President outlines plans to overhaul & stabilise state-owned enterprises Members of the NA react to the Presidency Budget Vote
The Presidency’s Budget Vote was the last to be tabled for debate in the National Assembly (NA), one of the final steps in an intensive parliamentary process of scrutinising and analysing government’s allocations and spending plans. The President promised
President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the debate by explaining that the work of his office gives substance to cooperative governance and facilitates private/ public partnerships to build a capable and developmental state. This budget, he explained, seeks to create a more effective Presidency in directing and coordinating the implementation of government programmes. Since the start of President Ramaphosa’s administration, the office has made efforts to realign the Presidency to more effectively drive the transformation of society and the economy.
“Eight months ago, we launched the Presidential Employment Stimulus, the largest and fastest scale-up of public employment in our country’s history. And, since its inception, this programme has been making a difference in the lives of South Africans across the length and breadth of our country. To date, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has supported nearly 700 000 opportunities,” President Ramaphosa said.
Of these, 422 000 are jobs that have been created or retained, 110 000 are awards issued for livelihoods support, and a further 162 000 are opportunities where awards are currently in process. The Presidency has developed an online dashboard where citizens can track progress in the implementation of the stimulus, pioneering a new approach to transparency and accountability. The stimulus has played a crucial role in supporting vulnerable households to keep working and earning an income, while at the same time benefitting the communities in which they work.
“It has incubated new approaches to coordination and collaboration across the government to achieve a single objective, demonstrating the powerful results of a whole-ofgovernment approach. A further R11 billion has been allocated for the continuation of the Presidential Employment Stimulus in the current financial year,” he said.
The President also reported on plans to stabilise state-owned enterprises (SOEs), saying that while there has been important progress, these efforts will not be sufficient, on their own, to enable these entities to make a contribution to economic and social progress.
“That is why government envisages a fundamental overhaul of the SOE model to address not only the deficiencies of the immediate past, but also the requirements of national development into the future. The Presidential Review Committee on SOEs laid the foundations for rethinking the role, governance and composition of this crucial portfolio of entities. Through the Presidential SOE Council, we have created a dedicated structure, tapping on expertise from all of society, to guide this reform,” he told the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, on the mass Covid-19 vaccination programme, the President acknowledged that the rollout was delayed by several challenges, but assured MPs (Members of Parliament) that the public vaccination drive is now gathering pace.
In addition, South Africa is leading a campaign to create vaccine manufacturing capabilities on the African continent. “Despite the high burden of disease in Africa, we have to import most of our vaccines, therapeutics and other medications. Manufacturing our own vaccines will enable us to overcome the current pandemic and respond to future health emergencies.” said President Ramaphosa.
Furthermore, the government has had to deal with the impact of coronavirus on human health and respond to its impact on the economy, on businesses, on jobs and on people’s livelihoods. These responses have included wage support, expanded protection, small business financing by government and a loan guarantee scheme to support banking sector lending.
The support package has helped to shield society from some of the economic damages and laid the basis for a concerted plan to ensure a strong and sustained economic recovery.
As parliamentary rules dictate, the first political party to react to the Budget Vote was the majority party, the African National Congress (ANC). On this occasion, the ANC’s Deputy Chief Whip, Ms. Doris Dlakude, declared the ANC’s support for the budget. She spoke about her party’s commitment to fight fraud and corruption in government, as well as its transformation agenda.
“Corruption is the cancer that is slowly destroying our beautiful country. We are tired of being labelled as corrupt just because we are members of the ANC. It cannot be business as usual that we are all painted with the same brush. Corruption doesn’t have a name or a surname; those found to have committed fraud and corruption must be dealt with accordingly, be it in
government or private sector,” said Ms Dlakude.
The Deputy Chief Whip also urged South Africans to stand together behind the Constitution and be part of efforts to build a non-sexist, non-racist and democratic South Africa. “The National Development Plan urges us to collaborate as a nation to advance the transformation agenda. This means that civil society, religious bodies and communities across the board must stand in unity with government in order to build a cohesive society,” she said.
While the ANC applauded the Presidency’s performance and declared support for the President’s plans, other political parties in the National Assembly were dissatisfied with the Presidency’s performance, with some even proposing the establishment of a parliamentary committee to oversee the Presidency.
The Democratic Alliance’s Mr Dean Macpherson, accused the President of “breaking every single promise” he made to the country, after filling the nation with hope and new dawn. “You promised growth of 5% by 2023, you delivered 1,9% this year. You promised one million paid internships, you only delivered 32 000 by 2019. You promised jobs to young people, today 74% of them are unemployed. You promised to halve violent crime, yet there is an increase in rape and murder. You promised to get rid of corruption, yet you have a Health Minister mired in allegations of corruption,” Mr Macpherson stated.
He also called for the scrapping of black economic empowerment (BEE) and for the government to “build the economy for the many and not for the few”.
EFF accuses the President of lacking inspiration
Mr Julius Malema, the Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said the President lacks inspiration and doesn’t believe in what he says. “In 2018 you said at the centre of your national agenda is creating jobs, especially for the youth. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey picture points to a dire state of affairs, a crisis that you have created. Unemployment stands at more than 42%, and close to 50% for black people is the worst level ever,” said Mr Malema.
The EFF also claimed that the President did not believe in the expropriation of land without compensation, and was not convinced about taking the land from colonial settlers. “We want the Constitution to recognise that land, like mineral resources and water, is a natural resource and a common heritage which belongs to all our people. Let us expropriate all land and place it under the custodianship of the democratic state,” he said.
He further explained that custodianship is not the same as nationalisation: “When we talk about nationalisation, the state takes full control of whatever asset and uses whatever is nationalised for the collective benefit of the population. However, when we talk about custodianship, the state does not take the land to use it. The land is only in the state’s custody as a conduit or to facilitate for people to access land.”
Inkatha Freedom Party Leader, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, questioned the President on why the government only implemented reforms and lowered the cost of doing business in response to Covid-19, while the economy has been struggling for decades.
He also raised concerns over the absence of a parliamentary committee responsible for oversight on the Presidency. “The need for a parliamentary committee to oversee the Presidency is becoming urgent. We are not able to scrutinise the budget at committee level. Let us open the Presidency for scrutiny and oversight by this Parliament,” Prince Buthelezi proposed.
FF+ citizens have a right to protect themselves
The Freedom Front (FF) Plus was concerned about the planned amendments to the Firearms Control Act, arguing this move would deny citizens the right to protect themselves from criminals. “It is an obligation of the President to ensure a capable and effective police service to protect the people of South Africa against criminals. If people cannot be protected by the South African Police Service, how do you expect them not to be able to protect themselves by means of firearms? Please stop this insane amendment of the Firearms Act,” said FF Plus Leader, Mr Pieter Groenewald.
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) also added its opposition voice to the proposed amendments to the Firearms Act. “The ACDP wants to know why the government plans to disarm law-abiding citizens and deny them the right to protect themselves against criminals,” said ACDP MP, Mr Steve Swart.
Mr Bantu Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) said: “Mr President, the Constitution empowers you to appoint Ministers, but also to remove them. You never act, not even when there is evidence of corruption, with these nauseating exposures of Ministers and their families thriving due to access to government business, like Minister Mkhize and the allegation that he signed the R150 million contract with Digital Vibes, which paid for the family’s house renovations and also gave R300 000 to, and bought a Land Cruiser for his son.”
The National Freedom Party (NFP) used the debate to advocate for the downgrading of the South African Embassy in Israel, in order to put pressure on Israel to respect international law and human rights.
NFP Member of Parliament, Mr Ahmed Shaik-Emam, also reminded South Africans not to forget the role played by countries like Palestine in supporting South Africa during the apartheid years.
The GOOD party was concerned about the unemployment figures and poor economic growth. GOOD MP, Mr Shaun August, said getting the economy back to growth must be the responsibility of every sector and not just government, to heed the call to put South Africa back on track.
Mr Lulama Ntshayisa of the African Independent Congress (AIC) also supported the proposal to have a parliamentary committee that will be responsible for oversight on the Presidency. He also called for the vaccine rollout to be fast-tracked, as currently the “vaccine rollout was very slow compared to the speed at which the virus is spreading”.
The Congress of the People’s (Cope’s) Willie Madisha urged the President to reduce the executive by merging some departments. The party also wants the President to rescue important SOEs and deal with corruption.
Responding to the debate, President Ramaphosa said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has set the country’s economic progress back many years. “It has made South Africans poorer. It has made hunger more widespread and it has directly affected the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of people. It has made the task of growing an inclusive economy and transforming our society that much more difficult,” he said.
But it is equally important, he continued, that we recognise that our own weaknesses and shortcomings have hampered the task of building a new society and achieving a better life for all. “We must, as we have done, acknowledge that there have been failures of governance in several municipalities, in departments and in state-owned entities,” he said.
Speaking about corruption, the President said it deprives the poor of resources that are rightfully theirs. It starves the economy of investment in that those who would want to invest in our economy are kept away by the stench of corruption. “It leads to a degradation of public infrastructure and services, and tragically, it ultimately costs lives.”
He said the Presidency was determined to address all the challenges, both those rooted deep in our past and those that manifest themselves today.