Date: 15/02/2010
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Motau: Speech by the Shadow Minister of Energy, during the Debate on the State of the Nation Address, Parliament

On 7 February, Prof Njabulo Ndebele wrote in the Sunday Times:

"South Africa desperately needs new politics in which the actors understand the full implications of abundant new opportunities for the people to rediscover one another and to build the country. Today we know that diversity in thinking is a national asset."

This country cries out for true leadership to realise the benefits of this truism. Leadership that puts South Africa first in all their actions.

Former US Secretary of State General Colin Powell, in his primer on the subject, has this to say about leadership: "Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It's inevitable if you are honourable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted...."

Former President Nelson Mandela manifested the requisite leadership qualities and led this country from the front. We miss that bold, visionary, compassionate, inclusive, unifying and moral leadership.

The country demands upstanding leadership to secure the future of our young democracy. Our faltering, underperforming parastatals, many of them currently without CEOs, yearn for quality leadership. Such leadership can put Eskom, the avaricious energy monopoly, back on track and secure our electricity future without the nation having to pay an arm and a leg for the energy.

This is critical as the nation fearfully awaits the decision of NERSA, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, regarding Eskom's latest application for a tariff increase of 35 percent a year for three years. We appeal to Nersa to exercise responsible leadership in this regard. The regulator must put the interests of South Africa above those of Eskom - and dispel the widely held view that it is there to do Eskom's bidding. A bad decision will spell serious trouble for the country's already hard-pressed economy and more misery for the poor.

It is, therefore, very important that we take special care when we fill the critical leadership positions at Eskom and the other state-owned enterprises. The people appointed must be fit for purpose, competent and serve their entities in the best interests of the country. Let's keep party politics out of the selection process.
In this regard, Mr Speaker, it would be to add insult to injury to the people of this country if the State were to give Mr Jacob Maroga One Red Cent following his resignation. And the people will not forget.

These positions call for the Powell brand of leadership. Regrettably what the people seem to get from leadership these days are huge doses of promises, bluster, fudge, sophistry, denial and "Orwellian-speak" - in which wrong is right and conflicts of interests are pooh-poohed. This is a failure of leadership. Sorry does not make it right!

The ANC, Chancellor House, Haitachi, Eskom nexus falls into this category. Earlier I referred to the nation's fearful state regarding the outcome of the Eskom request to Nersa. There is, however, another pervasive fear in our land; the fear of being mugged, brutalised, raped or even murdered in our own homes.

The eradication of this national plague demands decisive leadership and action. I know that I speak for many people in this House and in the country in this regard. Mr Speaker, crime is slowly but surely strangling our nation.

The President has declared 2010 the year of action. He must not stop there. Results will come only when inaction is followed by serious consequences.

As General Powell reminds us: "Strategy equals execution. All the great visions and ideas in the world are worthless if they can't be implemented rapidly and efficiently."
Mr Speaker, there is a lot going for our country but our nation is currently in a state on several fronts - unemployment, rising energy costs, crime, corruption, under-performing public enterprises; the list goes on. Quality leadership is required to take us out of the quagmire and lead us to the Promised Land. I am talking here of leadership that is not arrogant, self-serving, cynical or flippant; leadership that is true to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and is driven by the tenets of an open opportunity society for all our people. This is a test we dare not fail. And time is not on our side!