nepad do the same, so that the people on the ground embrace and own the process.

Ms E THABETHE: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes that seasonal and domestic workers have, in this country, historically suffered gross abuse and exploitation at the hands of their employers;

(2) recognises that the ANC Government is committed to entrenching the rights of all South Africans to freedom from exploitation, oppression and want; and

(3) welcomes the announcement that domestic and seasonal workers will fall within the net of the Unemployment Insurance Fund with effect from 1 April 2003. [Applause.]

Mr J P I BLANCHÉ: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes that Workers’ Day on 1 May was a day of mourning for millions of South Africans without jobs;

(2) further notes that seven million people are unemployed and that the ANC can no longer be described as a worker-friendly government; and

(3) calls on the President to re-examine the focus of the Department of Labour, and convert it into a Department for Employment which should be geared to getting South Africans back to work.

Miss S RAJBALLY: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the MF: That the House -

(1) notes that -

   (a)  in the Durban region, the Ethekwini Municipality has calculated
       R11 million in outstanding rent by tenants;


   (b)  it has, however, been noted that the majority of those who have
       skipped rent payments for months are unable to meet commitments
       and make the necessary payments due to serious financial
       difficulties and circumstances;


   (c)  this is quite a dilemma but that it is heartening to note that
       the department chose to rehouse those people instead of just
       evicting them; and


   (d)  eviction would certainly make them homeless and set this country
       back;

(2) calls for assistance to the department in doing so; and

(3) further notes that the matter cannot be left because of the large debt.

Miss J E SOSIBO: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes reports that a Soweto woman, Pretty Vukuthu, was arrested in connection with the selling of human body parts for muti purposes following the broadcasting of a Special Assignment programme;

(2) commends the South African Police Service for arresting the culprit; and

(3) calls on the communities to work with the police to apprehend perpetrators of this barbaric act. Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes reports that Mr Jürgen Harksen -

   (a)  was an honoured guest of the ANC or of the Government at the
       Millennium Party on Robben Island; and


   (b)  was entertained as a guest of the former President at Tuynhuys;

(2) therefore resolves that the ANC must make a declaration as to whether it received any political donations, either at national or at Western Cape level, from Mr Harksen. [Applause.]

Mr M A MZIZI: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the IFP: That the House -

(1) notes that all of South Africa is indebted to the SABC for its exposure of the sale of body parts, often procured through illegal means and at times as a result of the mutilation of unfortunate individuals, leading to serious injury or death;

(2) further notes that this horrific trade has been conducted by corrupt traditional healers, which has been condemned by the president of the Traditional Healers;

(3) congratulates the SABC for its contribution to a better society; and

(4) calls upon the Minister of Safety and Security to ensure that all corrupt traditional healers are pursued with the full rigour of the law until this practice is eliminated, and to investigate further and confiscate any other body parts that are found and to prosecute the perpetrators. Mr D V BLOEM: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes that the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders, Nicro, has appealed to business and communities not to reject former convicts;

(2) believes that -

   (a)  the rehabilitated convicts must be reintegrated into the
       community as part of a broader strategy to prevent crime in our
       communities; and


   (b)  business must absorb the former inmates who have acquired skills
       during the period of serving their sentence; and

(3) supports the call by Nicro for the rehabilitation of offenders. [Applause.]

Dr W A ODENDAAL: Mevrou die Speaker, ek gee hiermee kennis dat ek op die volgende sittingsdag die volgende konsepbesluit sal voorstel:

Dat die Huis daarvan kennis neem dat -

(1) die politieke siel van die DP/DA na al die jare steeds gekenmerk word deur dieselfde bekende koloniale slopersmentaliteit;

(2) die DP/DA homself alreeds met die oog op die volgende algemene verkiesing geposisioneer het as die sentrum vir opposisiekritiek waarvolgens alles wat Suid-Afrikaans is en uit Afrika gebore word, in wese geëtiketteer moet word as minderwaardig van aard en daarom inherent gedoem tot mislukking;

(3) daar met sekerheid voorspel kan word dat die DP/DA se verkiesingspropaganda gekenmerk sal word deur ‘n destruktiewe en obstruktiewe veldtog, gepaardgaande met persoonlike aftakeling van mede-Suid-Afrikaners; en

(4) die kieserskorps hierdie soort dislojale, onpatriotiese politiekery met die nodige minagting moet verwerp wat dit verdien. (Translation of Afrikaans notice of motion follows.)

[Dr W A ODENDAAL: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House takes note that -

(1) after all these years the political soul of the DA/DP is still characterised by the same well-known colonial demolisher mentality;

(2) in view of the next general election the DA/DP has already positioned itself as the centre for opposition criticism whereby everything South African or born in Africa would be essentially labelled as inferior by nature and therefore inherently doomed to failure;

(3) we can predict with certainty that the election propaganda of the DA/DP will be marked by a destructive and obstructive campaign, coupled with personal discrediting of fellow South Africans; and

(4) that the electorate should reject this type of disloyal, unpatriotic politics with the necessary contempt it deserves.] [Applause.]

Mr S ABRAM: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the UDM:

That the House -

(1) notes and welcomes the Moral Regeneration Summit held recently in Pretoria;

(2) notes the urgent need for implementation of the suggestions, resolutions and outcomes of this summit to benefit all citizens of our country in all walks of life;

(3) calls on all members of this House to commit themselves to moral regeneration; and

(4) calls on Government to lead by example.

Ms E GANDHI: Madam Speaker, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House, I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House -

(1) notes that -

   (a)  a World Children's Forum, under the auspices of the United
       Nations, was formally opened by the United Nations Secretary-
       General, Mr Kofi Annan, in New York on Wednesday, 8 May 2002;
       and


   (b)  this meeting is attended by senior political representatives,
       opinion-makers, and celebrities from over 63 countries,
       including former President Nelson Mandela;

(2) further notes that -

   (a)  the meeting will, amongst other things, discuss children's
       rights, child soldiers, and the effect of poverty on children;
       and


   (b)  a South African children's delegation under the banner of Molo
       Songololo, marched to the embassies of Britain and the United
       States to highlight the plight of the Palestinian children in
       Palestine;


   (3)  believes that this forum ... [Time expired.]

Mr J H VAN DER MERWE: Madam Speaker, on a point of order, could someone inform us who the hon gentleman sitting on the seat of the ANC’s Chief Whip is?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Clearly, you are behind the times, Mr Van der Merwe. [Laughter.]

                            ASCENSION DAY

                         (Draft Resolution)

Ms C DUDLEY: Madam Speaker, I move without notice:

That the House -

(1) notes that today is Ascension Day and that it is the day according to the Christian faith, belief and tradition that is celebrated and recognised by most denominations as the day that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven; and

(2) takes note of this day as Christians throughout the world go about observing their faith and wishes them well. Agreed to.

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

Debate on Vote No 27 - Environmental Affairs and Tourism:

The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM: Madam Speaker, hon Deputy President and hon members, the two principles of sustainability and partnership have become imperatives in almost all human activity. Just as the system of apartheid was unsustainable - it imploded on its own immorality - so, too, will a world which feeds on the earth at a rate faster than it is able to replenish itself. Today, the world harvests fish faster than the fish reproduce. Will future generations have any fish to eat? We pump carbon dioxide into the air faster than the production of oxygen by forests. We destroy the earth as we develop. Sustainable development is principally about human welfare rather than merely a ``green’’ question.

It is no accident that the programme for the African Renaissance is entitled the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. For the poor of this world, for the marginalised, for the African, the words of poet John Donne ring truer than ever:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

Working in partnership - acting together with others - makes it possible to tackle the local and international imperatives with the urgency needed.

In his novel, The Heart of Redness, Zakes Mda takes us to Qolorha-by-Sea on the Wild Coast. I quote:

The developers, two bald white men and a young black man, come early on a Saturday morning and insist that the meeting be held at the lagoon … The young black man is introduced as Lefo Leballo, the new chief executive officer of the black empowerment company that is going to develop the village into a tourist heavenÿ … The two elderly white men

• both in black suits - are Mr Smith and Mr Jones …

And it continues:

Mr Smith talks of the wonders that will happen to Qolorha-by-Sea. There will be boats and water-skiing and jet-skiing … Right here', says Mr Smith, we shall see the biggest and most daring rides of all roller coasters in the world … over the rough sea.’ That is not all my dear friends', says Mr Smith excitedly. We are going to have cable cars too. Cable cars shall move across the water from one end of the lagoon to the other.’

But Camagu is not impressed:

You talk of all these rides and all these wonderful things,' he says, but for whose benefit are they? What will these villagers who are sitting here get from all these things? … These things will be enjoyed only by the rich people who will come here and pollute our rivers and our ocean …(Zim, an elder, says) This son of Cesane is right. They will destroy our trees and the plants of our forefathers for nothing. We, the people of Qolorha, will not gain anything from this. You have nothing to offer these people,’ says Mr Jones to Camagu. If you fight against these wonderful developments, what do you have to offer in their place? (Camagu replies) The promotion of the kind of tourism that will benefit the people, that will not destroy indigenous forests, that will not bring hordes of people who will pollute the rivers and drive away the birds.’ That is just a dream', shouts Lefo Leballo. There is no such tourism.’

This is the universal challenge of sustainable development faced by humanity today. This is the challenge before the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development is about the construction of a global partnership for the environmentally sustainable social and economic development of the poor. The decade since the Rio Earth Summit held in 1992 has seen the process of globalisation create unprecedented wealth, productivity and trade, while many developing countries, and Africa in particular, have been pushed to the fringes of the global system. Each year in the past decade, an additional 10 million people have joined the ranks of the very poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For these people, the fine words of Agenda 21 have meant little.

The last decade was marked by an unprecedented level of global concern for the protection of the earth’s fragile environment. South Africa is of the view that the Johannesburg Summit must negotiate a new global deal or partnership that brings the economic and social pillars of sustainable development back into the equation. Our watchwords are ``People, Planet, Prosperity.’’

A new global deal on sustainable development is possible because of certain key international developments, amongst them the decision of the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 to halve world poverty by the year 2015.

The main task of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development is to focus on implementation plans. It must result in a programme of action whose elements will include access to fresh water and sanitation, access to energy, food security, health care, primary education and technology transfer. For us on the African continent, this programme of action will be informed by Nepad.

The informal intergovernmental negotiations will be paralleled by a wide range of side events, cultural activities, the Civic Society Forum, and many interest groups expressing their views and contributions on a sustainable future for the planet. These activities are where some of the real dynamism and creativity of the summit will be expressed and where most of the large number of people visiting the summit will be engaged.

Parliamentarians from around the world will also be gathering in a special stakeholder event. Members of this House are playing a key role in facilitating this event. I would like to commend the role played by the portfolio comittee and its chairperson, together with Globe South Africa, in promoting dialogue on the key issues to be addressed at the summit. [Applause.]

Logistical preparations for the summit are at an advanced stage. We aim to make the summit carbon neutral'' by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investing in forestry projects that will absorb the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions generated by the summit activities. Gauteng is leading the project togreen’’ the summit, and I would like to commend the MEC Mary Metcalf for her visionary role in this regard.

The three spheres of government are also jointly making financial contributions to running the summit, with a total Government contribution of R200 million. These funds are being leveraged with donor and corporate sponsorships to make the total summit budget of R551 million. I would like to give special thanks to those sponsors who have generously assisted South Africa to pull off a major event of this scale. In all, we aim to leverage the national Government’s budget of R140 million four times over. We estimate that this will bring at least R1,5 billion into the South African economy, in addition to the benefits associated with branding, imaging and tourism which are less easy to quantify.

The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development takes place at a time when South Africa’s position as a world tourism destination continues to strengthen.

The year 2002 started well for tourism into South Africa with a growth of 3,7% in foreign arrivals in January. The growth occurred largely with regard to the United Kingdom and Germany, two of South African tourism’s high-priority markets. For January 2002, compared with January 2001, these markets grew by a whopping 14,5%.

While there was growth with regard to China and Thailand, the biggest gains for Asia were made from India, with an 18,2% increase. Arrivals for the year 2001 from the UK grew by 2,0%, those from Japan were up by 8,5%, those from China up by 3,2%, those from India for the entire year up by 7,9% and those from the Netherlands up by 5,4%. There has been a drop of 2.4% from the United States as a result of the tragic events of 11 September 2001.

Domestic tourism remains the bedrock of our tourism industry. During the period April 2000 to May 2001, 15 million South Africans undertook more than 34 million domestic trips, providing a R16 billion boost to the economy.

During President Mbeki’s official visit to China in December last year, President Jiang Zemin agreed to grant South Africa the coveted Approved Destination Status. This places South Africa amongst only 17 countries of the world that can be promoted as tourism destinations in this huge market. Moreover, South Africa is one of only two countries enjoying this status outside of East Asia. I would like to express my appreciation to the tourism industry for the strides which are being made in quality control and consumer protection. The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, appointed by Cabinet in September 2000, has already graded 700 establishments as part of the star grading system. An establishment is awarded stars by registered assessors, and of the 33 assessors registered by the council, 18 are historically disadvantaged individuals. The star grading is the only system recognised by Government and the Tourism Business Council.

Black economic empowerment and the promotion of SMMEs continue to be integral parts of Government’s strategy. Last year a record 138 black-owned enterprises were represented at the annual Tourism Indaba. This year the number will increase to 193.

In order to realise higher levels of growth in tourism, we need to increase the number of tourists to South Africa, we need to find ways of increasing how much these tourists spend here, we need to get a broader geographic spread, we need to decrease the seasonality patterns, and we need to make more conscious efforts to ensure that tourism growth creates opportunities for empowerment.

On behalf of Government, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the chairperson of the SA Tourism Board, Mr Saki Macozoma, who has requested to be relieved of his duty. He has been responsible for successfully overseeing a critical phase in the history of South African tourism.

The Kruger National Park, the jewel of this country’s natural heritage and a pride of our nation, continues to contribute to the tourism appeal of South Africa. The Kruger’s average occupancy rates are higher than industry norms and its profitability has increased fivefold in the last four years. It is, at the same time, regarded as a global conservation success story. My appreciation goes to David Mabunda, the Kruger director, and his team for a job well done. [Applause.] My appreciation also goes to the honorary rangers for their voluntary work in the Kruger and other parks in the spirit of Vukuzenzele.

SA National Parks has, in the recent period, acquired land for the consolidation and expansion of the Addo, Marakele, Vhembe-Dongola, Augrabies and Agulhas National Parks. The Government will continue to make funds available for the acquisition of land for this purpose.

South Africa continues to place emphasis on the development of transfrontier parks for the sake of conservation and the promotion of regional economic growth. During the past year, the so-called Gaza-Kruger- Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park was officially named the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park by agreement between the governments of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The text of the international treaty in terms of which the park will operate has been signed by the three countries, and tripartite structures are meeting regularly. Coutada 16 has been upgraded to a national park in terms of Mozambican law. The first group of elephants has been translocated from Kruger to Mozambique. Through the use of radio collars, the movement of these elephants is plotted daily by an elephant specialist in order to draw lessons from the situation that will arise when the fence is ultimately removed.

From the South African side, all obstacles to removing sections of the fence have been addressed by the relevant Government departments. The Mozambican authorities are busy with the process of community consultations. This is an important factor that would inform the actual timing of the removal of the fence. A project of this magnitude and importance requires care and diligence. But it also requires resolve and determination.

The creation of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal has consolidated 16 parcels of land into a single world heritage park. To date, 87 expressions of interest for the investment opportunities in the park have been pre-qualified. It is expected that contracts will be concluded in the course of this year.

South Africans can truly be proud of the success in the sustainable use of our valuable marine resources. Not only are our fish stocks amongst the best managed in the world, but it is also a sector in which very satisfactory advances have been made in transformation, transparency, fairness and black economic empowerment.

I am pleased to report that in 2001 the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism took its most confident step yet towards resolving the issue of black economic empowerment and the role it would play in the allocation of commercial fishing rights.

Today, in the hake trawl fishery, the majority or 73% of the rights holders are historically disadvantaged individuals. [Applause.] This figure is particularly impressive when one considers that less than 20 years ago the total catch for hake was shared among only six white-owned companies. Today the hake trawl catch is shared among 51 rights holders. The hake longline fishery was identified as one in which real opportunities could be offered to historically disadvantaged individuals who own SMMEs. The department’s allocation records demonstrate that this has been achieved. In the hake longline fishery, 80,4% of fishing rights were allocated to companies that are majority black-owned. Other fisheries show a similar trend.

Our strict determination of an annual total allowable catch for each species has ensured that the fish stocks are replenished year after year. South Africa’s pelagic fishing industry, which catches pilchards and anchovies, is enjoying one of the best catch years. Oceanographic surveys demonstrate that since acoustic surveys were first instituted during the early 1980s, populations of pilchards and anchovies in South African waters have never been higher.

It is therefore my pleasure to announce that this morning I have determined the revised total allowable catch for pilchards for 2002 to be a record 257 000 tons, an increase of 76 000 tons from 2001. I further determined the total allowable catch for anchovies for this year to be 260 000 tons. This makes the pelagics catch 158% higher than the 1994 figures. [Applause.] This is largely due to sound fisheries management. The sustainable use of natural resources does pay.

As we improve the system, we step up the fight against crime and corruption in fishing. A ten-month investigation into Hout Bay Fishing Industries (Pty) Ltd was conducted by a multidisciplinary task team comprising officials from the Scorpions, my department, the SA Revenue Service and the Asset Forfeiture Unit. The investigation spanned a number of continents and resulted in the arrest of several employees of Hout Bay Fishing Industries and 11 fisheries inspectors employed by my department.

Ten days ago, on 30 April, Hout Bay Fishing Industries, represented by the chairperson of the company, Arnold Maurice Bengis, pleaded guilty to 28 charges of contravening the Marine Living Resources Act. He admitted that between 1999 and 2001 the company, knowingly and intentionally, participated in the overfishing of South Coast rock lobster, West Coast rock lobster and hake. A director of Hout Bay Fishing Industries, Colin van Schalkwyk, has pleaded guilty to 301 charges of corruption relating to the bribing of fisheries inspectors.

The total penalty imposed on Hout Bay Fishing Industries, in terms of the plea bargain, amounts to a record R40 million. The Scorpions must be singled out for praise for sterling work done. [Applause.]

In order more effectively to protect South Africa’s valuable fish stocks, Government has decided to acquire four state-of-the-art fishing patrol boats. The purchase of the protection vessels dramatically improves the department’s ability to patrol our coastal waters, including South African waters around the Prince Edward Islands, an area which is frequented by Patagonian toothfish pirates.

It is my pleasure to announce that the department has awarded the contract worth R303 million for the building of three inshore vessels to a local shipyard, Cape Town’s Farocean Marine. The offshore vessel will be built by Damen Shipyards of the Netherlands at a cost of R210 million.

The recent period has been characterised by heightened awareness among South Africans about waste management and the litter that pollutes our living spaces. The publication of draft regulations, almost two years ago, which proposed a prohibition on the production, trade and distribution of thin plastic bags, had the effect of focusing the public mind and, in particular, that of industry on the problem of litter.

Having taken into account the results of an extensive consultation process, we promulgate regulations today which will end the free-for-all in the production and distribution of plastic bags. [Applause.] Rather than a blanket prohibiting on the product, this product is now subject to regulation. The regulations place a lower limit of 30 microns on plastic bags and prohibit advertising on bags thinner than 80 microns. Acceptable industrial tolerances, SABS standards and acceptable levels of printing will be developed in consultation with the Department of Trade and Industry.

An important challenge is the need to promote collection and recycling. Consideration is therefore being given to a new tax on plastic bag production in order to subsidise collection and recycling in accordance with the ``polluter-pays’’ principle. In order to ensure sufficient time for implementation, these regulations will come into force 12 months from today. We believe that this approach takes into account the main concerns of labour and industry and at the same time achieves the anti-litter and anti-waste objectives of broader society.

I would like to express my gratitude to an excellent and dedicated team of public servants associated with this portfolio: Murphy Morobe and Mavuso Msimang - chairperson and CEO of SA National Parks; Prof Prince Nevuthalu and Brian Huntley - chairperson and CEO of the National Botanical Institute; Saki Macozoma and Cheryl Carolus - chairperson and CEO of SA Tourism; Sizeka Rensburg and Donovan Nadison - chairperson and CEO of the SA Weather Service; Anita Soni and Salifou Siddo - chairperson and CEO of the Tourism Grading Council; Moss Mashishi, CEO of the Johannesburg World Summit Company; director-general Chippy Olver, who has now been deployed to work full time on the WSSD negotiations; the acting director-general Patrick Matlou, who has held the fort since January; the executive managers of the department, Nombasa Tsengwa, Horst Kleinsmidt and Pamela Yako; the acting executive manager, Sibusiso Gamede; my Deputy Minister, Joyce Mabudafhasi; and a dedicated team of women and men in the Ministry and the department.

I express my thanks to members of the portfolio committee, especially the chairperson, Gwen Mahlangu, for encouragement and for keeping my team and me on our toes. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM: Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by drawing your attention to our President’s call to lend a hand for a better life, at a time when South Africa is charged with the huge responsibility of hosting the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It is a call that should rally all of us to show the world our mettle, and to showcase our best practices and demonstrate that we are worthy hosts of this very important summit.

In the past year, we have positioned this country on the cutting edge of change. We have been charged with the responsibility to steer Nepad: in order to fight poverty, hunger, illness and illiteracy. Our ecosystems are deteriorating due to human activity and, at times, it is as a result of need, not greed, for example when people need to get firewood and have no alternative.

The integration of the environment and development is of great importance in order to address the basic needs. We need to act fast to save our planet, as we have already suffered the results of environmentally unfriendly behaviour. It will take time to correct the damage. We have to work globally in order to succeed. The WSSD will bring the whole world to a crossroads where we will globally craft the future of the people and the planet in order to prosper.

Environmental Affairs and Tourism has made a call to clean up our country through dealing with waste and clamping down on pollution. We had a National Waste Summit last year in Pholokwane with all stakeholders, and community participation was a success. The summit was aimed at educating stakeholders, increasing awareness among the public and ensuring sustainable development. Last year, we reported that various spheres of government were collaborating to sort out the rather disconcerting situation of pollution in Durban South. With the help of communities in that area, our intervention to fast-track the stemming of high pollution levels in this regard has entered its second phase.

A dedicated management structure, consisting of Government, industry and communities, for implementing the air management programme is in place. Additional equipment to monitor and quantify pollution in the area will be installed soon by the Ethekwini Municipality. We encourage all other municipalities in the country to take the example of the Ethekwini Municipality. This will ensure that accurate information on pollution levels is continuously available to enable corrective measures to be taken in time. We are now going to deal with other areas that are heavily polluted, like the Vaal Triangle and Caltex in Cape Town, by using the same approach.

Last year, the Government adopted new guidelines for sulphur dioxide which are based on World Health Organisation standards. This was a first step in our effort to address the unacceptable levels of lead and other toxic substances commonly found in the air of our urban and industrial areas. The development of similar standards for other substances such as benzene is in progress. These will be announced when the new law is promulgated. These initiatives must send a strong message to those who take the issue of pollution lightly that we will only get tougher in our quest to clean up our country. The fight to reduce the unacceptable levels of air pollution in all the affected areas of our country is an ongoing process. A new draft Bill on air quality management is currently being drafted to replace the old and outdated legislation of 1966. This new legislation, which is due to be promulgated by the end of 2002, ushers in a revolutionary approach on the prevention of air pollution that our people breathe in that it will provide for the criminalisation of any acts which may impact negatively on the health of our communities. Through this legislation, those who pollute the air will be prosecuted and even sent to jail.

When it comes to vehicle emissions, we have seen that they are a great problem and cause a lot of pollution, especially in big cities. The diesel and petrol-driven vehicles have been identified as also contributing a lot to pollution in our urban areas. To this end, the Department of Minerals and Energy, in consultation with the Department of Transport and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, has recommended the total phase-out of leaded petrol and the reduction of sulphur in diesel. These actions will facilitate the legislation of stringent vehicle emission standards. The department is developing a national strategy to address vehicle emissions. This strategy, together with the accompanying emission standards, will be unveiled at the end of 2002.

Last year, the country was horrified when we saw children playing with dangerous medical waste. At the same time we have become accustomed to spills on our roads and in our oceans, where lives are risked by transportation. This must definitely stop.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will be developing hazardous waste management guidelines for sector managers and provinces, which will be published in July.

Furthermore, the department envisages publishing a waste manifest system in

1. We are also currently involved in the development of a health care waste management document. We have experienced a lot of environmental injustices, such as the Thor Chemicals challenge, which resulted in a number of workers being poisoned, with some who are dying, communities and livestock poisoned, the environment damaged and ground water contaminated. This is about to be resolved.

The department is addressing the requirements of the Davis Commission in dealing with the problems of remaining mercury waste. Asbestos is also one of the injustices that received attention from the department. The department is currently co-ordinating the implementation of the Asbestos Summit resolutions and the Cabinet decisions on asbestos management.

Highlights include the closure of the last South African asbestos mine; a feasibility study on the socioeconomic implications of phasing out asbestos completely in all applications, which will be conducted as a co-operative effort between the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Department of Trade and Industry, which should be completed by June 2002; and the new asbestos regulations for occupational safety published by the Department of Labour. We are also thankful to the Department of Minerals and Energy, which is in the process of rehabilitating the mines.

We still face the challenge of chemicals. The South African chemical industry is dominated by local companies which grew from the industries historically based in explosives for the mining industry, followed by the development of nitrogen-based fertilisers and sulphuric acid.

In South Africa, we also derive oil from coal on a large scale. This is done by Sasol and has resulted in the foundation of a significant Polymer industry. Although relatively small by international standards, the chemical industry is a significant player in the South African economy, contributing about 5% of GDP and employing about 200 000 people.

The industry produces 13 000 tonnes of primary and secondary process chemicals annually. This led to South Africa acceding to the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions to align current legislation with the new Constitution and global chemicals management.

A special unit has been set up in our department to implement a system aimed at preventing major industrial accidents, as well as to implement systems for emergency preparedness. The department has also initiated a national chemicals profile. The baseline study should be finished by July 2002, will give an overview of South Africa’s chemical industry, and will form the basis of a system of national co-ordination.

South Africa has signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. All this shows that we are taking the issue of chemicals and protecting the lives of our people very seriously.

The National Waste Summit in Polokwane gave birth to the Polokwane Declaration on waste management, which we are now in the process of implementing. We are saying that we are going to reduce waste generation and disposal by 50% and 25%, respectively, by the year 2012, and develop a plan for zero waste by 2022. Zero waste is a radical new solution for a wasteful society, one that aims to redesign the way resources flow through communities and, at the same time, create significant employment and economic development.

The department is also working on the ``green government through waste prevention, recycling and acquisition’’ policy. We know that we use quite a lot of paper. I also heard, previously, the chairperson of the portfolio committee emphasising that we are not recycling, even though we use a lot of papers. We do not understand why we have to have Order Papers here as well as in our offices. We lose a lot of them. How can we deal with this problem? We have to use the technology.

Women and the environment is quite an important sector, because women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development. The international community has endorsed several plans of action and conventions for full, equal and beneficial integration of women in all developmental activities. Women leaders on environment held a conference earlier this year, at which it was said that women were not going to be onlookers. They must participate fully in decision-making.

We also emphasised the issue of youth and the environment, that we have a responsibility to mobilise our youth, because this planet belongs to them. Last year, the department hosted the Caretakers of the Environment Youth Conference in Pietermaritzburg, which was a great success.

We are also working closely with the Department of Education on environmental issues. In fact, on World Environment Day we will be announcing a poster which will be developed by students. We are saying provinces should encourage their students to enter this competition.

Also of critical importance is the dawn of the weather services. We say that it is very important to combat poverty. This year we had the collaborative project with the University of Fort Hare and the Eastern Cape provincial government, which is a shining example, because it will reduce the chances of crop and livestock loss, and also ensure timely warnings of tornadoes in order to mitigate the loss of life characterised by the weather in this region.

I recently had the honour of welcoming a multibillion rand programme which aims to fund activities related to Nepad for African countries in the area of global meteorological observation systems. During this meeting I was informed about the two billion euro programme by officials from the World Meteorological Organisation. This service forms part of the total African meteorological solution for sustainable development, in which we will be playing a great role in monitoring, because, as developing countries, we know that we are very vulnerable to such problems.

The African Process for the Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment in sub-Saharan Africa was adopted in Cape Town. It is an innovative, programmatic initiative that enables African stakeholders to define priorities, hot spots and sensitive areas affecting the marine and coastal environment on the basis of comprehensive assessments, and to develop concrete project proposals.

This is going to be part of the agenda during the World Summit on Sustainable Development because it is part of Nepad. The partnership conference will be held at the level of heads of state during the conference. The significant level of political endorsement by African leaders is evidenced by the decision adopted, in July 2001, at the OAU Summit. All these are programmes that address the eradication of poverty, which our summit will be focusing on, to ensure food security, and that our people live and lead happy lives, and that we have a healthy environment. [Applause.]

Ms G L MAHLANGU: Madam Speaker,

Ke rata go bolelela ausi Ntshadi gore Motswana o a tle a re a itumetse a re, ``ke tseo dikgang tse di monate’’. A re:

A se dio, a se dio, a se dio A se dio, a se dio, a se dio.

[Legofi.] (Translation of Tswana paragraph follows.)

[I would like to tell sister Ntshadi Tsheole that a Motswana sometimes says when he is happy, ``here is the good news.’’ And then he says:

Here they are, here they are, here they are. Here they are, here they are, here they are.

[Applause.]]

To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.

I dedicate these words of William Blake to the portfolio committee for their hard work at all times and their guidance which I appreciate so much.

Allow me to quote Al Gore, who said the following in New York:

It is now a year since Rio. And while we usually focus on the ideas expressed during the official proceedings of the Earth Summit, I remember a lot more. For the great riches of human creativity were on full display at Rio; that grand ``tree of life’’ decorated with messages written in crayon on paper leaves, from children around the world, representatives of indigenous people like the Kayapao, Yanomani’s presently impassioned defences of the endangered remnants of wilderness within which their ancient cultures are struggling to survive. Scientists displayed startlingly beautiful computer images of every square inch of the earth …

This was said exactly a year after Rio. Where are we today? Nine and a half years later, we who were not free to attend that conference in Rio because our country then belonged to a chosen few, are in a better position. Not only are we free even to host the World Summit on Sustainable Development for the United Nations, but we are also able to shape what outcomes we need from Johannesburg. The problem the world faces today in this regard is the lack of commitment and implementation of the Rio conclusions. It would be a sad day if Johannesburg became another Rio.

The year 2002 is not only of great significance to us as South Africans, but to Africa as a whole. This is the year in which we will host the biggest gathering of world leaders and civil society to collectively address the issues of sustaining our world, as the Minister has already indicated. As the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism, we support our Minister and the department. We only hope that the poorest of the poor people will benefit from this important conference.

Hon members will be surprised at the reason I started off with that wonderful song. Yesterday I got a call from someone who only got a quota of two tons of fish, and he said that his life and that of his fellow Africans will never be the same. If words such as these do not touch a person, nothing else ever will.

In addition to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, South Africa will also host the launch of the African Union. Both of these are important vehicles that South Africa will utilise to showcase our hospitality and to ensure that the plight of Africa and the developing world is placed firmly on the global agenda.

I agree with Dr Olver, the Director-General of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, who, when addressing the portfolio committee earlier this week, said that, one, there must be a global deal, and that that deal must clearly define a new relationship between the North and the South, to ensure sustainable development; two, that the deal must give effect to the targets in the Millennium Declaration, the Rio principles and Agenda 21, and other international agreements which are incorporated into the summit decisions, by defining concrete plans of action, delivery mechanisms, resource plans, targets and timeframes. This deal must be co-ordinated, but above all, it must be monitored.

Among the benefits of such a deal are job investments in the poorest parts of the world. The people of our country, poor countries and least developed countries are expecting much from this summit. Those of us who can speak on their behalf should not fail them.

The struggle for poverty eradication calls for changes in approach. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development has the firm commitment of leaders to eradicate poverty through institutional arrangements that allow governments on the one hand, and the private sector and civil organisations on the other, to tap into each other’s capabilities to solve common problems, thereby accelerating the process of sustainability.

When the Johannesburg World Summit is reviewed in 2012, it will be critical to demonstrate that the people who currently live in poverty have a significantly improved quality of life and economic opportunities, and that the next generation will live in a safer and healthier environment.

Early in the WSSD process, South Africa identified a global deal as the main outcome of a successful summit. The global deal should constitute agreements at the highest political level on action-oriented programmes needed to eradicate poverty and reduce global inequality. These agreements should be between the governments of the North and the South. North-South, South-South and North-North partnership agreements, as well as partnership agreements between governments and nongovernmental organisations, and governments and business, are envisaged as part of the global deal. We agree with Dr Olver that the global deal should have the following major elements.

It should include a high-level political agreement to accelerate the implementation of sustainable development; a concrete programme of action to deliver the Millennium Declaration goals; and a range of specific sectoral targets and agreements, and partnerships and actions, in areas such as water, energy and food security, which give expression to the global deal at local, national, regional and international levels. The global deal can only be achieved if there is a high level of political support for it. And members of this House can play an important role in lobbying for this deal amongst our fellow parliamentarians worldwide.

Africans can once again stand proud, in view of the development of our own sustainable development programme, namely the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. The objective of Nepad is to eradicate poverty in Africa and to place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path to sustainable growth and development, and thus halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process. In this respect the WSSD is an important vehicle for the realisation of Nepad.

The achievement of the Nepad goals will further be advanced by a positive outcome from WSSD in that the summit is a key political opportunity for securing greater commitment from the heads of state to the elements in Nepad. These include information communication technologies, infrastructure, efficient transport networks and human resource development strategies, to name just a few.

The environmental projects included in Chapter 8 of Nepad are as follows: One, combating desertification; two, wetland conservation; three, prevention and control of invasive alien species; four, coastal management; five, global warming; six, environmental governance; and seven, the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Regarding the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, commonly known as Cites, South Africa will be requesting this convention to amend the annotation attached to Appendix II, namely the listing of the South African population of the African elephant, to allow for the sale of the Kruger National Park stockpile of ivory. This is about 30 000 kilograms of raw ivory material.

Within South Africa, utilisation of elephant products is limited. The gradual reduction of funding for SA National Parks by Government has led to the organisation suffering budgetary deficiencies, which could be considerably reduced should the current legal stockpile of ivory be sold. Revenue from the sale of such ivory would also be used in the interest of elephant conservation. We support the sale of this stockpile.

The start of the new millennium has given us a fresh opportunity to assess the successes we have achieved and the mistakes we have made as mankind. South Africa will be hosting the World Parks Congress in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park towards the end of next year. Although incomprehensible 10 years ago, the park, a symbol of the enlightened approach to biodiversity that has become mainstream within our conservation fraternity, is showing us the rewards of lateral thought within this area.

The importance and effectiveness of legislation and agreements such as the listing of the African elephant cannot be underplayed. The very reason for the fortunate position within which we find ourselves regarding our ivory stockpile is a direct result of dedicated and forceful instruments we have developed for the conservation of our biodiversity.

South Africa has in recent years developed a comprehensive strategy to combat overutilisation of our resources, particularly in the area of fishing. And it gives me pleasure to see a lot of new entrants in the fishing industry here in the gallery this afternoon, who say: ``Whether it is a two-tons or five-tons fishing quota, we are grateful.’’

Through the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa has galvanised the support of its SADC partners within the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa.

South Africa’s entry into the global arena as a young democracy, as it was, has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in debates to shape world programmes for human upliftment for a better life. One such global debate concerns climate change, which has been debated for many years. Mainstream scientists agree that the earth’s climate is being affected by the build-up of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide caused by human activities. The majority of scientists believe that precautionary and prompt action is necessary.

In response to this state of affairs the global political intervention into climate change took shape with the development of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. South Africa did not lag behind in participating to ensure that its presence is registered in addressing the problem of global climate change by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.

South Africa’s political intervention at this high-level meeting, attended by ministers of environment from all over the world, was to join the rest of the world in encouraging the United States of America to reconsider its unfortunate stance. Our approach to matters of climate change is informed by the understanding that the resolution of matters of climate change is critical to achieving long-term goals.

Let me conclude by saying that we should be mindful that it is our responsibility to uplift our people from intolerable suffering, poverty and underdevelopment. What legacy will the summit leave behind? Will it leave poverty or partnerships? Will it address the plight of the generation that has become victim to all things? This generation remains African and carries with it a historic pride which compels it to seek a place for Africans equal to all other people of our common universe.

President Mbeki says:

This generationÿ.ÿ.ÿ. knows and is resolved that to attain that objective, it must resist all tyranny, oppose all attempts to deny liberty by resort to demagogy, repulse the temptation to describe African life as the ability to live on charity, engage the fight to secure the emancipation of the African woman, and reassert the fundamental concept that we are our own liberation from oppression, from underdevelopment and poverty, from the perpetuation of an experience from slavery, to colonisation, to apartheid, to dependence on alms. It is this generation whose sense of rage guarantees Africa’s advance towards its renaissance.

Tse, ke dikgang tse di monate tse di tswang go Lefapha la Merero ya Tikologo le Bojanala. Re rata go raya Tona re re: A se dio, a se dio, a se dio. (Translation of Tswana paragraph follows.)

[This is the good news from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. We would like to say the following to the Minister: Here they are, here they are, here they are.]]

Mr E K MOORCROFT: Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow on a speech of the hon Gwen Mahlangu, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism. I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking the hon member for the manner in which she conducts the affairs of the committee. The manner is businesslike and effective, and makes serving on the committee a pleasure. Secondly, I would like to thank the hon the Minister and his officials for the annual review of the department’s activities, which arrived on our desks timeously and which gives an excellent historical overview of what has been achieved by the department over the period 2000-01, in a reader-friendly way.

With regard to the departmental budget, it is pleasing to see that the medium-term expenditure estimate indicates a modest increase for the year 2003-04. This follows a trend which has been evident in past years and which seems to indicate that the hon the Minister has succeeded in convincing the hon the Minister of Finance and Cabinet that this portfolio has an exceptionally important role to play in the future of our country. For too long in the past environmental affairs and tourism languished on the Cabinet’s back burner, and it is high time that the portfolio be given recognition for its importance and be elevated accordingly.

For this reason to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which takes place, as we have heard, in our country in August and September of this year, could not have come at a better time. It would serve to focus the attention of the world in general, and of South Africa in particular, on the importance of the environment and of those who are custodians of it.

The rising star in the departmental family is undoubtedly Programme 4: Tourism. My colleague Janet Semple will be dealing with this particular programme. But the programme that I would like to concentrate on is Programme 6: Biodiversity and Heritage. I believe that this programme, more than any other, supports and strengthens the tourism programme, and because of its interdependence on sustainable development is worthy of much closer consideration.

In this regard it is pleasing to note that the allocation to biodiversity and heritage in this budget increases to R254 million in 2002-03, up from R211 million in 2001-02. Of this amount, R96 million has been allocated for poverty relief and R10 million for acquiring new land for conservation in 2002 and R25 million in 2003-04.

While it is pleasing to see that poverty relief enjoys a high priority in the department’s planning, and one would not want to see that change, one must at the same time express some concern about the relatively small amount earmarked for the purchase of land. While R35 million spread over two years might seem like a lot of money, and indeed it is, it does not translate into a very significant amount of land. At current market prices it would probably represent something like 20 to 25 hectares. However welcome this might be, if we are serious about achieving our stated target of increasing the amount of protected land in South Africa from the present 6% of our land to 8% then 25 hectares is but a drop in the ocean.

We need seriously to consider other options also. The first of these possible options would most obviously be private funding. In this regard private individuals and NGOs continue to do a sterling job but they need to be encouraged. We are the last generation, in all probability, which will have the opportunity to acquire significant areas of land for conservation purposes and so there is some urgency to this matter. Perhaps tax breaks for donations dedicated to the purchase of land for our national parks could be considered.

Secondly, private individuals should be encouraged to continue with the creation of private nature reserves. Although the game farming industry, which has conservation at heart, has experienced massive growth in the past number of years, there is much room for encouragement from the state.

Thirdly, a strategy which might hold out the greatest potential for sustainable development could be the accelerated creation of biospheres. Here the other department is to be congratulated for the pioneering work which it is engaged in in this regard. Development can be incorporated in the biosphere as long as it is sustainable, and for this reason biospheres have been described as the perfect tool for regulating social, cultural and ecological development.

Our first biosphere was Kogelberg in the Western Cape. Last year our second biosphere reserve, the Cape West Coast biosphere, was accepted by Unesco as part of the world network of these biospheres. A number of others are being planned, of which the Waterberg biosphere reserve is the latest.

Again, the department should strive to promote the biosphere option to its fullest potential, not forgetting to take the private sector along with it, by way of consultation, involvement and, where possible, financial reward.

The fourth and last strategy for increasing the size of land set aside for conservation involves the transfrontier parks also referred to as peace parks. The hon the Minister did mention the peace parks in his speech. It is disturbing to see the adverse publicity which has occurred. Perhaps the hon the Minister would be able to spend a little time just to reassure us that the peace parks programme is on track and that everything is being done to promote their development.

Finally, it remains for me to wish the hon the Minister, his colleagues and the officials well as they continue to prepare for the world summit. We hope that the summit will be an event in which every South African will take pride and that, for our planet’s sake, the deliberations will achieve everything that we would wish them to. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs R A NDZANGA: Mme Modulasetulo, ke a leboha ke leboha monyetla ona oo ke o fumaneng. [Honourable Chairperson, I would like to thank you for the opportunity you are affording me.]

Hon Minister, hon members and members of the department, I would like to thank the hon the Minister and the Deputy Minister for their leadership of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, assisted by Dr Oliver and his support staff, whose budget we are debating today. I wish to thank them for taking the time to keep us informed of programmes and plans, as they seek to effect Government policies in order to bring about the noble and much-sought-after goal of a better life for all.

In the same breath, President Thabo Mbeki, in his state of the nation address, identified poverty eradication as one of the major challenges confronting South Africa. The President emphasised the need to fight poverty.

Lefapha la tsa Tikoloho le Bothori, ba beile letlole la ho lwantsha bohloki setjhabeng, haholoholo mahaeng, le hona mona ditoropong ho ntse ho le jwalo. Batho ba bomme ke bona bao haholo ba sebetsanang le mesebetsi ya matsoho. Ba a loha, ba sebedisa dibaga ba a roka, ba koleka dikane, dipitsa tsa dinomaphodi, ba etsa dimmata, mme hona jwale re bone hore re ne re fuwa dikgetsana ka mane tse luhuweng ke bomme ka matsoho a bona. Bomme, thuto eo re e fumaneng e tlaase, e nyane, empa re a leka. Lefatshe la rona le rumile haholo ka setso sa rona. Ha o tsamaya lefatsheng la rona bathori ba shebile, ba bona bomme ba dutse fatshe ba tshwere meloho ya bona ba loha, ba tshwere letsopa ba bopa dinkgwana tsa bona, ba etsa mesebetsi e mengata, le ya dikota kwana mahaeng, diporofensing tsa rona kaofela.

Se leng teng ke hore, ho bolela hore tjhelete ke bokae bakeng sa mesebetsi eo ya bona, ke yona taba eo e leng bohloko hobane ha ba tsebe ho bea ditefo tse lekaneng. Bongata ba batho ba sebetsang ka mesebetsi ya matsoho, ha ba tsebe ka relief ena e ntshuwang ke mmuso o bitswany poverty relief. (Translation of Sotho paragraphs follows.)

[The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has put aside an amount of money for the purpose of poverty alleviation amongst our people, especially in the rural areas. But even here in the cities the situation is still deplorable. Women are mostly the people who are doing manual jobs. They do weaving work, they mend clothing, they collect tins, they also make carpets, and we have just been given small bags which were woven by women with their own hands. Ladies, we have been given a very low and modest education but we are trying. Our country is highly culturally orientated. Tourists see women sitting around, busy with their weaving work and with clay, making a variety of traditional pots. They do a variety of work, mostly in the homelands, and all of our provinces. The main problem is, however, that these women do not know how to charge relevant prices for the wares. Most people who are doing manual jobs do not know anything about the programme of the Government called poverty relief.]

We have our councillors, who are in daily contact with our people in the community. Our councillors in both the rural and urban areas should be in a position to explain the relief programmes to the people. These people lack things such as computers, photocopiers and fax machines. Our councillors need to be assisted and equipped to enable them to represent their constituencies and explain these programmes.

A few years ago Operation Hunger used to sell crafts. They used to buy crafts from women, especially women from KwaNdebele, and sell these crafts for them. But, they could not buy everything. However, our councillors are the very people who are in contact with our people. We see our councillors as the backbone of our Government, because they are closer to the people. Towards the end of the previous millennium, many among the educated and the spiritual were at pains trying to align their theories with the fear that once the clock struck midnight, we would be doomed. We heard about the Y2k bug, and the catastrophic impact it was likely to have on information systems. We were reminded of the prophecies of Nostradamus. Several verses were cited from religious books, all preparing us for doomsday. This seemed to prevent us from confronting both our fears and realities.

More often than not, we shy away from reality. If, for whatever reason, there should be any catastrophe which will afflict humankind, humans will themselves have played a significant role in bringing about such a catastrophe.

For years now we have heard about and been provided with conclusive evidence that our actions result in unacceptable levels of temperature variation. I would like to thank this House for assisting us to sign the Kyoto Protocol, as well as other pieces of legislation that provide us, not only with a framework, but with workable tools to deal with chemicals which result in global warming.

Natural disasters mercilessly strike South Africa. We have periods which bring about dry spells and excessive rains which result in floods. The loss brought about by such assaults on our infrastructure is felt mostly by the most vulnerable in our societies. Irreversible losses include livestock, human life and infrastructure.

In previous financial years, we have rejoiced on noting the generous allocation for poverty alleviation programmes. We have seen throughout the year programmes such as Coast Care, working to preserve the coast, and many similar ventures that seek to bring about much-needed employment opportunities for our people. This year, we hope that, in line with the President’s utterances and emphasis on selected rural development and urban renewal nodes, we will see a realignment in terms of emphasis by the department and a marked shift from a project-based programme.

Allow me to quote from a poem by Hanson Chikoro from Zambia. He says, and I quote:

Day in and day out I am always suffering. No permanent place to sleep. Hunger my stomach complains. The mouth is dry. Rubbish bins are the source of my food. Clothes are tattered and torn. When I cry for help, no one comes to my rescue.

Chikoro’s poem speaks about poverty as if he is looking at our own situation, especially in the rural areas.

I personally appeal to Minister Moosa to ensure that if there is any innovation in respect of rolling out poverty alleviation, it should seek better to address the plight of the rural poor, particularly women and young girls, as we should know by now. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs L R MBUYAZI: Madam Speaker and hon House, another year has come for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to forge ahead with realising its objectives in respect of tourism, the fishing industry and environmental management. Of course, another year has come for this House to strengthen these objectives by an informed debate.

I say informed debate'' because the Minister was able to bring the department to the portfolio committee to discuss all the programmes included in the budget. I thank the hon the Minister for this. I want to sayashidiyo’’, which means ``bearers of good news’’.

The IFP welcomes the key policy development achieved by the department, the restructuring of the department to allow for self-financing of non-core functions, the conversion of the SA Weather Service into a public entity, the acquisition of both offshore and onshore patrol vessels, and the injection of R100 million into local tourism and R75 million for tourism product development, with the aim of eliminating poverty.

Let me highlight just a few programmes which, in our view, will need microscopic attention. With regard to the programme on environmental planning and co-ordination, we in the IFP are aware that in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, Act 107 of 1998, the Government and provincial departments are required to put forward environmental implementation and management plans. We note that Government and the provincial departments have either completed or are about to complete these plans. The IFP believes that these plans are within the mandate of the department and, as such, it must take a leading and empowerment role.

Let me now focus my attention on medical and other waste. Medical waste at informal dumping grounds have caused the death of a young boy in the North West and there is a looming fatality which involves another one. The House will note that these dumping grounds are a countrywide phenomenon. The recent disaster in Kokstad raises the seriousness of the problem. National and provincial departments should have their plans in order. The IFP believes that monitoring and punitive measures should be in place and be effected. This will not only protect human lives, but will also sustain the environment, the mandate of the department.

Let me touch on the World Summit on Sustainable Development and other issues that need the Minister’s attention. We need to congratulate our country for being asked to host the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This shows that South Africa is a leading light on environmental issues.

True sustainable development requires the integration of three pillars: social development, environment and economic development. The hon the Minister has already alluded to the fact that these are ``people, planet and prosperity’’. The question is: What has been accomplished since 1992, and to what extent has Agenda 21 been implemented? The implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development should contribute to the empowerment of women, the youth and vulnerable groups, and enable them to participate in and derive benefits from sustainable development. Ten years after the Rio conference, the world is still confronted with the challenges of endemic poverty, social inequality, unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, as well as environmental degradation. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has prepared a report which is a fair and balanced assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21. The report highlights the fact that Agenda 21 has neither been sufficient nor evenly implemented due to a number of constraints. What are these constraints? I will leave this question, for us to reply to.

There must be something to be gained by our local people, especially those from previously disadvantaged communities, from exhibiting. All the provinces have beautiful arts and crafts that they can exhibit. The hon the Minister already mentioned this yesterday, when he answered Ms Ndzanga’s question, that we will have the village of ubuntu. In that village of ubuntu we would like to see our articles being exhibited so that the international community can see South Africa at its best. We should be able to market whatever goods we have in South Africa.

I am now challenging hon members here to support the work done by women, rather than buying from the six-months-to-pay shops here in town. Let us go out to the rural areas and buy whatever goods there are.

uMama uNtuli ukhulume izolo ngezindaba ezithinta abesifazane. [Mother Ntuli spoke yesterday about things that affect women.]

They are complaining about funds. They need to get funds in order to be able to produce these things. That is very important. So let us support them.

We hope that the conference in Johannesburg will focus on the rights of the poor and the implementation of conventions and agreements that are of particular concern to developing countries, such as the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Kyoto Protocol and agreements on wetland conservation. There are so many others. In South Africa, prior to 1994, indigenous people were confined to 17% of the land. The results of overgrazing are there for all of us to see. The damage needs to be repaired. Desertification has spread and it is spreading at an alarming rate. The IFP proposes that cultivation under shadecloth be encouraged by the two departments, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism as well as the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs. The eradication of poverty is the greatest global challenge, and we require programmes to combat desertification.

Tourism can contribute substantially to developing the people of our country. It is a highly labour-intensive industry, accommodating a wide spectrum of skilled and unskilled labour. The concept of tourism is now known to everybody.

Wonke umuntu usekhuluma ngolimi lwezokuvakasha athi: Ngifuna ukwenza i- tourism. Wonke umuntu useyazi ukuthi kukhona into okuthiwa yi-tourism. [Everybody speaks tourism language, saying: I want to do tourism. Everyone knows that there is something called tourism.]

The IFP endorses the initiative to promote black-owned business within the tourism industry. We also compliment township tourism and rural tourism.

Different views have been expressed in the national survey that was conducted in February 2001. If one asks people individually why they tour the country, some say: I want to tour the country so that I can get the traditional food.'' In fact, traditional food should be available at all hotels. Some people say:I enjoy hiking in the mountains.’’ Some, like our Minister, visit the country because they want to hike in the mountains.

The best place for a holiday is at the beach, but let us encourage these people to say, now I want to tour the cultural villages so as to see what is happening'' rather than focusing more on towns and national parks. We support the national parks but they should also be visiting even the wetlands. I am canvassing for St Lucia Wetlands, so that people should say, we want to visit the wetlands because we have never seen what wetlands look like, even to hike and see those areas’’.

The list goes on. We must change the mindset of tourists so that they will include on the list of places they would like to spend their holidays also a rural setup.

With regard to poverty alleviation, there are funds but it is difficult to get those funds. Maybe we should let the department and the Ministry simplify the procedure for getting those funds. Let me show the Minister the addresses that were given to us. [Time expired.]

Mrs J CHALMERS: Madam Speaker, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, members of the House, this is an exciting and challenging year for South Africa. The World Summit on Sustainable Development is fast approaching, and for us in the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism it has been very encouraging to see how the management of the department has raised its game, in sporting terms, to meet these challenges. There will be many within South Africa playing a pivotal role in getting social and economic issues onto the agenda with, hopefully, binding commitments to come from the developed nations who, as always, attempt to push the less formal and voluntary arrangements.

To go back 10 years in history to 1992: it was a landmark year for our earth, a year when the peoples of this world came together in response to a growing awareness that a commitment was needed from governments if the global, high-speed loss of biodiversity was to be slowed down.

There was a recognition that the maintenance of biological diversity was a prerequisite for sustainable development in industrialised and developing nations alike, and that people depended fundamentally on goods and services provided by sustainable use ecosystems. I speak here of food security, water purification, the use of medicinal plants, energy needs, shelter, and trade and tourism.

South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on Biodiversity, the foundation convention that came out of Rio. We have taken our responsibilities in meeting the requirements of that convention very seriously. Indeed, I think many of us know that Minister Valli Moosa has spearheaded some extremely important biodiversity initiatives that go way beyond the boundaries of our country.

It has been said that nature has no boundaries. That is indeed true, if one thinks of bird species that migrate annually from Siberia to South Africa, the yearly flight of butterflies from Europe to our country, and the marvellous whale migration to our shores that is fast becoming such a feature of our tourism industry. We have begun to work hand in hand with nature by establishing transfrontier parks, parks that are showing themselves to be a vehicle for conservation and sustainable use of biological and cultural resources while promoting regional co-operation and socioeconomic development on the Southern African subcontinent. Fundamental to their achieving their objectives is interaction with local communities. These parks should not just be seen as playgrounds for the 4x4s of the rich. They are beginning to provide jobs and revenue-generating opportunities for local people who are enabled to become part of the management structures of the parks. They are showing themselves to be achieving a win-win situation, in terms of which communities have the opportunity to regain ownership of some of their land as well as the opportunity to make a reasonable living off that land.

I would like to say that we still have some way to go in creating an enabling environment for our people to become the growers and not just the users of our wonderful biodiversity. It is called conservation by cultivation. There are so many opportunities waiting in the wings, opportunities that, given creative knowledge and assistance, could become biodiversity industries. I think here of focusing energy and attention on grain plants for the muti trade, of Karoo communities becoming empowered and enabled to start small industries growing the sought-after succulents that thrive in that dry climate, and of farming some of our inshore coastal species before they become plundered like our abalone resources. There are many other examples.

The way to go for the survival of our biodiversity may well be not to overpolice it, but to get creative and propagate it. This would create employment, new markets and opportunities whilst letting resources recover, in this way getting the broader public to participate in protecting our heritage for the future.

One of the fundamental aspects of biodiversity that most of us take for granted is the fact that the microsystems are as critically important to species survival as the macrosystems, and I include the human species here. Nowhere is this more clearly to be seen than in the management of wetlands. The late Stefan Grové, who is still sorely missed in our committee and, I am sure, by all members of this House who knew him, had a passion for the rehabilitation of wetlands. And here, what is encouraging is the way in which Government, business and NGOs are working together in really effective partnerships to bring about the reinstatement of the wetlands’ underlying forces to a level close to the original systems.

Why is this important? Well, it is important partly because our rivers can be likened to the lifeblood of our country. Direct benefits include grazing for livestock, the regrowth of areas for cultivation and wood, medicinal plants and the many spinoffs in poverty alleviation and job creation. Of course, the wonderful work that is being done by the Department of Water Affairs with their Working for Water programmes is an integral aspect of the rehabilitation of our wetlands.

Our national parks, at the core of conservation in our country in the form of protected areas, are also going the route of bringing in private operators, with seven concessions having been granted to them on 20-year lease agreements. Three of the concessions are more than 50% owned by empowerment companies. The land, of course, will remain the property of the parks.

In his budget address last year Minister Moosa said, ``We must act while we can’’, referring to the conservation of our biodiversity. His call has not gone unheeded and action plans to conserve the various biomes are either in place or in the process of coming into being. The Cape Action Plan for the Environment, CAPE, is now well established to protect the Cape floral kingdom. STEP, in the Eastern Cape, has been set up to conserve the valley bushveld there, and SKEP has been conceptualised and is being worked on to protect and conserve the succulent Karoo ecosystem. The three programmes will provide an overarching system to conserve our precious plant heritage with assistance from international funders and backing from our Government.

Possibly - I must say this - the greatest threat to our biodiversity in South Africa is being driven by greed, very often coming from poorly planned and short-term gain-driven urban development, together with lack of investment by landowners in truly sustainable land use. Developers move into areas with little thought that the suburb they are creating is destroying a useful ecosystem that, given more consideration and research, could continue to be a living resource or green lung, contributing to the health and welfare of the community which will be occupying the land.

It could be a statutory requirement that an environmental officer be a fundamental part of the officialdom of all cities and small towns. This might go some way to providing a protection mechanism to the existing natural attributes of the town before profit-driven developers move in.

Lastly, let me say that our committee is looking forward to getting a sighting of the new legislation that will be coming our way shortly in the form of the Biodiversity Bill, the Protected Areas Bill and the Coastal Management Bill, the legislation that I understand is aimed at further protecting and managing South Africa’s rich heritage of biodiversity. It is extremely encouraging, I think, that we all feel like that, to be involved in a Ministry and working in a committee that can play a fundamental role in ensuring that future generations of South Africans will be able to enjoy the wondrous heritage that is our country’s natural environment in perpetuity.

Mnr J W LE ROUX: Mevrou die Speaker, ek wil graag aansluit by al die kollegas wat vir Minister Valli Moosa geluk gewens het met sy hantering van die Ministerie van Omgewingsake en Toerisme. Die prominensie wat omgewingsake en toerisme tans in die media geniet, is aan hom en sy departement se fantastiese entoesiasme te danke. Dank ook aan ons voorsitster. Sy het ook sangtalente waarvan ons nie eens bewus was nie!

Wat die begroting betref, is ons as die Nuwe NP tevrede dat genoegsame aandag en geld bewillig is vir belangrike sake soos armoedebekamping, werkskepping en toerisme.

Dit is so dat departemente nooit tevrede is met die geld wat bewillig word nie. Maar as ons egter strewe na ‘n nasionale begroting wat klop, moet die departemente hul aansprake temper en sorg dra dat die geld wat wel bewillig word, optimaal benut word.

Een aspek wat wel baie meer aandag en fondse behoort te kry, is die beskerming van ons vis-, kreef- en veral perlemoenbronne. Die departement beraam dat daar verlede jaar alleen nagenoeg R220 miljoen se perlemoen gesteel is. Die wettige omset is maar R80 miljoen per jaar.

Die slagspreuk vir hierdie dekade is ``volhoubare benutting’’, en die wêreldberaad later vanjaar wat vir ons as ‘n land verskriklik belangrik is

• en ons vertrou dit sal ‘n groot sukses wees - fokus in die geheel totaal op volhoubare benutting. Dit is dus onaanvaarbaar dat stropers tans ons erfenis en bronne uitwis. Dit is algemeen bekend dat ons perlemoenbron in die Wes-Kaap, sowel as die Oos-Kaap, feitlik vernietig is. Nogtans is dit verblydend dat daar tans goeie vordering gemaak word met die bekamping van veral perlemoenstropery.

Dit is egter onverklaarbaar dat ons sienderoë toegelaat het dat hierdie bron feitlik vernietig word. Dit het soms gelyk asof die owerhede meer besorg is oor minder ernstige omgewingsprobleme as oor perlemoenstropery. Dit is verblydend dat toerisme in die begroting as ‘n prioriteit hanteer word. In dié verband wil ek graag vir Cheryl Carolus, Hoof Uitvoerende Beampte, gelukwens met haar besondere bydrae.

Ons almal weet ‘n sterk toerismebedryf kan miljarde vir Suid-Afrika beteken en grootliks tot armoedebekamping en werkskepping bydra. Die feit is egter dat toerisme se bydrae tot ons bruto binnelandse produk maar ongeveer 5-8% beloop. Dit is minder as die helfte van wat lande in Europa bereik.

In al die suksesvolste lande in die wêreld - en veral in Europa - is dit duidelik dat toerisme grootliks bygedra het tot hierdie lande se finansiële sukses. Toerisme is die grootste industrie ter wêreld en dit behoort ook so in Suid-Afrika te wees. As ons in aanmerking neem dat Suid-Afrika hierdie geweldige potensiaal het, en veral omdat die Rand so swak is, is dit totaal onaanvaarbaar dat die groei in ons toerismebedryf die laaste drie jaar nie beduidend hoër was as die gemiddelde ekomomiese groei nie.

Statistiek Suid-Afrika se syfers toon dat oorsese besoekers verlede jaar met 3,5% gedaal het in vergelyking met die vorige jaar. As ons op hierdie trant sou voortgaan, is dit duidelik dat toerisme nie naastenby aan verwagtinge gaan voldoen nie. Januarie vanjaar se syfers is egter 3,7% beter as dié van verlede jaar en ons hoop werklik hierdie tendens duur voort.

Om werklik ons potensiaal te ontwikkel, wil ek ‘n ernstige beroep op Minister Valli Moosa doen om hom te beywer vir die verkryging van ‘n volle Ministerie van toerisme. Dit is onverklaarbaar hoekom ons byvoorbeeld ‘n Minister van Sport het en nie ‘n Minister van Toerisme nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[Mr J W LE ROUX: Madam Speaker, I would like to join all the colleagues who congratulated Minister Valli Moosa on his management of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. The prominence which environmental affairs and tourism are currently enjoying in the media is thanks to his and his department’s fantastic enthusiasm. Thank you also to our chairperson. She also has singing talents of which we were not even aware!

As far as the budget is concerned, we in the New NP are satisfied that sufficient attention and money have been allocated for important issues like poverty eradication, job creation and tourism.

It is true that departments are never satisfied with the money allocated. However, if we want to strive for a national budget that balances, the departments will have to temper their demands and see to it that the money that is indeed allocated is optimally utilised.

One aspect which should receive much more attention and funding is the protection of our fish, crayfish and particularly our abalone resources. The department estimates that last year alone close to R220 million’s worth of abalone was stolen. The legal turnover is only R80 million per year.

The slogan for this decade is ``sustainable utilisation’’, and the world summit later this year which is very important to us as a country - and we trust that it will be a great success - focuses entirely on sustainable utilisation. It is therefore unacceptable that poachers are currently destroying our heritage and sources. It is generally known that our abalone source in the Western Cape, as well as the Eastern Cape, has been virtually destroyed. Nevertheless, it is heartening that good progress is currently being made with the combating of abalone poaching in particular.

However, it is inexplicable that we visibly allowed this source to be virtually destroyed. It sometimes appeared that the authorities were more concerned about less serious environmental problems than they were about abalone poaching. It is heartening that tourism is treated as a priority in the budget. In this regard I would like to congratulate Cheryl Carolus, Chief Executive Officer, on her particular contribution.

We all know that a strong tourism industry can mean billions of rands for South Africa and contributes greatly to poverty eradication and job creation. However, the fact is that tourism’s contribution to our gross domestic product amounts to only approximately 5-8%. That is less than half of what countries in Europe achieve.

In all the most successful countries in the world - and particularly in Europe - it is clear that tourism has contributed greatly to these countries’ financial success. Tourism is the biggest industry in the world and this should also be the case in South Africa. If we take into account that South Africa has this enormous potential, and particularly because the rand is so weak, it is totally unacceptable that the growth in our tourism industry over the past three years has not been significantly higher than the average economic growth.

Statistics South Africa’s figures indicate that the number of foreign visitors declined by 3,5% last year in comparison with the previous year. If we were to continue in this vein, it is clear that tourism will not nearly meet expectations. However, the figures for January of this year are 3,7% better than those of last year and we truly hope that this trend continues.

To truly develop our potential I would like to make a serious appeal to Minister Valli Moosa to campaign for the establishment of a full Ministry of tourism. It is inexplicable why we have a Minister of Sport, for example, and not a Minister of tourism.]

As far as our national parks are concerned, it is clear that financially our position is improving. We have excellent officials and the core function of conservation is of world class. The way we manage our financial affairs, especially price structures and privatisation policies, is very important.

The tendency to increase prices to make more profit is usually counterproductive. If foreign tourists perceive that they are being fleeced, they will go elsewhere. The same applies to locals who do not earn dollars. The department must be very careful not to price our national parks out of reach of the ordinary citizens.

The policy of privatisation, where possible, is of course 100% correct. The way in which privatisation takes place is critical. To privatise a cafeteria, restaurant or curio shop into a monopoly is very problematic. In such cases market forces do not exist and in most cases privatisation is worthless.

The many complaints regarding the quality of food and service at our restaurants is proof that our present system is not working well. We must either create more competition or, where this is impractical, operators must know that lapses in good service will be severely punished. We must always remember that 60% of all tourists choose a destination based on good experiences of someone they know. Secondly, more funds should be used for high-profile projects. During the debate in this House on Zimbabwe, it became very clear that, firstly, there is a total lack of tolerance between people who have divergent views on current issues and, secondly, that as far as parliamentarians are concerned, the rainbow nation does not exist.

Environmental affairs and tourism is the one area where all people and groups can find common ground. It is possible to remove party politics from environmental affairs and, as a united nation, focus on important issues and goals. This route has been followed in many countries with great success. Eradicating litter, cleaning rivers, protecting our trees, promoting tourism and many other goals become national goals.

Success in major national priorities will contribute to nation-building and a better understanding of our environmental problems. Much work has been done in this regard, but we have not managed to get sufficient grassroots support. Support has usually come from relatively small groups of concerned citizens, interest groups or pressure groups.

In the case of promoting tourism we do have excellent plans in place. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism must be congratulated for their planning and efforts. We must, however, find a way of getting all our people to buy into the promotion of conservation and tourism.

The New NP supports the Budget Vote. [Applause.]

Mr S N SWART: Madam Speaker, hon Minister, the main focus of this debate has been the world summit, billed as the biggest United Nations conference in world history. One can appreciate that a sizeable amount of the budget, namely R140 million, has been budgeted by national Government towards the cost of hosting this event.

South Africa will take a leading role on behalf of developing nations, with more than 50% of the G77 recommendations for the summit containing South African proposals. The ACDP shares the view that sustainable development must be based on the three pillars of economic development, social development and the environment. The summit should not just be a narrow environmental talk shop - poverty alleviation must form a central focus.

As parliamentarians, we are also pleased that the Interparliamentary Union, with the hon Gwen Mahlangu playing a leading role, will meet prior to the summit to discuss the role parliamentarians can play in ensuring implementation and accountability.

In conclusion, the ACDP believes that the world summit will be a great success and commends the Minister, the department and all stakeholders on the excellent preparatory work already done.

The ACDP is pleased to support this Budget Vote. [Applause.]

Mr M G PHADAGI: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers and fellow members, firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the recently crowned South African soccer club, Cape Town-based Santos, and I wish them success next season when they are to defend their title. [Applause.] I should not forget my home club, Black Leopards, for, though newcomers in the elite league, they ended the season in the top eight bracket. There is promise that next season is going to be an interesting one with three clubs from my province, Limpopo, represented in soccer’s paying ranks. So, all roads will be leading to Thohoyandou, Giyani and Polokwane stadia. I am saying this because sports such as soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis and many others attract a lot of tourists to our country. In the same breath, I say bye-bye to Bafana Bafana and the South African people who will be touring Japan and Korea in support of South African pride. Nobody can deny that sports tourism is one of the world’s booming businesses.

It is unfortunate that we are coming from a system that was a polecat of the world and which severely damaged the South African tourist industry. People from other countries did not want to come to South Africa, and the majority of South Africans were not allowed to travel in the country of their own birth, not to mention to other countries. Fortunately, after the 1994 elections, the ANC-led Government brought in a better way of running the country, and this was accepted by the world community. Thus, to us the history prior to 1994 is old and unfortunate.

The 1994 elections and the new Constitution brought in new and many challenges and demands posed by the paradigm shift. As all of us heard when Minister Moosa spoke, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has, with enthusiasm and sincerity, embraced the challenges. The strategic approach of the department is guided by the following national priorities: job creation and economic growth, poverty alleviation, a better living environment, nature conservation, the building of a common patriotism and the promotion of the African Renaissance.

Let us all, as South Africans, join the department in promoting tourism by becoming tourists ourselves in the country of our birth and visit our parks to see those animals, big and small, birds and creatures, and encourage our children to appreciate nature’s creation. We can also slot tourism into subjects such as mathematics when we teach our children at home. Instead of saying one plus two equals three, we can say one zebra plus two impalas equals three. Let us all go out and appreciate the beauty of our oceans, harbours, beaches, ports, rivers, waterfalls, mountains, caves and all that nature has generously given to us.

In 1997 a survey into cultural tourism activities in three spatial development initiatives yielded a wealth of information. It pointed out where Government’s intervention could help cultural workers to benefit from cultural activities. Cultural festivals, cultural villages and story- telling can attract people, provided they are linked to other projects, for example the hospitality industry, in the form of hotels, bed-and-breakfast establishments and lodges, which have, until now, unfortunately been dominated by one section of our community. Transport plays a vital role in this industry, such as the airline industry, which is well organised in this country. During the September 11 crisis in the US, many international flights were directed to our airports and the situation was handled exceptionally well. As has been alluded to, SAA will be the main transporting agent during the WSSD in Johannesburg later in the year. Trains, buses, taxis and cars are also well developed means of transport, and are mainly used by people in the townships and villages. In encouraging South Africans to tour their own country, we have to recognise that most of them are medium- and low-income earners.

I appeal to the Minister of Transport and his department to consider reopening and starting new faster rail routes, especially in the rural areas. This move will also reduce the abnormal loads on buses and taxis and, as a result, will reduce road accidents and deaths.

Arts and crafts by our people can be displayed along main routes, because today tourists from other parts of the world come with one thing in mind - to have a look at our wildlife, scenery and South Africa’s diverse cultures and its people.

South African tourism is not yet developed to its maximum potential. There is still a lot of room for improving infrastructure such as roads, so that other parts of the country can be accessible. For example, in Limpopo, infrastructure such as roads, to Lake Fundudzi, South Africa’s only inland lake, the holy forest and numerous waterfalls needs to be improved.

The strategic objectives of the ANC-led Government form a triangle of interdependent goals. We must grow tourism in terms of market shares and investment, while we protect and conserve our environment and build our nation for future generations to enjoy.

Let us all remember that tourism is the business of us all.

Tshivenda tshi tshi amba tshiri: Wa sa tshimbila u do mala khaladzi. [The Venda saying goes that if you do not travel, you will end up marrying your sister.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Chairperson and hon members, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is the gateway of our country to the world. It deals with important issues in our daily lives, and we welcome the increase of 6,7% on the previous financial year in respect of this Vote. However, we note that while the transformation of the weather bureau into a public entity has resulted in personnel expenditure being reduced by 18,1%, transfers have, however, increased. The question is: Why should there be an increase when the staff has been reduced?

We commend the department for having accessed R79,2 million for the financial year under review from overseas funders such as the EU, Denmark and the United States, for preserving the environment and developing special development initiatives along the East Coast. A flagship of these initiatives is the extended Addo Elephant Park.

The budget reflects a decrease of 17% in the auxiliary and associated services, as compared to last year, and, in fact, all other programmes will experience reductions. Could these reductions be indicative of reduced responsibilities of the department? Of great interest is the fact that the budget provides for special allocations for poverty relief. However, the question is: Will these allocations result in effective sustainable projects? How will the poor local communities benefit from the provision of tourism infrastructure in those areas, and how long will they participate in special development initiatives such as the massive Wild Coast SDI?

It has to be noted that R80 million of the current budget is set aside for the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held later this year. Indications are that the United Nations agencies are not keen to make technical support available for the entire programme of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. They prefer to have the summit confined to environmental issues only, whereas South Africa and other developing countries wish to include strategies on the eradication of poverty and the provision of sanitation.

Given the fact that the budget for Johannesburg’s world summit last year and the current financial year put together amounted to R110 million, how will the outstanding balance be procured, to meet the required R550 million budget? As somebody who comes from Seolong, a deprived, impoverished and almost forsaken place, I was concerned to notice that, as compared to last year, there is a 17% decrease in respect of poverty relief projects, with starvation threatening the region and people surviving on green mealies and grass elsewhere. I wonder to what extent our people will receive assistance in the wake of the decrease in the poverty relief programme.

Dr M S MOGOBA: Chairperson, the PAC supports this Vote. It remains our firm belief that environment and tourism deal with areas of government which embrace an area of immense wealth that the Creator God has endowed upon this lucky country.

What country in the world can boast of such mountains, rivers, valleys, climate, sunshine and such clear skies for astronomy? Mark Shuttleworth has confirmed this view from space. We are well placed for tourism and it is unlikely that we can be easily beaten by many countries in the world. The choice of South Africa as a venue for the World Summit on Sustainable Development could not have come at a better time. We should pull out all the stops to make this summit a great success, a historic and unforgettable experience.

In recent times, international conferences attract people who want to fight their domestic battles on an elevated superstage. This is understandable but our appeal is that we should resist this temptation. This is a God- given opportunity from which we should draw maximum benefit. It is, of course, necessary to clean our house. When the guests leave our shores at the end of the summit, they should go into the wide world as our ambassadors. We should get the participants to join us in our daunting battle against poverty and underdevelopment left by the apartheid era.

The poor should have a slice of the conference cake as a foretaste of what South Africa can become and offer. Participants should be encouraged to visit our beautiful and scenic rural areas. Johannesburg is impressive as a modern city but it is an urban jungle, like any other city of our time in the world. Its beauty will be enhanced and supplemented by the beauty of the countryside, and our beautiful and unique villages.

This conference can be a significant turning point in our initiatives for development and our quest for flow of investment into this country - the launching pad of the economy of the African continent.

We support this and I would like to say to the hon the Minister that we hope that the conference will be a roaring success. [Applause.]

Mr M I MOSS: Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, Minister Valli Moosa and colleagues, the improvements and progress made in Marine and Coastal Management continue. The implementation of the medium-and long-term allocation of fishing rights to role-players in the fishing industry is on track.

Last year, when we debated our Budget Vote, there was a lot of criticism. However, the fact that there is no more criticism this year is proof that, as said above, the improvement in the fishing industry is really on track.

When Bulelwa Qupe - a black woman from a fishing company in Port Elizabeth, Mazidlekhaya Fishing and Ezabantu Aquaculture - thanked me at the funeral of the late Steve Tshwete in East London last week for commercial fishing rights granted to her, I felt good. [Applause.] For one moment I forgot that I was at a funeral. This is one of many successful stories one hears about regularly.

As far as I am concerned, thanks and praises should go to all the role- players in the industry. Special congratulations should also go to Horst Kleinschmidt, executive manager of Marine and Coastal Management, and his team. [Applause.] The Marine Living Resources Act of September 1998 clearly talks about restructuring of the fishing industry to address historical imbalances of the past. The Marine and Coastal Management organisation has job creation, black economic empowerment and restructuring at all levels as its priorities.

After thorough consultation with all interested parties in the fishing villages and the industry, big and small, a new process was started in terms of which participants were invited in September last year to apply for the catch and harvesting of 22 species for four-year and 15-year periods.

As with all processes, the above did not happen without its problems and failures. The very poor fisherfolk, who previously participated as subsistence fishers, complained that they did not have the financial means needed to apply for commercial fishing rights. The granting of commercial fishing rights was a big improvement and gives participants the right to bargain for competitive prices on the open market.

Unsuccessful applicants and those who were not satisfied were granted the right to appeal to the Minister. The knowledgeable Minister went through each and every appeal and is very satisfied with the painful process that he went through. Close to 600 appeals were signed off by the Minister this week. He added 15 new rightholders’ permits worth more than R50 million, to bring the total worth of permits to almost R600 million to the West Coast and South Coast lobster industry. The appeal process took place, as the Minister said, to rectify mistakes and address black economic empowerment and the inclusion of black women in particular.

The other encouraging news is the increase in all fishing species. The volume of pelagic fish has increased and led to the total allowable catch increasing dramatically. Hake stock is also showing a steady and continuous increase. Fishing species never harvested before, for example octopus, will be announced soon and will become available for commercial fishing.

South Africa can today boast and say with confidence that we have the best sustainable plan in the world in place when it comes to preserving our precious living resources at sea. In the past, huge fishing stocks like hake were almost depleted. The good and sound allocation process ensures continuous growth in the allocation of the total allowable catch. This also ensures that future generations will enjoy the marine resources we do today.

Most of the squid and hake long-line stocks are in the Southern and Eastern Cape waters. Of the 80% hake long-line concessions allocated to blacks, 40% were awarded to the Eastern Cape. The Eastern Cape communities also benefited most when it came to the allocation of squid permits. However, this valuable resource is still dominated by the white establishment. Something needs to be done about that.

Subsistence fishing takes place only in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. There are various experiments taking place and, with cautious planning and consideration, huge potential is foreseen for the immediate future.

While we compliment the way in which we preserve and sustain our marine resources, poaching of our resources, and abalone in particular, is a huge concern. A strategy involving the SAPS, the SANDF, and the special Scorpions unit, and inspectors of Marine and Coastal Management is in place to combat illegal poaching, theft and corruption in the industry. However, without the involvement of the communities and other role-players in the fishing areas this will remain a problem.

Recently, 26 fishermen drowned. They are not covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act and other rights contained in the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Hierdie is ‘n baie groot probleem. As ‘n mens in ag neem dat die visindustrie een van die gevaarlikste industrieë in die land is, moet hier nog baie werk gedoen word. Die visindustrie is so gevaarlik, dat selfs in die mynbedryf en daar waar mense daagliks in oorloë betrokke is, sterf minder mense as in die visindustrie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)

[This is a very big problem. If one takes into account that the fishing industry is one of the most dangerous industries in the country, then a lot of work still has to be done here. The fishing industry is so dangerous that even in the mining industry, and where people are involved in warfare on a daily basis, less people die than in this industry.]

To highlight a few achievements of Marine and Coastal Management, this year R30 million will be spent for harbour maintenance and repairs, and a further R50 million will be spent next year. [Applause.] This will take place by means of private-public partnerships. We also have a permanent departmental tip-off line for people to report any wrongdoing.

Sommige van die vismaatskappye het gepoog om aan die hand te doen dat die langlynindustrie … [Some of the fishing companies tried to suggest that the long-line industry … [Time expired.]]

Miss S RAJBALLY: Mr Chairperson, it goes without saying that South Africa is beautiful and has lots of potential to become the top tourist destination. The department has been posed the challenges of using and managing that potential. The MF applauds the department for its astounding work in promoting and stimulating the growth of tourism, and in managing environmental affairs.

We are well aware of the revenue tourism brings into our country, making its management crucial to our economy. Currently ranked as the third largest foreign exchange earner in the country and predicted soon to become the second largest, tourism has also been declared the world’s largest industry. This should substantiate and emphasise the focus necessary in this sector.

The MF applauds the department which has enabled an annual contribution of 2,2% to GDP. We have also had a substantial increase in the number of tourists visiting the country, with a substantial increase in foreign tourist expenditure in South Africa. The progress of this department is promising.

The key objectives and programmes of the department are reassuring. The MF notes that the department also works with affairs relating to the fishing industry and environmental management. South Africa has a magnificent range of flora and fauna, sights and beauties, not forgetting the wildlife kingdom.

The department’s programmes, namely environmental planning and co- ordination, environmental quality and protection, marine and coastal management; and biodiversity and heritage, exhibit the department’s aim to do that, at the same time utilising these industries, including tourism, to promote sustainable development.

Jobs have to be created. Jobs are needed to overcome the escalating rate of unemployment. The budget allocated to the department is appreciated. However, we discussed the importance of this sector and the revenue it will bring to the country. To generate revenue one has to make an input. The MF is impressed by the department’s determined work and success, and is confident that, led by the hon the Minister, the department will continue to produce good results.

Our tourists need to feel safe in order to maintain confidence in South Africa. Efforts should be made to ensure safety at all levels, also in reserves and parks.

The MF supports Budget Vote 27. [Applause.]

Ms J A SEMPLE: Chairperson, bearing in mind the opportunities tourism can create for economic empowerment and the fact that it ranks as South Africa’s third largest foreign exchange earner, after manufacturing and mining, I recently attended tourism classes at a disadvantaged school in my constituency. What an eye-opener!

The Grade 11s were full of enthusiasm and extremely knowledgeable about their subject, ``ecotourism’’, something which I really did not know much about until I joined the portfolio committee in 1999. The point that was really hammered home by both educator and learners was that tourism of any kind can only be successful if the environment is clean and unpolluted. The class regularly cleans up the school and the area in which they live, at the same time making the local people aware of the benefits of not littering.

This is well illustrated by the picture in the annual review of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism with the caption ``A fine crop of plastic bags desecrates the tourist route between Worcester and Villiers in the Cape’’. This awareness of littering really bodes well for future generations and was in sharp contrast to what I had witnessed on a portfolio study tour a few days earlier. Upon leaving a semirural project, which had obviously been especially cleaned up for the parliamentary visit, one of the MPs tossed a Coke can out of the car window in full view of the assembled crowd which included many children. I must hasten to add that this was not the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism study tour!

My own awareness of not littering was a rude jolt with reality. Many years ago, on the way home from a boarding school, the father who was doing the lift stopped for petrol and bought all the kids ice creams. I casually wound down the window and dropped the paper outside. The father made me get out of the car, pick up the paper and put it in the dustbin. This was very embarrassing, and I never did it again.

Anyway, back to school: I was so impressed by the Grade 11s. I then went on to the Grade 10 class where they were discussing biodiversity and, once again, littering was a major issue. The teacher asked me about income- generating projects for the school and we talked about recycling. One wonders, Mr Minister, what happens to the acres of forest that are generated by parliamentary waste bins.

In both classes I had an opportunity to discuss the World Summit on Sustainable Development. In fact, that morning a letter had arrived on the principal’s desk requesting students to make themselves available as volunteers for the summit. They were really excited by the thought of being able to put some of what they had learnt into action, and I sincerely hope that they will be successful in their application to work at the summit.

The world summit, apart from the huge contribution we hope it will make towards sustainability and poverty eradication, will also provide an enormous opportunity to show off South Africa as a world-class tourist destination.

It is said that more than 60% of all tourists choose a destination based on the good experiences of someone they know. So, the expected 65 000 delegates to the summit could give the major boost to our tourism industry that we all want. That boom will provide employment to our young tourism learners around the the country and many other jobs to people as well. It is up to all of us to make sure that this happens. Maybe then tourism will overtake mining and become the second biggest foreign exchange earner in the country.

The DP/DA supports the Environmental Affairs and Tourism Budget Vote. [Applause.]

Ms C M P RAMOTSAMAI: Chairperson, before I make my contribution, I want to say that I am sure everybody has noticed that with this Budget Vote there have been no interjections. Everybody has been positive, and this is an indication of the positive work that we do in this portfolio committee and that the Ministry does. [Applause.]

Tourism is one of the key economic growth sectors identified by the President, and a major source of investment, job creation and local economic development. Many of our communities, including the rural areas around the country, that had no access to or role to play in this field before have now taken advantage of the benefits of tourism, and are using their local heritage to create jobs.

For a very long time, black people in this country have been on the periphery of the economic mainstream, and with regard to the field of tourism, they have been participating only as servants. Two years ago our hon Minister Valli Moosa spoke about changing the face of tourism. He promised the portfolio committee and the nation that if the status quo did not change, we would have to close shop.

The portfolio committee raised sharply the matter of representation of black tourism businesses at Indaba 2000. Through our interaction with SMMEs, we raised sharply the matters of exposure and accessibility of these SMMEs which have taken up the call by the ANC-led Government to enter the mainstream economy. Some of these people, who were employed as teachers, nurses and labourers, took packages from their previous employers and invested in the field of tourism. Even after that call by the ANC, the doors of tourism were still closed to SMMEs to play a meaningful role.

I am happy today to say that that old face of tourism is beginning to change. Last year at Indaba 2001, the number of black tourism businesses rose from 38 to 149, which means an increase of about 400%. We are told that at this year’s Indaba, which will be held on 11 May, the number will increase to 200, and I think that is a big stride and we actually congratulate the department for that. This is real progress.

I want to thank Dr Matlou and his staff, as well as Cheryl Carolus of SA Tourism and her staff, for the path they have started of consistently promoting black tourism businesses. They have opened opportunities and allocated resources. They did not just talk, but also allocated resources for these businesses actually to flourish, thereby putting South Africa on the international map. [Applause.] This, of course, would not have been possible without the good policies of the ANC, through the tourism White Paper of 1996.

HON MEMBERS: Yebo! Yebo! [Yes! Yes!]

Ms C M P RAMOTSAMAI: Today some of the black tourism businesses have begun to benefit from the ANC policies. The ANC continues to deliver on its promises and is accelerating change for a better life for all. [Interjections.]

Ntate Modulasetulo, ha o ka wa tjhakela tse ding tsa dibaka tsela tsa bothori, tseo re buang ka tsona kajeno, tse jwaloka ka Guest View House, e mane Thembisa, ya mofumahadi Sheila Sekitla, le Kopanong B & B e mane Khayelitsha ya Mofumahatsana Thope, o ka kgahlwa. Batho ba habo rona ba ikemiseditse. Ha o hloke hore o ye toropong ho sebedisa disebediswa tsa di e.mail, tsohle tsena o ka di fumana. Ba re lefatshe lena la bona le letle le bona ha ba fumane ho lona le se ke la fumanwa ke bafeti feela, hathe le bona ke ba lefatshe lena.

Kgatello ya Apartheid ha e a ba etsa letho, ba kgollwa pusong ya Mopresidente Mbeki le ANC, ka tsela e kgahlisang. Ba re ha ho puso e kileng ya ba fa monyetla jwaloka ya ANC, ebile ha e sa tla ba teng e nngwe. Ba tsohile ba ikemiseditse, ba sebetsa ka moya wa Vukuzenzele, tsoha o iketsetse. Ba ikemiseditse hore ba tla sebetsa makgetlo a phetaphetaneng ha leshome, ho nyolla ekonomi ya South africa. Ba bile ba tshepisa hore ha ba sa tla voutela mmuso o mong ka ntle ho ANC. Le ka 1994 ba tla boela hape, hobane mmuso ona o fetotse maphelo a bona ka tsela e makatsang.

Ntle ho Indaba, Department of Environmental and Tourism le South African Tourism e rometse mafatsheng a mang a jwaloka bo UK le Germany ka selemo se fetileng le sena, moo ba ileng ho rekisa mesebetsi ya bona ka bo bona, mafatsheng a mang, ba tlohetse ho rekisetswa ke batho ba bang, ba ikela ka bobona, Hobane mmuso ona o ba file monyetla wa hore ba ikele. Ba tle le ona maele a hore ba ka etsa jwang hore ba nyolle lefatshe lena.

Jwale he, ha ho le jwalo, ba re ha ba batle mmuso o mong, ba batla ona mmuso ona neng kapa neng. Mabapi le ho tswela pele ka mosebetsi wa ho thusa batho ba SA bao peleng ba neng ba sa natswe, bakeng sa ho fumana monyetla ditikolohong tsa bothori, kabinete ya Ntate Mbeki e nkile qeto haufinyana tje. (Translation of Sotho paragraphs follows.)

[Honourable chairperson, should you visit some of the tourism places of which we are talking today, places such as Guest View House in Thembisa owned by Mrs Sheila Sekitla, as well as Kopanong B&B in Khayelitsha, owned by Ms Thope, you would really be impressed. Our people are highly determined. You don’t need to go to town in order to access the E-mail facilities. All these are readily accessible. They maintain that they also deserve to benefit from this beautiful country of theirs, and not only foreigners, since they are actually the inhabitants of this country.

The oppression of the apartheid era has not had a negative impact on them, because they trust the Government of President Thabo Mbeki and the ANC. They say that there is no government that has provided them with opportunities like the ANC has done, and that there will be no other government of that kind. They have woken up and are highly determined and working in the spirit of Vukuzenzele, Tsoha o iketsetse. They are determined to work ten times harder in order to improve South Africa’s economy. They even promise to vote for no other government except for that of the ANC. Even in 2004, they will go back to the polling stations because this government has amazingly changed their lives.

Last year, apart from the Indaba, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and South African Tourism sent a delegation to countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany, to exhibit their products themselves in other countries. They moved from the system of relying on other people for the marketing of their products because the Government has granted them the privilege of going there themselves; so that they can come along with ideas as to how this country can best be developed.

They therefore say that they don’t want any other government but this one at any time. Regarding the question of helping the people of South Africa on an ongoing basis, especially those who were previously neglected when opportunities were allocated in the tourism industry, the Cabinet of President Mbeki has recently made a decision.]

In August 2001 the Government department, following Cabinet intervention, developed a framework document on unblocking delivery on the tourism strategy. Some of these key interventions called for all departments to review their procurement contracts, in line with the tourism transformation strategy. This Government did not just make policies, but also had the time to review them when they did not work. At the end of the day, the people whom these policies were designed for have to benefit, so that we do not just make policies for the sake of it.

These interventions included: ensuring that 35% of the budget of the department would be spent on black businesses in the identified sector in 2001, and to increase this by at least 50% by 2004-05; and developing a monitoring mechanism to ensure that these targets would be achieved.

To ensure that these strategies were adhered to, the Cabinet authorised the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to report on progress. Some of the provinces have progressed rapidly with their tourism strategies, and in this case I would like to congratulate and highlight KwaZulu-Natal. Their tourism strategy for 2000-03 is the culmination of a lengthy period of market research and investigation into the development of the tourism industry in KwaZulu-Natal. The strategy is the brainchild of the KwaZulu- Natal tourism authority. It is a vehicle in a process which it is believed will result in a major increase in the number of tourist arrivals in the province and the creation of tourism-related jobs. The Kingdom of Zulu brand has a strong collateral and recognition, and is driven by its five core intervention areas.

In terms of harmonisation in the region, our Government has, together with Mozambique, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia, developed what we term the ``coast-to-coast tourism initiative’’. Our hon Minister Valli Moosa launched this multicountry tourism initiative last week, which is aimed at significantly boosting Africa’s global status as a unique tourism continent.

With this initiative, the region will, according to Minister Valli Moosa, be marketed jointly under the slogan: ``All of Africa on one road.’’ This effort will deliver economic growth, employment, foreign investment and foreign exchange. With this initiative, the Southern African region will be positioned as one of the world’s major competing tourism destinations.

Hon members will remember that previously members of the ANC had questioned the fact that SA Tourism only had one office in Africa when so many Africans visit this country. During our last interaction with SA Tourism, we were informed that soon we will be opening offices in Kenya and Sierra Leone. I see my speaking time is almost over.

There is something I want to highlight here, the fact that as the portfolio committee and as members of the ANC, we are very concerned about the confusion created by our having two grading systems as a country. We think that our country must be marketed under one grading system. Why must we have Crystal and Star systems of promoting and grading tourism destinations in this country?

We are very concerned, and we appeal to the Minister to look into this. We think we need one grading system in this country, and we think the Government must intervene in terms of making sure that we redirect that into one area. We are prepared to deal with whatever is brought to us, but we think that we need one grading system to market South Africa. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM: Chairperson, many thanks to all of the members for their contributions. In view of the little time that I have, I will just respond to a few of the matters.

Firstly, regarding the question raised by the hon Moorcroft on land acquisition, I think that we always have to keep a balance between what we can justify for land acquisition directly from taxpayer rands. I think that it is something that we always have to justify. But bear in mind that the land acquisition for conservation and for national parks is only partly funded by the taxpayer, and largely, those funds are used to leverage other funds.

We already have a number of private organisations, such as the Peace Parks Foundation, the Humane Society and others that have made very generous contributions for the acquisition of very important parcels of land already, and that work is going on. SA National Parks itself has a park development fund through which it makes significant contributions, aimed directly at land acquisition, and then also the sale of wildlife from SA National Parks is earmarked for the acquisition of land. So there are substantial amounts of money that will go to this.

We have also been able successfully to negotiate with the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for the transfer of land under the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to SA National Parks. For example, the Woody Cape Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape was a Department of Water Affairs and Forestry forest. Therefore it is not always the case that one needs taxpayers’ money to do this, but one needs creative ways of organising the various parcels of land that we have in this country.

On the question of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, had the allegations which the hon member referred to been made in a more reputable publication, I probably would have taken the trouble to reply to them. They had promised to do an interview with me on a Monday and they published the report on the Friday before the interview. I can just say that the project is well on track. It is a very big project and from time to time one will have ups and downs. I think we should expect that. But it is the kind of project that requires focus, from all of us. We have that focus, we know where we are going to, we are in a hurry and I think we will get it done, but at the same time, we will be careful and diligent in order to ensure that it is done properly. I will be meeting with my colleagues from Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the next few weeks, once again to receive progress reports and to look at where we are taking the project.

On the question of poverty relief projects, which the hon Rita Ndzanga had raised, we will certainly take into account the recommendations that she has made. A key recommendation that she has made is that we need very consciously to direct the poverty relief projects to the rural areas, aim them in particular at women and at young women, and move away from a purely project approach to possibly a programme approach. And I think we need greater integration with other Government programmes. We will take that on board and I can assure her that one will get positive results out of that.

On the question that the hon Mbuyazi raised about tourism to rural villages, that is on our screens and that is exactly what we are trying to do. It links a little with what was said in the maiden speech of the hon Phadagi about cultural tourism. We are placing a tremendous amount of emphasis on cultural tourism, because, unlike what people think, our biggest selling point is not our beaches, internationally. Our biggest selling point is our culture and our wildlife. People come to Cape Town because of its culture, they go to Johannesburg because of its culture. And the Johannesburg Metro and Gauteng province, for example, are investing substantially in the development of the Newtown Precinct as a world-class cultural destination. So this is something that, certainly, we have taken on board and we continue working on.

On the question of the grading system that the hon Ramotsamai has raised, I thought I made it clear in my speech itself - this Parliament recognises national statutes, its own statutes - that in terms of the Tourism Act the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is required to appoint a tourism grading council. That council, hon Ramotsamai … She is not listening, she is deep in thought. I am speaking to you, hon member. The Tourism Grading Council is appointed in terms of a national statute. It was appointed by Cabinet in the year 2000. It is recognised by the tourism industry through the Tourism Business Council. That is the only recognised grading system, that is, the star grading system. Any other institution, organisation or private body that wants to do grading is free to do it because we are a free country, but will not receive official recognition either from Government or from SA Tourism, or from the Tourism Business Council.

May I take this opportunity to congratulate the chairperson, hon Geoff Doidge, on his appointment and on the excellent manner in which he is conducting his duties in such a short space of time. [Applause.] May I also congratulate the hon Chief Whip of the Majority Party, the hon Nathi Nhleko, on his appointment. I should inform him - the hon Doidge will know this - that previous Chief Whips have always been very understanding when I had problems with three line whips and I hope he will follow in that proud tradition of other Chief Whips. [Laughter.] My congratulations to the hon Nel, the Deputy Chief Whip, on his wonderful appointment that the majority party has made. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! I thank the hon the Minister very much, but that will not get him any extra time. [Laughter.]

Debate concluded.

Debate on Vote No 6 - Public Works:

The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Chairperson, hon members of this House, less than a decade ago, the fixed properties of the state were regarded as hardly more than just a jumble of bricks and mortar to accommodate, and in some cases to shield, the machinery of the state in its heinous activities against human rights and justice.

We inherited buildings that in most cases were not adequately supporting the work of other Government departments. This was further compounded by bureaucracy, which often led to dissatisfaction from our colleagues. Today I am proud to say we have given a human face and added economic value to some of these assets, as we used them as a catalyst for improved and efficient Public Service delivery, to foster the culture of good governance and accountable government.

As a result of our turnaround strategy, we have received written messages of commendation and support from some of our client departments. It is our belief that as we change, we innovate and reach higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Shrewd management of the state’s fixed assets has accelerated the attainment of Government’s socioeconomic objectives, including the creation of economic opportunities for our historically disadvantaged people.

Steadily our basis for innovation-fuelled action is beginning to bear fruit. Halfway through our five-year delivery pledge of Mintirho ya Vula Vula, the Department of Public Works is no longer the same. Productive assets in our rural areas stand as witnesses to the winds of change that have blown away the pain and despair of people living in those villages where we have successfully completed projects.

Many decades of deliberate and systematic marginalisation of the rural people have given way to the first eight years of hope, optimism and anticipation, thanks to the Government of the people, for the people.

In the past financial year, this House voted for an allocation to the department of R3,67 billion. In addition, the department had to ensure full expenditure of about R1,3 billion which was devolved to client departments for the capital works programme. For the financial year 2002-03, in total, Public Works is presenting a budget of R3,73 billion. The provision for land and accommodation will account for about 86% of that budget, and the National Public Works Programme for 8,4%, leaving only 6% as budget for our administration.

In its entire history of existence, the Department of Public Works had been unable to expend completely any capital budget in its allocation. This we found a challenge for which we needed to find a solution and a new way of doing business. This resulted in the introduction of a Programme for Accelerated Capital Expenditure, or PACE. Wonder of wonders! I am going to say this very slowly once again.

Imimmangaliso yemmimangaliso. Ndinovuyo lokuba ndivakalise kule Ndlu, phantsi kwembali yonke yakwa … [A miracle of miracles. I am glad to announce in this House, given the history …]

… for the first time, Public Works has been able to spend 100% of the R1,736 billion budget allocated for capital works and planned maintenances.

Yimbali leyo bazalwane. [That is history, fellow countrymen.] [Applause.]

The reason for our success is our uncompromising attitude towards any form of slackness, our focused efforts to achieve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Our ``work smart’’ approach announced last year in this House is proving to be a resounding success.

The Department of Public Works also implemented the Repair and Maintenance Programme, or RAMP, in 1999. In 2001-02, the department allocated R620 million towards RAMP, which represented 46% of the department’s capital works budget. In order to address the maintenance backlog, the department, in 2001-02, appointed engineering firms to spearhead the repairs and maintenance of an additional 146 prisons and 41 military bases in support of the Department of Correctional Services and the South African National Defence Force, respectively. Adding other prisons to the 33 major ones already under RAMP, meant that all 179 prisons in South Africa were now attended to under this programme.

With regard to defence, a total of 69 military bases are now beneficiaries, considering that 28 contracts worth R63 million are currently being maintained comprehensively under this programme. To date Public Works has awarded repair and maintenance contracts valued at R1,4 billion, with the Department of Correctional Services being the main beneficiary.

Two privately run and owned maximum security prisons became operational in the year under review, bringing to fruition the laborious work that my department had initiated in 1997. The Mangaung Maximum Security prison in Bloemfontein and the Kutama Sinthumule Maximum Security Prison in Louis Trichardt are the first prisons in South Africa to be designed, financed, built, operated and maintained by the private sector as part of the Government’s public-private partnership initiative, called the Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership System, or APOPS.

Notably more than R600 million was injected into the economy of the two towns during construction, creating economic opportunities of proportional scale for the communities, including local government and locally based enterprises.

In response to a request from the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and Education, the department will procure, through APOPS, new head offices for these departments.

Also completed and officially handed over are the medium and maximum security facilities and the housing projects at Kokstad. Although there were some teething problems at one stage, the social and economic impact is expected to be the same as in our other projects.

The department recently handed over a site to contractors in Berlin, Germany, marking the commencement of construction of the new R115 million South African embassy situated at the Embassy Boulevard in Tiergarten Strasse.

Our building programme is extensive. In the interest of time I will only highlight that in 2001-02 we also completed the restoration of the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, to the value of R44,7 million, improving this valuable piece of our history in human rights for generations to come.

Within the leasing portfolio, we successfully negotiated a new standard lease contract with the private sector. Contrary to the lease agreement that favoured the landlords in the past, the revised agreement transfers most of the risk to the private sector. This is moving away from a situation where Government was expected to rent as well as provide maintenance for buildings owned by the private sector. In addition, in the previous financial year, we have managed, through the re-negotiation of lease contracts, to save Government an amount of R24 million.

The Department of Public Works is faced with the challenge of managing the Government’s property portfolio in order to achieve Government’s objectives of maximising returns and reducing costs. Up until now we have not had adequate capacity really to discharge the asset management function properly. Last year we employed a strategic assessment management partner. We are now in a position to propose to Government a government-wide strategic asset management framework. This is a framework that will give guidance to the whole of Government, including provincial government, on the management of state properties.

A critical part of the asset management function is to identify and recommend for disposal all redundant properties, which are only adding to the cost of running the portfolio. In total, the department disposed of 63 properties for commercial purposes, and this brought in revenue of more than R156 million.

Currently, we are working on legislation for the envisaged state property management as an agency, which we hope will enable us to compare to even the best in the industry. We are also participating in programmes of land reform together with the Department of Land Affairs. We are prioritising and expediting the release of land under the control of Public Works. In this area, we have released land in a number of provinces. These are six farms in the Free State, 113 agricultural holdings in Pretoria, 43 residential erven in Wasbank Township in KwaZulu-Natal and also five farms in the district of Soutpansberg in Limpopo.

In the Western Cape we have the Lebanon Fruit Farm projects, made up of four farms, and in Clanwilliam we have 443 hectares which used to belong to state forestry. We are all aware of the landmark return of land at Ndabeni in Cape Town, where a portion of Wingfield Military Base and adjacent land was given back to our people.

In the past financial year the department released 19 properties, in extent 600 hectares, with an estimated market value of R8,6 million for the provision of low-cost housing and related municipal infrastructure.

It is a welcome coincidence that our Budget Vote should fall in May, the month chosen by our President Mr Thabo Mbeki to celebrate the inroads this Government has made into rural development and poverty alleviation, while at the same time highlighting the prevalence of the spirit of Letsema. For us in Public Works this means ``planning and building together with communities’’.

For two consecutive financial years my department has fully expended its poverty relief allocation for the benefit of the poorest of the poor in our rural areas, and the social impact is remarkable. I hope that the party that made the mistake of telling people at a meeting that we have not spent the R500 million had been sleeping while we were performing.

Through the community-based programme, in the year 2001-02 the department succeeded in creating 25 124 short-term employment opportunities which were allocated to men, women and those who are physically disabled. Of course, the figure I mention excludes the contribution made by the programme to black economic empowerment, where 85% of all contractors participating are emerging historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs. If my colleague Minister Kader Asmal will allow me, at KwaMadlala near Port Shepstone the intervention by the department to build four additional classrooms and a hall and to renovate existing classrooms at Sozabe High School not only reduced overcrowding but, we believe, as the community says, contributed to an increased pass rate of 51% as against 21% the previous year. This was acknowledged by one of the hard-working district mayors, the one from Ugu …

… uMuntomuhle Khawula.

He is hard-working.

In recognition of the value of the assets we build and the role they play both in social and local economic development, I was heartened by the story of a certain Mr Isaac Tau of Dannhauser in the Moretele district of North West, a beneficiary of the CBPWP. Mr Tau would wake up many times at night upon hearing suspicious sounds, to personally walk over to ensure that the projects we were building were safe from vandals, thieves and criminals. This was even before the projects were formally handed over to the community itself.

I would like to acknowledge Mr Tau as a person who exudes a spirit of volunteerism and epitomises our struggle for moral regeneration. [Applause.] He is sitting somewhere there in the gallery, and I would also like to welcome him and thank all the people like him who still give hope to our country, as individuals and as groups.

Furthermore, a group of concerned professional people from around the country has embraced the call to lend a hand and established what they simply call ``Operation Plough Back’’. This will be officially launched during the course of this month, this being the rural month. I do not want to steal the thunder from whoever will be launching it, so I will stop here.

Government, through the establishment of multipurpose community centres, has offered hope to millions of rural people by bringing Government closer to them. These one-stop centres house various Government services such as home affairs, social development, labour and communication-related functions. They make such services accessible to the rural people.

In the past year the department allocated R10 million for the establishment of the MPCCs as part of Government’s roll-out strategy to build at least one MPCC in each of the country’s 61 district councils by the end of 2003- 04.

Accepting the first ever MPCC to be officially opened in KwaZulu-Natal, the mayor of Umkhanyakude Mnicipality, Councillor Mthombeni, said:

Previously the people of Mbazwana travelled more than 80 km to access Government services such as the registration of births and deaths, the applications for identity documents and other social welfare services. We thank Public Works for their foresight and believe they will continue, as before, to bring hope and a better life to the rural people.

When it comes to projects related to social cohesion, we have provided, through our imbizos, that these centres themselves will occupy centre stage, as one of the demands by people as projects that they seriously need. Since President Mbeki officially opened the first community production centre at Lambasi near Lusikisiki on 25 November 2000, more centres have been established in other provinces.

The CPCs at Elandskraal in Limpopo and the Cairn Lemon scheme in Mpumalanga are ready and fully functional, and are also awaiting their first harvests of maize and lemon oil respectively. Already negotiations are at an advanced stage to sell the lemon oil from Mpumalanga to a big multinational beverage-producing company in America.

Nawe Mpumalanga awumncinane. [Even you, Mpumalanga, are not small.]

In KwaZulu-Natal the Makhatini Flats CPC produces mainly fruit, vegetables, cotton and sugar cane. The upgrading of infrastructure has been completed, allowing the farming and productivity phase to commence.

With regard to Ndaya, also in KwaZulu-Natal, I am particularly proud that this CPC, run mostly by women, has progressed well by completing their administration block, a packaging facility, an implements storage facility, the upgrading of the irrigation system, a tree-planting project and an access bridge. The Deputy Minister Zondi, during his visit to this project earlier this year, identified the option of a bridge across the river to link the Ndaya CPC to the Ugu district. This will open a bigger market for their produce, linking them directly to main routes.

Many other CBPWP projects continue to commercially benefit the communities and create sustainable jobs. However, I really want to plead with members of Parliament that they must talk to those communities from which they come to put aside ethnic problems so that we make progress with the development that we want as Government, because in some areas we have met with a lot of similar problems.

The Ithuzi Lodge at Port Dunford near Empangeni is a theme park complete with sea-facing tourist accommodation in beautiful thatched chalets as well as modern-day brick chalets, all facing a pristine beach just to the south of Richards Bay. This is part of the Umlalazi poverty alleviation cluster. This accommodation is constantly sold out, particularly in peak season. But, strangely, it is similar to Molo Mhlobo wam'' [a greeting meaning Hello, my friend’’] because people find out by word of mouth whether there is accommodation or not.

Less than an hour’s drive on the way to Pongola, the women of Hlabisa run the successful and professionally organised Zamimpilo Craft Centre. Mr Chairperson, I have to steal from the time allocated for reply, please.

All the above were achieved despite critical challenges we faced, such as the new municipalities, many without resources, expertise or capacity, following the 2000 local elections.

We have done a lot to help with the registration of people who are emerging contractors and our numbers have increased from 2 153 to 3 257. We are actually beginning to see the light of day in making sure that our people, who have been regarded in the past as high-risk people to run enterprises, begin to access finance. This is largely thanks to Standard Bank and Khula, as well as the Industrial Development Corporation.

I can safely tell members that, as we said, this year the IDC has finally made available a finance facility of R20 million for the strategic project initiatives. We have also made sure that the loans cover 10% guarantees and bridging finance between 7% and 17%. The department, of course, is still dealing with other areas in which we can help to make sure that our people are helped with finances.

We have women in the construction industry. In 1999 we actually had about 120 women in the construction industry, and in 2001 the figure had increased to 275. In August, the month marking Women’s Day in 2001, we made available a total of R128 million to be awarded to women-owned enterprises.

Regarding black economic empowerment, I think I will deal with that as part of my reply since I do not have much time.

We still have an Achilles heel. While we have studiously dealt with some of the challenges, such as spending money on poverty relief and capital works, we are also challenging ourselves further by saying that we shall leave no stone unturned in making sure that the financial management side of Public Works is improved, especially when we talk of systems which cannot talk to each other. We shall make sure that we source the money so that we can have the latest systems, not the antiquated ones that we inherited.

In conclusion, I have been given a mammoth task by Government. I want to believe that Public Works has gone a long way in delivering on its mandate. I believe that we have laid the foundation for sustainable improvement in the management of Government’s property portfolio, the alleviation of poverty through the Community-Based Public Works Programme and the transformation of the development of the construction industry, and we are left with our Achilles heel to repair.

I would like, then, to acknowledge the co-operation of our client departments, and thank my colleagues, the members of the property industry, the construction industry as well as the district municipalities, with whom at times we had differences of opinion.

Finally, allow me to thank the Deputy Minister, uMfundisi Musa kaZondi, the management team and staff of the department for their dedication to duty and their response to my call to ensure that innovation becomes the driver of change. [Applause.] I wish to thank all members of the public who have made themselves available to serve on the various boards. Drawing from their expertise has made us to move faster than we thought. A special word of thanks goes to members of the Portfolio and Select Committees on Public Works, who have worked closely with us, and through their contributions have ensured that we kept on improving. [Applause.]

Chief M W HLENGWA: Chairperson, hon members of the National Assembly, the time has come that we, as the servants of the people, seriously get our act together, so that all of us can confidently point to work well done for the people of South Africa, who put us in this Chamber.

This department has been mandated to be the custodian of all Government property. The hon the Minister has already alluded to this notion, but it is important to emphasise that the aim of the Department of Public Works is to provide and manage, in accordance with prescribed standards and directives, the accommodation, housing, land and infrastructural needs of national departments, to provide associated and supporting services, as well as to promote the National Public Works Programme.

The Government has a profound interest in seeing this department honouring and fulfilling this aim. It would be sad to witness any stakeholder attempting to stall this process, and it would be worse if such a negative attempt were seen to be coming from Government quarters.

Let us all put our weight behind the Department of Public Works so that this department continues to succeed. A well-organised delegation of members of the portfolio committee has visited all the provinces of South Africa. One does not need to scratch around to ascertain whether this department has delivered or not, but one thing is for certain: some of the projects are at risk of becoming white elephants. The reason for this is lack of co-ordination.

The Portfolio Committee on Public Works will urge the client departments, together with the Department of Public Works, to consider a strategy of how best they can effect co-ordination for the success of projects. The visits to provinces have taught members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works that one who fails to co-ordinate, co-ordinates to fail. On this matter there is no competition, since the budgets allocated are there to serve a common purpose, and that is delivery to the people of South Africa. That is the long and the short of it.

Going back to the question of providing accommodation, housing, land and infrastructure, these are crucial matters, especially for our country and the Third World. Even in First World countries, these matters remain on the agenda of delivery. With regard to the four issues I have just raised, expansion does not occur if the budget is continuously decreasing. Even if the budget increases, there is a need for proper planning and a support system.

It is encouraging to see that Government has taken cognisance of this requirement, and that is why the Independent Development Trust was brought in. The Independent Development Trust is a public institution established in 1990 to support Government to meet its development goals. The IDT is listed as a major public entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.

The organisation has its own capital base and is audited by the Auditor- General. It is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Public Works. It is important to note that in 1999 the IDT changed from being primarily a funding institution, which provided funds for community development, to being a programme management institution with a focus on large-scale development programmes.

Coming to the question of whether the allocation is adequate or not, the simple and honest answer will be that no allocation has ever enjoyed that status. There is a suggestion that I would want to put forward. When projects are delivered, it is Public Works which happens to be on the ground, with the people in the communities. It is true that in some communities one will find development structures in place and then it becomes difficult to create a new structure for a particular project. It would be wise to work with the people already in existence because they will easily gain more experience for future projects.

I think the Department of Public Works needs to organise and be given the opportunity to brief client departments about the difficulties encountered when bringing delivery to the communities. I am suggesting a client department forum which will also involve the Independent Development Trust. This will help to alleviate hidden uncertainties in terms of development problems encountered by those who interact with the communities.

There is no hope that we are going to witness manna falling amongst us. Comparing ourselves with the countries of the world, South Africa is not at present a wealthy country, although it is developing. The Government will not deny that we are poor as a country, with a high rate of unemployment.

We must avoid overburdening our poor people with political agendas. They need workshops so that they may take responsibility for their own destiny. I believe in the famous nine Ps; ``Poor people prosper from poverty to prosperity provided they are prepared to pay the price.’’ The question is: Are our people aware of the price they are supposed to pay? If not, whose responsibility is it to inform them? If not us, who?

The hon the Minister articulated all the figures and programmes. There will be no need to repeat these. It is safe to say that the Department of Public Works is one of the role-players with regard to job creation, effective Public Service delivery, the economic and social empowerment of previously marginalised communities, and the fight against poverty.

However, according to the budget allocation to the Community-Based Public Works Programme, the allocation will decline in the MTEF as poverty relief programmes are phased out. Given the extent of poverty levels in South Africa, the phasing out of poverty relief projects by 2004 raises concerns, notwithstanding the fact that there is a need to review these programmes. The department still has a number of challenges to overcome so that effective public works service delivery may be realised.

We commend the department for having set aside funds for the programme of HIV/Aids. All in all, the 2002-03 budget is a good tool for realising the goals of the department.

In conclusion, allow me to express my profound appreciation to the hon the Minister of Public Works for her leadership and achievements, the hon the Deputy Minister of Public Works, Rev Zondi, for his dedicated commitment to the success of the department, the Director-General of Public Works, Mr Tami Sokutu, for his energetic stance when it comes to the department’s work, the whole team, including the subdirectors-general and staff, the secretary of the portfolio committee, Mr Joe Leburu, and last but not least, the hon members of the portfolio committee for the way they have up to now demonstrated a team spirit in their work.

Finally, I would like to thank hon members for having given me audience without any interruptions. I also want to congratulate Mr Nhleko on his appointment as the ANC Chief Whip and the Chairperson of Committees, Mr Doidge. [Applause.]

Mr B A RADEBE: Comrade Chairperson, Comrade Minister, hon members of this august House, the task faced by the Department of Public Works is very big. This department has been grappling with deeply entrenched remains of apartheid in the very fibre of its work. I say this because it has to bring about major changes in the systems and procedures followed in almost every activity to equalise the playing field.

Managing one of the largest property portfolios in the world, some of the questions this department had to consider include: Firstly, why were such a large number of properties not maintained at all? Secondly, how could it change that situation? Thirdly, how could it ensure that everybody could enter the mainstream economy through working on these properties? Fourthly, could the Government contracts be employed in promoting training? Fifthly, why did only major construction players traditionally win contracts to work on these properties, and where is the taxpayers’ money flowing to when they pay for both professional and labour mobile services?

The answers to these questions are very simple. In 1994 the ANC-led Government inherited a dysfunctional department, a department which was on the point of collapse. Why do I say this? I say this because the mandate of the department was to provide and maintain the buildings for other state departments, but the irony is that the very same department which was charged with the task of providing this accommodation did not know how many properties it had; it did not know where those properties were located; it did not even know what the value of each property was. Hence there was no maintenance plan or disposal plan for this department.

Since the ANC-led Government is committed to transparency, it introduced a very ambitious task - the task of compiling the first ever state assets register for this country. This state assets register was completed last year. For the first time in the history of this country, we have a national state assets register, comprising about 120 000 properties together estimated at R120 billion.

The latent potential of the state’s fixed assets can effectively be used as a foundation for a better life for all. How can we do this? We can do this by exploiting the opportunity of taking on board those people who were not part of the mainstream economy of the construction and maintenance industry. This will lead to the realisation of section 3 of the Freedom Charter, which states that the people shall share the country’s wealth, and that all other industry and trade shall be controlled in a way that will assist the wellbeing of the people of this country.

The other problem the department inherited is that, because of the fact that it did not have an assets register, its business and finance systems could not talk to each other. This matter caused problems for the Auditor- General himself since there could be no clear accountability. How could he account for moneys which were outstanding when he did not know in respect of which property he was paying for services and rates?

Therefore, we are very proud that, with this team that is organised by the Minister, at least we have people who are dedicated to solving this problem. The department has requested a three-year turnaround period from the Auditor-General, and we are already seeing the results of this, because, since 1999, with each and every Auditor-General’s report which has come through, we have seen a marked improvement from what was happening in the past. As parliamentarians we can help a lot, as the Minister has said. We have to invest in the technology which is going to make the systems of the department work together. By effecting the necessary appropriation in this Parliament, the department can invest in its IT division.

In full support of this budget presented to the House today, I would like to focus on some of the conditions of the Department of Public Works to ensure that black economic empowerment indeed became a feature of all the work done. The Office of the Presidency and the Department of Trade and Industry have developed a national black economic empowerment strategy for Government. This is the Government’s formal response to a recommendation tabled by the Black Economic Empowerment Commission in a report which was submitted to the President early in 2001. The Department of Public Works has established a dedicated unit at director level in the office of the director-general to monitor and co-ordinate the department’s performance in terms of black economic empowerment.

As a source of transformation, Public Works first dealt with procurement reform, culminating in the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act. For years they championed the Government’s procurement reform in the construction industry to promote access to opportunities for blacks and small businesses. Principles were established to allow for broader participation, tender procedures restructured and contracts rewritten.

Laudably, the department tackled this job both from the top and the bottom. Consultants and emerging contractors, women and other specified groups were targeted to ensure an even spread of opportunities. Rosters were developed for respective categories of tender groups in the building environment to rotate allocations and to do so electronically, per geographic region, to curb subjective interference. The consultants roster system distributes work to consultants in a fair and transparent manner, targeting historically disadvantaged firms and individuals. Rosters were integrated, and to date nominations worth a total of R130 million have been awarded to affirmative professional service providers, representing almost 43% of the development projects awarded by the system.

The roster policy and the application procedure are now being developed for a number of service sectors to the building environment as well. Results from the roster appointment system speak for themselves. Firstly, of the current operating projects, more than 70% of the appointments were awarded to affirmative business enterprises. It is estimated that more than 80 000 job opportunities will be created in the private sector, with the awarding of contracts valued at around R1,5 billion for contract periods ranging from three years to five years. The accompanying professional services are valued at an estimated R50 million. Of the other consultants, 50% of the total are affirmative professional service providers.

The repair and maintenance programme on which the Minister reported, the asset and procurement operating partnership systems, and the facilities management initiative to enrich public-private partnership in the management of public estates over a period of five years on prominent assets such as the Union Buildings and the parliamentary complex, are already in place. The purpose of the strategic project initiatives is to fast-track the graduation of black contractors from the level of subcontractors to becoming prime contractors on projects of more than R5 million. Its successful applications are in the following areas: Botshabelo Magistrates’ Office, which was allocated more than R11 million; the St Albans Prison Workshop, which was allocated R24 million and the Richards Bay police complex, which was allocated R32 million.

In the construction industry, the emerging contractor development programme includes a growing data base awarding contracts to a number of women participants; extensive training in all nine provinces that addresses general business skills, tendering and procurement as well as specialist training, for example, electricity and plumbing; the training of more than 200 contractors in management and constructing skills, using the contractor entrepreneurial training programme developed with the International Labour Organisation; and improved access to finance and the mentorship programme.

To ensure that competent black contractors do emerge in mainstream construction, the emerging contractor development programme has worked with all stakeholders to develop a focused mentoring programme to address managerial, technical and financial skills throughout the project’s life cycle.

Co-operation with the University of Pretoria has facilitated a process to accredit a panel of potential mentors for successful contractors. The department has taken steps to overcome the constraints on emerging contractors in gaining access to finance. We are happy to hear that Khula funding has been activated, over and above the Industrial Development Corporation’s provision of financing of several millions.

The new approach will reduce the perception of high risk by putting in place supporting mechanisms, including the mentoring programme highlighted above. We welcome that development.

We believe that the department may be breaking new ground with this approach to financing emerging contractors, coupling it with mentorship. Apparently even some banks are considering this. Earlier this year the hon the Minister assured us she was confident that procurement mechanisms overseen by Public Works were the answer to the objectives of black economic empowerment, that micro financing negotiations were producing results, and that small, medium and micro enterprises were indeed encouraged and assisted to participate and grow.

I wish to congratulate the Minister and wish her well on this road of achievements that she has constructed for Public Works. Now the ball is in our court. Let us all lend a hand to push back the frontiers of poverty by empowering the previously disadvantaged people. [Applause.]

Mr S E OPPERMAN: Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, in the absence of the Auditor-General’s report on the performance of the Department of Public Works, it is difficult to form an opinion on how to position ourselves on the new allocation of over R3,7 billion to the department.

It is certainly unacceptable that we do not have the latest information to assist us with our oversight role as parliamentarians, especially in the light of the previous report. Last year the Minister committed herself to effective and accountable delivery when she referred to the impact of programmes from the Department of Public Works on the lives of people like Olga Hlongwa from Umbumbulu, who testified about a changed life, and Mrs Goodness Mhlongo, who was employed for the first time in her life and confessed to experiencing some self-worth because of the new opportunities given to her.

Furthermore, the Minister promised to sustain the delivery momentum and to continue building economic and social foundations of hope for the poorest of the poor. I just wonder if the hon the Minister will realise our noble intentions when the annual budget growth for Public Works is projected to be 2,6% over the medium term. The proposed discontinuation of the Community- based Public Works Programme without a new initiative will be a death blow to the further growth of the Letsema programme, and the hopes of the Hlongwas and the Mhlongos. Daar is tekortkominge met die genoemde Letsemaprogramme, maar niks wat nie met beter beplanning, bestuur en finansiële kontrole reggestel kan word nie. Ons besef dat die regering alleen nie verantwoordelikheid kan neem om finansiële sekuriteit vir elke inwoner te verseker nie. Dit is nie hul taak nie. Daar is egter ruimte vir ‘n mate van sosiale ingryping om te help om die nood te verlig en ons glo daarom dat die Letsemaprogramme ‘n waardevolle instrument is om sekere probleemareas aan te spreek. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[The Letsema programmes referred to do have their defects, but there is nothing that cannot be corrected through better planning, management and financial control. We realise that the Government alone cannot take responsibility for ensuring the financial security of every citizen. That is not their duty. There is, however, room for a measure of social intervention in order to help relieve the emergency, which is why we believe the Letsema programmes to be a valuable instrument in addressing certain problem areas.] However, I wish to repeat what I said previously. The poorest of the poor can be found in all areas and amongst all communities of our country. Therefore, we need to spread the resources to benefit the whole spectrum of needy people.

We cannot underestimate the role of the Independent Development Trust, which helps the poorer communities to access resources. They further assist in helping people to recognise and unlock their own potential in order to improve the quality of their lives.

We appreciate the professionalism, commitment and clarity of purpose of people such as Eddie Funde, the chairperson of the trust; Edith Vries, director of corporate service; and others involved with the IDT.

However, our visit to the offices of the IDT was in sharp contrast with the shocking state of affairs at the former army bases of Pomfret, Buxton and Klippan in the North West. Almost all the former army bases had been looted and vandalised. Was it so difficult for our department or the Department of Defence to organise some kind of security for a base that was no longer in use? We are not at war with any country, and we could have used some of our members of the Defence Force for this task. It is an absolute disgrace that millions of taxpayers’ money was wasted because of a lack of responsible management. That lack of responsibility is repeated in the way we treat the works of art in Parliament and the property of the people of this country in a place such as Tuynhuys. I just hope that the Government’s intention of establishing a state-owned company to house and strategically manage its substantial fixed asset portfolio will soon be a reality.

Maar die voorgenome maatskappy kan nie ‘n verskoning wees vir die lamsakkige wyse waarop sekere verantwoordelikhede hanteer word nie. [But this envisaged company cannot become an excuse for the slack manner in which certain responsibilities are being managed.]

Everyone is just passing the buck. The North West, the municipalities of the greater Taung, Molopo and Zeerust are willing and eager to take over the responsibilities of those bases. They need those facilities. The department must, as a matter of urgency, do all that is required, in the shortest space of time, to deal with the handing over of those bases. I believe that the idea of selling those bases is a pipe dream.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Minister, the Deputy Minister, the director-general and his team, the chairperson for his leadership, and members of the committee who, in spite of their differences, deal with issues in a responsible and respectful way. [Applause.]

Ms A N SIGCAWU: Mhlalingaphambili, ndiza kuthetha namhlanje … [Chairperson, today I am going to talk about …]

Hon MEMBERS: Thetha, Mama! [Speak, Mother!]

Ms A N SIGCAWU: … ngokushenxiswa kobuhlwempu ezilalini. Ndiziva ndinomdla, ndinolonwabo xa neelali zibandakanyeka kule Palamente … [… alleviating poverty in rural areas. I feel happy and encouraged when even rural areas are included in this Parliament …]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon member, can we just wait for the interpreting service? Are you ready? Please indicate when you are. Hon member, you may proceed.

Nkskz A N SIGCAWU: Abantu basezilalini nabo bonwabile xa lo Rhulumente ekwazi ukuthetha ngeelali. Asazi ke apha koogxa bethu ukuba ngeminyaka yoo- 40, ngexa babesaphethe, babethetha na ngeelali. Namhlanje siziva sinobisi olumnandi olusemqaleni xa sisiva kuthethwa ngeelali kwezi ziNdlu.

Namhlanje ke ndiza kuthetha ngokushenxiswa kobuhlwempu. Ukusukela ngonyaka ka-1994, uRhulumente okhokelwa yi-ANC ube luncedo ekushenxiseni ubuhlwempu. ISebe lezeMisebenzi kaRhulumente lenze uhlenga-hlengiso ukukhawulelana neengxaki ezibangela ubuhlwempu ezilalini, ezinje ngokungabikho kwamaziko oluntu abalulekileyo afana neekliniki, izikhululo zamapolisa, izikolo, iiholo zoluntu, izakhiwo ezifana namadama, nezinye ke izinto.

Inkqubo entsha yeMisebenzi yoLuntu kuzwelonke yeSebe lezeMisebenzi kaRhulumente intlantlu-mbini. Ikhulisa inkqubela kumaziko akhoyo ze lifake isandla kwiNkqubo yoLwakhiwo ngokuTsha.

Kuye kwasungulwa iNkqubo yeMisebenzi yoLuntu eqhutywa luluntu nejongene nokuphuculwa kweelali ngokuthi kwakhiwe amaziko asisiseko. Ukususela ngonyaka ka-1996 eli Sebe lityale imali engaphezu kwe-1,4 sezigidi zeerandi kulwakhiwo lwamaziko oluntu nasekudalweni kwemisebenzi.

Yonke le mizamo ijoliswe kwezona ndawo zihlwempuzekileyo eMzantsi Afrika, njengeelali eziKwaZulu-Natala, eMpuma Koloni nakwiPhondo laseMntla. Kuthe ekuhambeni kwexesha le nkqubo yanatyiselwa naseFreyistata, eLimpopo nakwiPhondo laseMntla-Ntshona.

Eli Sebe lidale ngaphezu kwama-300 amaphulo oluntu, nama-154 734 amathuba emisebenzi yexeshana nesigxina. Abasetyhini baxhamle ama-44 eepesenti ala mathuba, ulutsha ama-45,5 eepesenti, ze abakhubazekileyo baxhamle isibini seepesenti. [Kwaqhwatywa.]

Le Nkqubo yeMisebenzi yoLuntu eqhutywa luLuntu, i-CBPWP, iyinxalenye ebalulekileyo yenkqubo ehlangeneyo yophuhliso kaRhulumente ixhaswa yingxowa- mali yokunceda abangamahlwempu. Ngokweziphumo zesikali, i-CBPWP isebenze izihlandlo ezilishumi elinanye kwezilishumi elinesithathu.

UMongameli uThabo Mbeki uthe wacebisa ukuba kwenziwe inkqubela ngonyaka ka- 2001 ukuya kunyaka ka-2002 ukuze kushenxiswe ubuhlwempu. I-CBPWP yanikwa isabelo-mali esizizigidi ezingama-374 eerandi. Kwakhona, oorhulumente bamaphondo noomasipala baye babandakanyeka ekufezekisweni kwale nkqubo, njengabalungelelanisi nabaphumezi bayo. Iinkosi ziyixhasile le nkqubo. Zinikezele ngemihlaba ukuze kwakhiwe amaziko oluntu. Oku kuqinisekisa inxaxheba, intsebenziswano nobunini babantu kwezo nkonzo zithe zanikezelwa kubo.

Ngokomoya wentsebenziswano novuselelo ngokutsha, i-CBPWP yathiwa ngokutsha, yabizwa nge ``Lima’’, ukubonisa ubuqabane bukaRhulumente wesizwe, oorhulumente bamaphondo, oomasipala neenkosi. Oku kubandakanya uluntu kwilinge lokulwa nobuhlwempu nokuphucula inqanaba lokuziswa kwezinto eziyimfuneko kuluntu.

Malunga noomasipala bezithili abangama-27 kumaphondo amathandathu baye bazuza kumaphulo oluntu asekwe ngokwale nkqubo. La maphulo ahlulwe aba ziindidi ezintlanu ukuze kuvakale igalelo loluntu.

Kukwakho namaziko emveliso akhuthaza ukubandakanyeka koluntu kwezorhwebo, ii-Community Production Centre. Akwajolise nakumashishini abucala, nto leyo ebonisa ukubaluleka kwemveliso yomhlaba. Mathandathu amaphulo abizwa njengee-CPC asebenzayo eMpuma Koloni, KwaZulu-Natala nakwiPhondo loMntla. Ngenyanga kaOktobha kunyaka ka-2001 abathunywa ababephuma kwi-Democratic Republic of Congo batyelela iphulo i-CPC elise Lambase ngeenjongo zokuthelekisa.

Ngenyanga ka-Juni kunyaka ka-2001 kwavunwa i-5,5 seetoni zombona ne-1,5 seetoni zeembotyi ezaziwa njengee-sugar bean. Iilali ezisixhenxe nabantu abangama-66 000 baxhamla kanobom kwi-CPC yaseLambase. Injongo ye-CPC kukutsalela abalimi abasakhasayo kumaziko emveliso ukuze izilimo zabo zilungiselelwe intengiso.

ISebe lezeMisebenzi, uRhulumente kwanamanye amasebe, ngakumbi elezeMpilo neloPhuhliso loLuntu abumbene kwiphulo lokulwa neSifo uGawulayo neNtsholongwane yaso, inkqubo yokubonelela ngeziseko eziyimfuneko nolwakhiwo ngokukhawuleza, oko kukuthi ukulungiselela ukwakhiwa kwamaziko anjengeekliniki ezilalini, ukushenxisa umonakalo obangelwa yiNtsholongwane yeSifo uGawulayo.

Ukuphuhlisa le njongo kubekho uhlahlo lwabiwo-mali lwezigidi ezilishumi zeerandi olujongene nokuqalisa eli phulo KwaZulu-Natala. Eli phulo liquka ukwakhiwa kwamaziko anjengawoluleko naweenkonzo zoxilongo, ukuqwalasela ukuba ngaba ubani unayo na intsholongwane. Eli phulo liquka unonophelo emakhaya kwanezifundo ezingokuziphilisa.

I-CBPWP, ikunye neSebe lezeMpilo KwaZulu-Natala, isungule [Laphela ixesha.] [Kwaqhwatywa.] (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows)

[Mrs A N SIGCAWU: People from the rural areas are happy when rural areas are mentioned at Government level. We do not know whether our colleagues here did talk about rural areas when they were still in power in the 40s. Today we feel happy when rural areas are mentioned in these Chambers.

Today I am going to talk about the alleviation of poverty. Since 1994 the ANC-led Government has been instrumental in alleviating poverty. The Department of Public Works has undergone restructuring with a view to solving the problems related to poverty in rural areas, namely the unavailability of important public facilities such as clinics, police stations, schools, community halls, dams, etc.

The new National Public Works Programme of the Department of Public Works is twofold. It fosters growth among existing structures and helps with the reconstruction and development programme.

A community-based Public Works Programme has been set up, which is aimed at developing basic infrastructure in the rural areas. Since 1996 this department has spent over R1,4 million on the development of public infrastructure and job creation.

All these efforts are focused on the most impoverished areas in South Africa, such as rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape. This programme was later extended to the Free State, Limpopo and the North West province.

This department has developed more than 300 community projects, and 154 734 part-time and full-time jobs. A total of 44% of these opportunities have gone to women, 45,5% to the youth and 2% to the disabled. [Applause.]

The Community-based Public Works Programme, the CBPWP, is an important part of the Government’s integrated development strategy and is funded from the poverty fund. On average, the success rate of the CBPWP is 11 out of 13.

President Thabo Mbeki proposed that progress be made between 2001 and 2002 in the fight against poverty. The CBPWP was allocated R374 million. Furthermore, provincial governments and municipalities have been involved in setting up this programme, as its co-ordinators and implementers. Chiefs have expressed their support for the programme. They have provided land for the construction of public facilities. This ensures people’s participation and co-operation with regard to the services they are provided with, as well as their ownership of these services.

In the spirit of reconstruction and development, the CBPWB was renamed ``Lima’’, to indicate partnership of the national Government, provincial governments, municipalities and chiefs in this programme. This programme encourages people’s involvement in efforts to alleviate poverty and to improve delivery of essential services.

About 27 district councils in six provinces have benefited from community projects established in terms of this programme. For effective people participation, these projects have been divided into five categories.

There are also Community Production Centres, which encourage people’s involvement in the commercial sector. They are also involved in the private sector, and indicate the importance of agricultural products. There are six existing CPCs in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province.

In October 2001 a delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo undertook a study tour of a CPC in Lambase.

In June 2001 5,5 tons of maize and 1,5 tons of sugar beans were harvested. Seven villages and 66 000 people are benefiting from the CPC in Lambase. The aim of a CPC is to bring together emerging farmers so that their production can be prepared for the market.

The Department of Labour, the Government and certain departments, especially the Departments of Health and Social Development, have joined hands in the fight against HIV/Aids, in providing basic infrastructure, the speedy construction of public facilities, such as clinics, in rural areas and eradicating the effects of HIV/Aids.

An allocation of R10 million has been made to KwaZulu-Natal with the aim of starting this project in that province. It entails the building of testing and counselling centres in that province. It also involves home-based care and the development of lifeskills.

The CBPWP, together with the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal, initiated … [Time expired.] [Applause.]]

Miss P S SEKGOBELA: Mr Chairperson, in support of this Budget Vote for Public Works, I first of all wish to congratulate the hon the Minister and her team for continuing to fully utilise the expenditure pertaining to poverty alleviation and the much-needed rural infrastructure development. This achievement is good news for our democracy.

The scourge of poverty has a pervasive impact, particularly in our many rural areas. I commend the Department of Public Works and its community- based National Public Works Programme for targeting the poorest of the poor communities. Hunger, unemployment, illiteracy, homelessness, diseases - including HIV/Aids and tuberculosis - persist to ravage our children, the youth and the elderly.

Our Government’s commitment to reversing the hardship caused by apartheid is beginning to emerge. One of the ways to fight poverty is to build infrastructure where none existed before.

The department’s commitment and dedication to funding for the construction of multipurpose community centres is a welcome relief. The MPCCs are bringing essential Government services to the doorstep of the rural communities. These communities used to travel long distances in order to access Government information and services. Some of us who hail from the rural areas understand and have experienced the agony of waking up at dawn to catch the earliest bus to town in order to apply for an ID in the nearest town.

I was personally touched by the establishment of the Mbazwane MPCC in KwaZulu-Natal, which is servicing four community villages. Before, people used to travel 80 kms to Hluhluwe in order to obtain Government services such as birth certificates and IDs.

Today, the Department of Home Affairs, Social Development, Labour and the Government Communication and Information System are able to provide their services at the Mbazwane MPCC, at the doorstep of its community members.

The Mbazwane MPCC, like all the other operational MPCCs, is more than just bricks and mortar. It is an embodiment of the ANC-led Government’s commitment to work together with communities to improve their quality of life.

During the construction of the Mbazwane MPCC, a number of job opportunities were created for the local people. About R273 000 was set aside for wages of the 193 local people who were employed during the construction.

The Mbazwane infrastructure contributes to the development of a stable base for investment and support to the surrounding areas, where Mbazwane has been identified as a service hub to service satellite points at Eshowe, Mseleni, Maqhwakazi and Makhasa. All these roles are clarified in the integrated development framework for this area.

The implementation was done strictly using the guidelines of the Ilima/Letsema Community-based Public Works Programme, building on the notion of social cohesion and viewing this project as an anchor project around which future development will take place in 2000-01.

The Department of Public Works spent R22,4 million developing, upgrading and building a total of 24 MPCCs in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape and the Western Cape. As a target, the Government plans to establish at least one MPCC in each district and metropolitan municipality, rolling out 60 such structures by the end of March 2003.

To date, 24 MPCCs have been established. There are four in Gauteng, two in Mpumalanga, three in the Free State, three in the Western Cape, two in Limpopo, one in the North West, five in the Eastern Cape and three in KwaZulu-Natal. The benefits of these centres are already bearing fruits. At Tambo alone, more than 10 000 birth certificates and 5 000 IDs have been issued since the facility was launched in December 1999. Approximately 200 people are daily visiting the Namahadi MPCC in Qwaqwa in the Free State.

The growing number of Government departments which have extended their service reach has also added value. For instance, the Department of Justice has opened offices and will run regional courts at the Faranani MPCC in Brakpan, in Gauteng, and in Galeshewe outside Kimberley.

The driving factor in the establishment of MPCCs is that people must take ownership of the project, its operation, management and further development. Therefore, both technical and institutional training form part of the programme.

Within this spirit of community empowerment, the department continues to effectively monitor the MPCCs and all the other Community-based Public Works Programme projects in order to ensure that quality and value for money are maintained at all times and also to provide further support.

In conclusion, I would like to say to the Minister and her team that, through their poverty alleviation programme, the department has planted a seed. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Mr Chairperson, hon members, I will indeed elaborate on some aspects indicated by the hon the Minister, but please allow me first to express our sincere gratitude that Minister Sigcau recovered her health last year and for her continued guidance in this portfolio.

Listening to and working with her often creates a mental image in my mind of watching someone in a giant’s boots. I will never refer, of course, to a lady as a giant, but figuratively her strides are gigantic indeed. While covering vast areas with each step, not much escapes her radar eyes in terms of details of what is actually happening on the ground. It does not take a huge effort to pause and check that things are put right. That is how she works. She guides the policy development, watches the implementation, sorts out and keeps the process on track to ensure that delivery meets the expectations of our clients and beneficiaries. It is indeed a privilege to work with Nkosazana Sigcau. It inspires us all with a sense of pride.

To recap on developments pertaining to the construction industry, the Construction Industry Development Board legislation was passed in November

1. Subsequently, members of the board were appointed and the board itself was launched in April last year. The Construction Industry Development Board is now engaged in a process of developing capacity within itself.

Senior operational managers have been appointed, and by June the board will have an executive capacity of nine full-time staff to address the mandate as defined in the legislation that brought it about.

Let me deal with some of its strategic priorities for 2002-03. The Board submitted its business plan for the year 2002-03 at the end of April. The strategic projects that are proposed for this financial year are derived from the board’s mandate to drive an integrated industry development strategy, and to provide strategic leadership to construction industry stakeholders so as to stimulate growth, reform and improvement of the construction sector for effective delivery and the industry’s enhanced role in the country’s economy.

The projects that are being prioritised and developed include the following: Socioeconomic benefits of infrastructure investment and the impact of underspending; roll-out of procurement and public sector delivery; best practice to address improved spending of the infrastructure budget; a ``Know Your Rights and Responsibilities’’ campaign for the emerging sector; developing the registers of contractors and projects to be fully operational by the end of 2003; establishing a body of knowledge and a website as a resource to the industry; developing the Construction Industry Development Boards’ governance procedures; taking forward important work flowing from the department’s commissioned reports on the status quo of the industry, investment review and construction industry indicators.

As per the stipulation of the Act, the Construction Industry Development Board must constitute a construction industry stakeholder forum. The forum’s main objective would be to inform the CIDB on matters that affect the development of the construction industry.

Stakeholders also have an important role to play in mobilising improvement on the ground. The board is now in the process of constituting the forum, with a call for nominations having been published earlier this year. The forum’s first meeting is scheduled for 21 June 2002.

So far nominations from the public sector have been very few. It must be stressed that the process towards developing the construction industry is the responsibility of both the public and private sectors. As a key stakeholder, the public sector has a very important role to play in informing the board on significant issues that impact on delivery and the industry.

Together with departmental officials, the CIDB visited Singapore in April this year, to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between government and the Building Control Authority, the equivalent of the CIDB in Singapore.

Recent policy shifts were explored, including the merging of industry development with the functions of building regulations and control, legislation to drive best practice and improvements to the contractor registration system. As an outcome of the visit, Singapore will facilitate a capacity-building programme for our newly-established Construction Industry Development Board.

I now come to the Council for the Built Environment. Members of the Council for the Built Environment were appointed in February 2002. The department will assist and support the CBE during the coming year in mobilising adequate resources to establish its operations in order to carry out its functions. It is envisaged that the business plan will be finalised by June this year.

The CBE will ensure proper co-ordination between Government and the built environment professions, and proper application of policies by the respective councils. The CBE will also promote a range of new priorities and act as an appeal body for affected professionals and members of the public.

Regarding built environment professions, six of the professional councils were appointed in July last year. The new Council for Project and Construction Management was also launched, and an inaugural meeting was held in September 2001.

Over and above this, the department commissioned the writing of a book, Blueprints in Black and White - The Built Environment Professions in South Africa - An Outline History, by John Bizzell. This book traces the evolution of the professions and how they have responded to various world events and government policies. The fundamental theme emerging from the book is the challenge to the professions to take a proactive stance in the development and shaping of the built environment. The book was launched in conjunction with the launch of the Council for the Built Environment in April 2002, and has been made available to all the professions. The department will continue to ensure that the built environment professions meet their statutory obligations with regard to legislative requirements during the coming year.

I now come to the issue of combating corruption. The department’s fraud prevention strategy has been in effect for more than a year. The Office of the Auditor-General in particular indicated that the department’s strategy can serve as a benchmark for the rest of the Public Service. The department has since shared its expertise with several other national and provincial departments in developing their own fraud prevention plans.

The department’s fraud prevention strategy was also presented as a case study at a national anticorruption conference hosted by the Department of the Public Service and Administration. The unit still maintains a 100% success rate in the disciplinary hearings initiated by them as a result of their investigative work. Several of the cases investigated also resulted in successful criminal prosecution. The following statistics provide an indication of the results obtained.

Disciplinary actions were instituted against 16 officials, nine of whom were dismissed for misconduct. Criminal proceedings were instituted against seven officials and six contractors. The department, assisted by the Scorpions and the Asset Forfeiture Unit, has succeeded with a High Court order to freeze the assets of two people charged with fraud to the value of R37,2 million, proving the success of an integrated approach to tackling this particular problem.

Regarding prestige accommodation, as announced last year, the department is contracting out facilities management on prestige accommodation, concentrating on the parliamentary and prestige complexes in Pretoria and Cape Town. It is anticipated that a successful service provider will be appointed by October 2002. We are also introducing a call centre to facilitate immediate service to our clients.

I now come to the HIV/Aids infrastructure programme. As a special contribution, Public Works has allocated R10 million to support the HIV/Aids infrastructure programme by creating facilities in the rural areas of the Free State, the North West, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. These structures support service delivery by the Departments of Health and Social Development, as well as district municipalities.

Projects include, in the Free State, an access road to the Thabang clinic, and in the North West province, renovation and upgrading of two voluntary counselling and testing centres at Morokweng, Tlakgameng, as well as building such a centre at the Huhudi Clinic. A further three houses in the Bojanala district will be upgraded for HIV/Aids counselling.

In Mpumalanga, there has been the construction of HIV/Aids facilities at Tonga, Matibidi and Elukwatini, and six drop-in centres have been established at Ubombo, Hlabisa, Nongoma, Nquthu, Msinga and Mandini in KwaZulu-Natal, in order to accommodate HIV/Aids counselling and testing.

Two gravel roads of 5 kilometres each have been constructed at KwaChili in King Shaka Municipality, and at Mashunka in Msinga Local Municipality, to provide access to the HIV/Aids flagship centres. In the Limpopo province, there has been the upgrading of the Makotopong Clinic and the construction of a 24-hour HIV/Aids information centre at Messina.

We also do something towards combating cholera. In KwaZulu-Natal we have suffered greatly. The death toll ascribed to cholera has already exceeded

1. Public Works has, as part of its Community-based Public Works Programme, allocated R3 million worth of infrastructure support to the cholera prevention programme by providing sanitation facilities and spring protection. To date, 295 toilets and two springs have been completed under this project.

In conclusion, I would like to say that we are delivering as a department, and that we are improving. But more importantly, we are lending a hand in creating opportunities for communities to work together towards ensuring a better life for all.

Public Works, under the able leadership of our hon Minister, is geared for a future of integrated growth and development, serving our people. And that remains our sole focus as we pursue and carry out the mandate of the department. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Some hon members on my left are earnestly in competition with the hon member speaking. Could you please reduce the decibels.

Mr J SCHIPPERS: Chairperson, hon members, Mintirho ya Vula Vula, meaning ``actions speak louder than words’’, is the slogan of the department, with which I concluded last year. Although the department tried their level best to implement these inspiring words, action, with a huge outcry, did not realise. This affected the service delivery strategy to client departments.

Under the caption Resources for Oversight'', on page 108 in the report by Murray and Vrijzink entitledBuilding a Representative Democracy’’, they mentioned the role of the committees and plenaries, and the importance of the budget process and budget reports. According to them oversight is not primarily procedures. I do agree.

Oversight requires the analysis of complicated, inaccessible information. Oversight requires the analysis of large quantities of information, independent verification of Government reports and an investigation of the degree to which outcomes match original goals. The last element, matching outcomes with goals, is the most crucial in respect of which members of Parliament must react to fulfil their oversight function. In this regard I want to review some of the projects the hon the Minister promised in her budget speech last year. She delivered the three capital works projects, and the New NP wants to congratulate her. These projects are the magistrates’ offices in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, the Constitutional Court building in Johannesburg and the community safety centre in Galeshewe, Kimberley. I can also confirm that the ``Work Smart’’ programme to accelerate the department’s efficiency is operational.

The department is often blamed for nondelivery. Pertaining to this, I want to mention a few examples. Firstly, the statement is generally made that it takes up to seven years to build a police station. In my constituency this is the case, because the new police station in Saron, for some or other reason, cannot be built. For the past five years the building of the station has been postponed. This is unacceptable.

At present the police in Saron are accommodated in a small, uncomfortable low-cost house, yet we want the police to perform to the best of their ability. I have determined that the delay is not with the department, but with the client Department of Safety and Security.

Secondly, the department is responsible for the payment of municipal services for the police and correctional services in Jansenville in the Eastern Cape. Their account has not been paid, which is detrimental to the struggling municipality’s ability to survive financially. It is the duty of the Government to set an example.

Our portfolio committee was on an inspection tour in nine provinces during June 2001, to determine the progress on the different projects of the Community-based Public Works Programme. This programme is a community- managed programme driven by the provincial departments of public works.

On 26 July 2001 the Rev C J Mthethwa, MEC for Public Works in KwaZulu- Natal, mentioned a serious shortfall in the procedures of funding these projects. He mentioned that whilst the programme was supposed to be a joint venture between national and provincial counterparts, funds were directly transferred to the municipalities, yet the provinces were accountable. Such procedures tend to be an expensive exercise, because overlooking the provincial departments means involving consultants, which is costly, while the provincial departments have the necessary skilled personnel and expertise. Let us avert costly procedures such as these.

The Department of Public Works is a massive department, but with the stern conviction and dedication of each and every official and management they can make administration run smoothly. Best of luck to hon Minister Sigcau, Deputy Minister Zondi and Director-General Thami Sokutu for the year ahead. [Applause.]

Ms N M TWALA: Chairperson, hon Minister Nkosazana Stella Sigcau, comrades, colleagues and friends, we recognise today that the Department of Public Works has an important function and constitutes a crucial component of the Government’s broader development strategy. It is tasked with the care, maintenance and upgrading of Government infrastructure and other resource investments. Many departments would not be able to undertake the many social and economic initiatives of Government were it not for the Department of Public Works.

The department is the provider and safekeeper of infrastructure for present users and our future generations. If there is anything we should leave behind for the coming generation, it should be a spirit of social responsibility for all compatriots, but this is not …

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Hon member, order! Hon members to my far right, you are carrying on with your own little private conversations for far too long. Would you please give attention to what is being said at the front. Hon member, you may now proceed. [Interjections.]

Ms N M TWALA: Chairperson, a spirit of social responsibility is not the only thing we should leave behind. We must give the next generation the tools and instruments to realise our political objectives and dream of a better life for all. We are not here to privilege small groups. The Department of Public Works represents Government’s investments for the future. We will not leave this to chance or market mechanisms. The rationale for transformation highlights that huge inequalities exist and continue to exist in our country and need to be reversed.

We must remember that Government is spending our people’s money to care for all. We must ensure that our resources are effectively, efficiently and equitably utilised. The essence of any Government action is based on the recognition of the value and dignity of all persons, but more especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable.

The infrastructure for and empowerment of this sector of our society must not be seen as an expense to be minimised, but as part of our development strategy. This has been the political philosophy guiding the ANC and our participation in the portfolio committee. The budget reflects that our planners, Government officials, the hon the Deputy Minister and the Minister understand the needs, the constraints, but also the opportunities for future improvement. Notwithstanding the current improvements in capital stock, infrastructure and equitable distribution of resources, the department still faces many challenges.

The crucial question for the ANC members of the committee is how to transform and improve existing infrastructure and services, and at the same time develop new infrastructure. This requires a change of thinking, movement of resources and paradigm revolution within the sector. This might sound strong but we must remember that our society contains elements of the First World and the Third World. It is this conflict that we are in the process of managing. We as the ANC, supported by many friends, want all segments of our society to benefit from the transformation process. The movement of resources and a shift in orientation is not going to happen overnight. This involves systemic change.

Allow me to say a few words about the hon the Minister, who is a very hands- on person and who has driven several projects in the department. I would like to highlight some of these achievements which are due, in most part, to her vision and determination. The Minister has always received our constructive support and encouragement.

I do not want to go into the details of the budget. Members of the opposition have already adequately covered this task.

Allow me a brief moment to look at trends and directions of various departmental interventions. This will provide us with the tools to evaluate our department. With regard to budget efficiency and management, we have to ask what has been done. We are aware that the department has been able to spend this budget on poverty relief programmes and the Community-based Public Works Programme. The department was faced with huge spending backlogs, taking into account the many demands on the department, including the establishment of vast and new municipal infrastructure and structural reform. The department has adequately managed this expenditure pattern. We recognise the Minister’s achievements.

With regard to the Community-based Public Works Programme, let us remember that the department is working with deprived communities with a low skills base, high unemployment rate and poor maintenance of infrastructure. What have we achieved? We have trained local people. Firstly, this increases the local skills base, and, secondly, we have been able to maintain local infrastructure. But more importantly, we are injecting financial resources into our communities.

Taking into account the condition of women in rural areas and remembering that this group has been targeted as a vulnerable stratum, the department has been able to train 10 000 women who are now, for the first time, earning a basic standard of living, while others have even improved their financial conditions. It does not end here. Five hundred disabled people have participated in the department’s programmes. Once again, we recognise the Minister’s achievement. This deserves a round of applause. I wish to inform comrades that they have done well. [Applause.]

The President, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, has challenged us to push back the frontiers of poverty and inequality. The department has responded to his call. The Community-based Public Works Programme is an empowering instrument, owned by communities, and contributes to the long-term and all- round development of our people. More importantly, let us restore the dignity and self-respect of our people.

The democratic Government was faced with the challenge of neglect and poor maintenance of vital infrastructure. It was estimated that the backlog amounted to R10 billion. Once again, the department responded to this challenge by introducing the repair and maintenance programme over a 10- year period. A large part of the department’s budget is allocated to this programme. Work is being contracted out to construction and related industries. Among those who benefit from this programme are 179 prisons, the SAPS and the Department of Defence. We will not allow our infrastructure to crumble. There are many who would like to see us fail. We will not give them the satisfaction.

Against these achievements, consideration should be given to an additional budget allocation from our people’s budget. The department has proven that it has the institutional capacity to absorb additional resources and direct them towards training infrastructure and income-generating centres. As the parliamentary portfolio committee, we have established a healthy interaction with the department. We have consulted frequently on operational issues, bottlenecks, expenditure patterns and vision issues.

We are encouraged that the department has been able to align itself with the reporting and transparency required by the MTEF. Financial oversight of service agreements by the Auditor-General has been simplified and improved. Clients receive regular financial reports. The department has stringent reporting and monitoring mechanisms over expenditure and tendering. Let us remember that infrastructure is not cheap. Corrective measures, institutional interventions and efficiency have been operationalised in the functions of the Department.

The ``Work Smart’’ approach announced by the department last year has paid off. Indeed, the Department of Public Works has been working smarter. As members can imagine, the determination of the Minister has encouraged the portfolio committee to have no time to spare. It is with these few words that we thank the Minister and her department. I will ask that members give the Minister a round of applause for a job well done. [Applause.]

Mr W G MAKANDA: Chairperson, hon members, the UDM acknowledges the enormity of the challenges facing the Department of Public Works and other sister departments involved in improving the quality of life, through the provision of social and economic infrastructure among the majority of South Africans who have been confined to the periphery of our economy by the legacy of uneven development, both on the global as well as on the national level in South Africa.

The interrelatedness of social and economic needs in developing economies has necessitated the widening of the definition of infrastructure in a manner that encompasses the social as well as the economic needs of developing communities. It is for this reason that the Minister’s department will have to respond to the needs of marginalised communities in the informal and rural economies in an integrated manner, collectively with other Ministries such as Health, Social Development, Transport, Education, Home Affairs and so on.

Amantier Sen, a foremost development economist, argues thus, and I quote:

Ultimately, the process of economic development has to be concerned with what people can and cannot do, eg, whether they can live long, escape avoidable morbidity, be well nourished, be able to read and communicate, take part in literary and cultural pursuits and so forth. It has to do with replacing the domination of circumstances and chance over individuals by the domination of individuals over chance and circumstance.

Government intervention in reconstruction and development, while laudable, has nonetheless been constrained by the Government’s adoption of neo- liberal economic policies, which see rampant growth as a sufficient condition for the reconstruction of society, and reason that the creation of an enabling environment for growth will allow the benefits of this growth to filter down to poor communities.

Structural adjustment experiments and the Washington Consensus, which was inspired by this thinking, have failed in most developing economies in Africa and elsewhere. The collective of Government departments involved in creating social and economic infrastructure in peripheral communities has to adopt more proactive and determined intervention in order to speed up development and the narrowing of the gap between the rich and the poor.

This intervention is by no means coercive and inhibitive to private initiative. On the contrary, it complements private enterprise, especially small and medium enterprises which, in our view, are the panacea for poverty alleviation and the more equitable distribution of wealth over an increasingly wider population among the poor.

We credit the Government with some success in the delivery of over 700 000 houses, more than 400 000 electricity connections and more than five million water connections in recent years. However, this merely scratches the surface. Much still remains to be done. President Mbeki himself admitted as much when, in 1999, he stated:

The good that has been done puts into sharp relief everything that still has to be done to extricate the millions of our people from the conditions of poverty, racism, sexism and violations of their human rights. The national Government allocates funds to the provinces from the national revenue pool. Provinces are given equal shares according to the equitable formula of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. The subnational levels of government are given autonomy in allocating their resources in order to meet the basic needs and priorities in their areas of jurisdiction.

There is a growing tendency in some provincial governments to politicise the budgetary allocation by frustrating delivery by municipal structures where they are under the control of a rival political party, thereby withholding services that mean the difference between life and death among poor communities to whom political affiliations and ideological persuasions are meaningless abstractions. [Time expired.]

Mr E M SIGWELA: Chairperson, the Budget Review 2002 tells us that:

The 2002 Budget deepens the Government’s commitment to support the redistribution of economic opportunities, encourage investment and promote growth and development, in partnership with communities, labour and business.

This statement flashes a ray of hope for those of us who come from the undeveloped, poverty-stricken areas of our country, which nevertheless have natural resources with the potential for development.

When I turn to Vote 6: Public Works, under the heading ``Key Objectives and Programmes’’, among other objectives for the medium term, the department gives us the following objectives, which, when I read them, soothe my soul:

To advance infrastructure delivery to meet the needs of the poorest communities;

To train disadvantaged persons and create job opportunities for the poorest rural communities …

Again, under the heading ``Strategic Overview and Key Policy Developments 1998-99 - 2004-05’’, the department says:

The strategic focus of the department over the medium and long term is to ensure better targeting of poor communities in the deep rural areas, increased community participation in the choice of projects and improved project management

So much for the vision of the desired state of affairs. What do we say as the ANC? This is because I am standing here to speak on this budget for the ANC. Is there any favourable communication in terms of what the Treasury wants done, as stated in the opening statement, what the Public Works Department plans to do, and what the ANC, as the ruling party, desires to be done?

Among other important decisions, the ANC national conference in Mafikeng in 1997 resolved that:

Our economic policies should be geared towards, among other things, a redistribution of wealth, income and opportunities in favour of the poor and the historically disadvantaged.

Clearly, there is no disjuncture among the statements of objectives by us as the ANC, by the National Treasury and by the Department of Public Works. All these statements create the right policy climate for the orientation of the budget. Even the speeches of our President, Comrade Thabo Mbeki, in their entirety expand and clarify that policy atmosphere.

Let us look at the empirical situation. At this stage I want to refer to a model situation, an experience of an episode which brings to real life the statement I quoted from the budget review at the beginning of my speech. I quote:

Government’s commitment to support the redistribution of economic opportunities, encourage investment and promote growth and development in partnership with communities, labour and business.

Ndikhumbula, kwowu! akakho lo mntu bendifuna ukuwisa kuye xa kusesi sithuba. KwakungoFebruwari ka-1996, kufike uqabane uGomomo eofisini yam, ehamba nomnye umfo waseNgilane owayeliNgesi owayeyiConsul yaseBritane bevela eBhayi wawubeka umcimbi abawuhambeleyo esithi: ``Mnumzana uSigwela, le ndoda ize apha ize kuqonda malunga noosomashishini baseBritane ukuba ngaba iinjongo zikaRhulumente ngezi zikimu zonkcenkceshelo zabalimi, yintoni ngoba amaNgesi avuz’izinkcwe xa ebona iNcorha. Ayibona ingumhlaba othe thebelele. Ude udlule eNcorha uwele ubengathi ujong’elwandle. Afun’ukutyala amazambane khon’ukuze benze iitships zetapile.

Ndayibona le nto le yade yandidumbis’intloko, ndathi kodwa ke ngoba yena uthi bafun’ukuba nendibaniselwano nabasebenzi kunye naba batyali-mali baseBritane, ndithi kuye Qabane'', phofu ndandingathi qabane ndandisithi Mnu kuba kaloku ndandikuRhulumente. [Kuyahlekwa.] Ndathi,Mnumzana uGomomo, intle le nto niza nayo, kodwa ke khanilinde kuba siphethe umcimbi ngoku wokuba ezi zikimu masizithathe zibuyele kubahlali. Uyabona ke, sakuthi sakugqiba uze nala maNgesi ukuze thina sibe nokuchophela indibano yenu kunye namashishini aza kusekwa ngaba bantu sinikezele kuwo thina singuRhulumente, sichophele indibano ukwenzela ukuba ningaqhathani, zenimisele ke ngoku le ndibaniselwano la maNgesi afak’imali kuzokulungiswa into ezonakeleyo kuvel’ukutya imk’indlala.

Ndithi kodwa ke kukho lento, uthi wena mayibe phakathi kwabasebenzi kunye naba somashishini … Uya kuyikhumbula loo nto ndiva kakubi engekho.

Ndithi, he qabane, ndingatsho phofu ukuthi qabane, ingaba yaphelelaphi laa nto nanisithi yi``manyano yabasebenzi bemizi-mveliso kunye nabasebenzi bomhlaba abalimayo nabaphantsi’’ ngoba ukuwa kwesi sikimu kusuka kanye ku loo nto. Abantu baseNcorha babesithi bafuna umhlaba wabo ngoba asinankxaxheba kwesi sikimu, uRhulumente utya yedwa naba basebenzi mabahambe, nantso into eyayifuna ukulungiswa. Ndathi kwakulungiswa loo nto ze ke izikimu ezo zandule ukuveza ukutya. (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[It is a pity that the person I wanted to say this to is not here at this moment. It was in February 1996 that comrade Gomomo, accompanied by a certain Englishman from England who was a British Consul from Port Elizabeth came to my office. He said, ``Mr Sigwela, this man has come to find out on behalf of British businesspeople what the Government is going to do about the agricultural irrigation schemes because they have a great interest especially in Ncorha. They see it as a place with a potential for growth and development. This is especially when you go past it towards the sea. They would like to grow potatoes so that they could make potato chips.

I thought about this until my head ached. But because he had mentioned that the businesses that wanted to invest here would like to have joint ventures with labour, I said to him, Comrade'', Well I did not say comrade but Mnumzana’’ [Mister''] because I was in the Government already by then. [Laughter.] I said,Mr Gomomo, this is a very good idea but I think you should wait a little while as we are right now in the process of taking these schemes back to the people. When we are done with that, you could then bring these Englishmen and the Government will chair the meeting so that you do not cheat one another, and oversee the process of establishing these joint ventures so that these English people may invest and so that hunger will go away. But you mentioned the fact that these should be formed between labour and business …’’ He will remember that. It is a pity he is not here.

I said to him, By the way Comrade ...’’ Well I did not address him as Comrade’’. What happened with what you used to call the `alliance of the working class and the peasantry’ because these schemes’ failure stemmed from that? The community of Ncorha wanted their land back as they felt that the Government was not taking part in this scheme. They felt that the Government was just enjoying proceeds and profit from them and they wanted the workers to leave. That is what needs to be resolved. I said the issue about the schemes would have to be resolved first before they could produce food.]

That, in my view, would create the kind of partnership the Treasury is speaking about among communities, labour and business. But the reality is that that opportunity slipped away. Now, coming to the department, notwithstanding the fact that the Department of Public Works is involved through the National Public Works Programme in the refurbishment of agricultural irrigation schemes in our deep rural areas, the fact of the matter is that with the budget at its disposal, it will take a long time. There is still a long way to go before we can create sufficient capacity for the redistribution of economic opportunities. So the key here is the sufficiency or the deficiency of the budget.

If the department is going to make an impact on infrastructure development for poor communities so that it can create a sustained developmental environment and mood among our rural people, it cannot do that alone. There is a need, for instance, to talk.

Ukuba nincokole noqabane uRonnie Kasrils … [That you talk with comrade Ronnie Kasrils …]

The department is tasked with the development of water resources so that an infrastructure for irrigation can be created. But in the work that the department is doing, I am not sure about this. I can see the working together between the Departments of Public Works and Agriculture, for instance. I say well done, but … [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs M A SEECO: Madam Speaker, hon members, from listening to the hon the Minister for Public Works presenting her well-prepared budget speech, we want to thank her for the role she has played in this process and to congratulate her on her presentation today. The budget under discussion will not meet all their expectations, but owing to the nature of the word ``budget’’, it really does, as the budget should not be about ceremonial practice only. We all note the enormous task of delivery. We therefore would like to remind the House and delivering offices that a stitch in time saves nine.

Building a better life for all is a challenge. Unemployment remains one of South Africa’s serious challenges. The 2002 budget provides for more spending on developing road, storm water, sewerage and electricity infrastructure in our communities.

The department continues to hope to promote job creation and economic empowerment among the previously disadvantaged contractors to enable them to tender for construction and maintenance contracts. This may be a good idea, but without training in costing and skills development, structures put up in this way will remain shoddy and incomplete. Such shoddiness would not be deliberate, but would come as a result of poor preparation.

We, in the UCDP, urge the department to take time to know the contractors and to train them for the jobs. To this end, we look forward to the Minister enumerating, province by province, how many people have benefited from the Community-based Public Works Programme.

To us, seeing the projects and the people who benefit from them is very important.

Re solofela fa ditsela di tla baakanngwa ka mokgwa o o tseneletseng wa bodiri gore batho ba bone ditiro le go rotloetsa moono wa ``tsoga o itirele’’. Bomme, barwa le barwadi, re sa lebal borre, ba tla kgona go dia diatla mo metseng e e jaaka Mabule, Mokwena, tsela e e tswang mo Bethlehem go ya Mafatlhaneng. Re na le tsholofelo ya gore e tla kgona go bona ditlamelo tsa go dira jaaka go kgopa ditsela le go aga ditliniki. Phiri o rile ga bo se gangwe. UCDP e ema nokeng tekanyetso e. [Legofi.] (Translation of Tswana paragraph follows.)

[We hope that roads will be repaired in an efficient manner so that people will get jobs and encourage the spirit of ``stand up and work for yourself’’. Women, sons and daughters - not forgetting men - will manage to work in villages such as Mabule, Mokwena and those on the road from Bethlehem to Mafatlhaneng. We have hope that there will be resources such as those for grading gravel roads and building clinics. Tomorrow is another day. The UCDP supports this budget. [Applause.]]

Mr M M CHIKANE: Madam Speaker, hon Minister, the Director-General of the Department of Public Works and hon members, it is very difficult to be a sweeper after so many people have spoken so supportively about Budget Vote No 6 of the Department of Public Works.

However, what is noticeable is that the South African nationhood is coming of age. The battlefields that we used to have across the floor, which were engineered by our political affiliations, seem to be withering away. We are now discussing issues and issues alone direct us. We will remember that, in his closing remarks, the President of our country congratulated Mr Barker and Mr Mulder for the commitment that they had pledged to the South African people. The same could also be said about eight days ago when Thangana’s monument was built. The whole nation expressed itself as one.

However, what we still have in common is a path that the President has identified when he said ``roll back the frontiers of poverty and deprivation’’. The question is: How far indeed are we prepared to go in taking on this enormous task before us, a task that was identified 88 years ago.

Madam Speaker, I am not going to mention all the events over the past 88 years. I will just quote a few of the sterling examples, people such as Sol Plaatje, Thomas Maphikela, John Dube, Sol Mosana, a delegation that went to Britain to state to the British people that the dispossession of land was robbing our people of their livelihood, their dignity and wellbeing; that the process of colonialisation was a recipe for hunger and disease; that depriving the people could not be developing people, that our system of governance was all-embracing and nondiscriminatory, ie the system that they were asking the British to enforce; that should Britain fail to heed their call we would forever pursue this cause of liberation with their children and their great- grandchildren until oppression, colonialisation and exploitation had been defeated throughout the length and breadth of our country.

Today we believe that that day has arrived. However, the new challenge, as I said, has already been identified by our President. Today we can speak about our attempt to change the mind of the writer of yesterday, where history was about our people leaving their areas and going to Johannesburg. ``Jim comes to Jo’burg’’ - so were the stories told about us.

Today we can tell the story of Mr Nyawuza, a descendant of Plaatje. On my way to Lambashi, I saw his face brighten as he jumped into my car.

His face brightened as he got into the car and he said: ``Today, at last, the Government led by the ANC is beginning to deliver on its own promises’’. He felt that his was not only one story, but that it was generic to all of us. His story is not one of leaving his loved ones behind and heading to Johannesburg to the mines. His story would be the story of people who were putting their shoulder to the wheel to try to change the course of history and their wellbeing.

The same echo could be heard in the areas around Mcora, where children learnt that, indeed, through toil and sweat, they could get the necessary nourishment from the milk and dairy products produced in their own area.

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon member, you have not gone through 88 years, but your time has expired.

Mr M M CHIKANE: I am not going to cover 88 years, Madam Speaker. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Madam Speaker, I want to do something that has not been done in this Parliament. As I make a certain announcement I would like the management team, led by Thami, so stand up, so that members may look at them, and see who they are.

Phakamani ke bantwana bam. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [Please stand up, my children.] [Applause.]

I spoke of four awards that they received.

Ukhe uve xa sukuba kuthethwa ngoCinderella? Uzinxibe tu izihlangu. [Do you ever hear people talk about Cinderella? The shoes fit him very well.]

The four awards we got were from the Professional Management Review, as the Africa Industry Winner for Construction, for the contribution of Public Works to black economic empowerment. [Applause.] Then we got both a silver and a gold medal from a peer group of top companies in the construction business sector in South Africa. They were recognising that Public Works seek to contribute to growth in South Africa.

Then, jointly with the Department of Public Enterprises, which I once served, we got an award in respect of our contribution to the black empowerment programme. It really shows that, much as people did not understand but the moment …

… sifung’isibhozo, lo msebenzi siza kuwenza. Sifung’isbhozo le mali siza kuyigqiba … [Wwe swore we were going to do this work; we swore we were going to use up all the money …]

… things started happening. [Applause.]

Uyabona ngaphaya emaMpondweni xa sele ufunga nyani, uthi, Mngcii! Qhuu! Tshece. [You see, in Pondoland when you swear you say, Mngcii! Qhuu! Tshece! (this accompanied by licking the pointing finger).]

Regarding the hon members who contributed, I thank them all for their constructive remarks. I want to assure Mr Opperman that discussions between ourselves and the North West government are already happening, as to how to dispose of those properties which are really going to be losing value if they are not dealt with very soon.

To the hon Makanda I would say I am not sure whether that was a maiden speech. [Interjections.] I want to believe that it was a broader speech, lofty and suited for trade and industry or even the President of this country. We are flattered that the speech was made during the debate on the Public Works Budget Vote. It means that we are now at that level.

I also want to thank the Deputy Minister of Public Works for his kind remarks. Actually, when I was critically ill, he sat next to my bed and prayed. I have never seen anyone pray so hard.

Enkosi mfundisi. [Thank you, Reverend.] [Applause.]

I also want to mention something that we did not mention. Some of our traditional leaders suffered. Some of them were removed from their great places, and some of them ended up facing abject poverty, which resulted in some of their subjects looking down on them.

We have decided, as Public Works, to bring back the dignity of our kings … [Applause.] … for we know that as Africans we cannot be anything if we do not respect those who are custodians of our culture and other related issues. [Applause.] We have decided to build. We started with the Eastern Cape, not because I come from there, nor because my brother is a king, but simply because when we approached the kings there was no dispute amongst them; it was easy to move in.

When Comrade Zuma opened and gave over the one for the Rharabes, they all said with one voice: ``Thanks for bringing back the dignity of the Rharabe people.’’ That is one of the kings who were shunted around during the apartheid regime. They did not even have palaces, as one finds in other areas, but were put on a farm, which was not even a farm they wanted to manage. But we managed because we say that some of our programmes need to have a social cohesion connotation. I want to assure people from both Limpopo, where we started, and Mpumalanga that we have a budget for those two this year. We are going to honour the Rain Queen. We have been advised to do so. [Applause.] In Mpumalanga, we are going to be looking at two others. When we get an indication that everything has been sort of settled, we will deal with Limpopo.

Baza kuhlonitshwa abantwana beenkosi. Baza kusinikwa isidima esibafaneleyo, hayi ukuba babe zizinto ezikhatywayo … [Traditional leaders shall be respected. They shall be treated with the dignity they deserve, and not be things that could just be kicked around …]

… because if that happens, everything that we are working for will not have the dignity that it requires.

Wakha wathi ethetha apha uPhathekile, wangathi uyaphoxa, wathi:

Mzantsi Afrika, ninika uLizbethi imbeko edlula aba bethu bomthonyama.

Ngoko ke, sithi aba bethu bomthonyama mabafumane le mbeko ebafaneleyo. Nabo siyabayala sisithi `inkosi iyinkosi ngabantu’. Singathi mabaqabele emqolo kubo, koko mababahloniphe abantu bahambe nabo ukuze le Afrika yakheke.

Xa ndiza kuhlala phantsi - Ndinomkhuhlane ubona nje. Mhlawumbi sendinxiliswe nangala mayeza ebendiwasela kangaka. [Kwahlekwa] (Translation of Xhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Hon Chief Phathekile Holomisa said here one day: ``South Africa, you give Queen Elizabeth more respect than you do our own indigenous people. We say, therefore, that our indigenous traditional leaders should get the respect due to them. We also caution them, saying: “A chief is a chief because of people’’. We do not say that they should take people for granted, but they should respect and support each other in order for our Africa to grow and develop. Before I sit down - I have the flu you know and maybe the medicine I have been taking is starting to take effect and is causing me to be disorientated. [Applause.]]

I want to thank all hon members. Issues around financial management are difficult issues, and it is important that those members who have skills are free to come up with suggestions as to how we can deal with issues where we are failing.

IPalamente asiyo ndawo enjongo yayo ikukuba sikrwelane kuphela, … [Parliament is not a place for us to just argue and fight …]

… it is also meant that we should build together for the future of the people who put us in this House.

Debate concluded.

The House adjourned at 18:58. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Public Works:

Memorandum by the Minister of Public Works setting out particulars of
the Building Programme for 2002-2003 [RP 62-2002].