Date: 12/05/2010
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Trollip: Speech by DA Member of Parliament on the Presidency budget vote, National Assembly

Hon Speaker, Mr President,

As so many newspaper headlines have already said - The Honeymoon is over! Rebekah Kendal wrote on 4 May 2010 "Phew, what a year. Yip it's been almost a year since Jacob Zuma was sworn in as President of the country in a bash that cost the South African taxpayer a whopping R75 million. Since then, things have pretty much followed the formula of the inauguration - expensive!"

In your last State of the Nation Address, you undertook to outline the missing details in the budget and ministerial debates. Frankly, not having a Portfolio Committee to consider your budget, which incidentally is growing at an alarming rate, leaves me none the wiser about the forthcoming detail you spoke about.

In fact, the fact that the Presidency didn't even present a strategic plan for the past financial year- notwithstanding some fundamental changes to the Presidency, not least of all the addition of two new ministries and the Presidential Hotline that continues to "tilt at every conceivable windmill" with very limited impact- makes one wonder whether there is indeed any strategy or framework. The recent resignation or redeployment of some senior presidential staffers suggests that this is not a happy nor a well organized place.

Dit, op sigself, vereis dat daar meer eerder dan minder toesig moet geskied ten einde te verseker dat die Presidensie se begroting van R727 miljoen, wat tot R815 miljoen in 2012-2013 sal toeneem (vóór enige onvermydelike hertoedelings) effektief, doeltreffend en ekonomies gespandeer word.

The apparent support from the Speaker, the House Chairperson and the multi-party Chief Whips Forum for a body to oversee the Presidency is welcomed by the DA. Apart from the fact that this Parliament cannot allow any budgets to go unaccounted for, it perforce needs to ensure that the transversal responsibilities of the Presidency are appropriately implemented and fulfilled across the board without exception. Only authentic oversight can ensure that this happens.

Mr President, I can't help thinking that many of the challenges that rest on your weary shoulders could have been averted or addressed through decisive leadership- the kind of leadership so clearly set out in the ANC discussion document "Through the Eye of the Needle". It is extremely naïve to think that your Cabinet will decide for Government, when it in itself is so divided and dichotomous on so many critical issues. Michael Spicer of Business Leadership South Africa describes this situation well when he says "it leads to contestation and policy paralysis and an attempt to be all things to all people."

Mr President, you cannot be all things to all people as you will either let them down or else they will let you down. I wonder, for example, what the last straw was that broke your silence and prompted you to act, at last!, against Julius Malema- was it the fact that he spoke the unspeakable about supporting Mugabe and Zanu PF or, more sinisterly put, the fact that he said what the ANC silently wishes should happen in Zimbabwe?

Your lack of decisive leadership regarding the unacceptable behavior of the ANC Youth League, and its leadership in particular, has allowed the South African political discourse to descend into the gutter. It is now time for you to take control and do what is necessary to prevent the further unraveling of our national thread. The hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do just this.

You also need to understand that your non-disclosure of financial interests, as required by the Executive Members' Ethics Act, has been a lamentable transgression- especially considering your claim that your administration would seek to combat corruption. Your explanations for this non-compliance can at best be described as a red herring and at worst simply disingenuous.

In this regard, Mr Malema trumpeted just more than a year ago that voters should never trust politicians that can't account for or explain their wealth. Well, he has done really well for someone who holds no business directorships and has an unbelievable amount of disposable income to spend on bling and birthday parties for someone who is a salary earner in the ANC structures- and what's more it is now he who can't seem to be able to explain his very apparent opulence.

Regarding the other departmental budget debates - Mr President allow me to say that it is with regret that you weren't here to observe the performance of some of your Ministers, their Deputies, Committee Chairs and ANC committee members. Minister Shiceka derided me in his own inimitable fashion for attending the budget debates to ensure that, in his words, "my members spoke the language of their master."

All the more is the pity you didn't do the same to assess what these people were saying. Mr President, Minister Shiceka misinformed the public about expenditure on the 2010 football stadia, he blamed the DA for the R4 billion price tag on the Cape Town Stadium and compared this with the cost of the Orlando Stadium - first of all he forgets that it was President Mbeki's negotiations with Mr Sepp Blater in 2005 that decided on the Cape Town Stadium being built at Green Point rather than the Athlone or Newlands sites. Hon Rasool can confirm this as it was he who was instructed by Essop Pahad that Green Point was the President's choice and, secondly, he, Minister Shiceka, should compare apples with apples- a comparison between Soccer City and its R3,2 billion price tag and the Cape Town stadium is more apposite than the comparison he made.

Furthermore he told Parliament and the public that we must not "politicize" local government (hello) he said, and I quote, "Where are the problems of political leadership? Are they in other municipalities or in the Western Cape? They are here."

Well, a quick audit revealed that there are currently 23/275 municipalities (8,4%) under administration - all in ANC controlled provinces, with cadres deployed as administrators and all the failed councillors and mayors continue to receive their salaries with little or no impact from the curatorship interventions.

In contrast, in the Western Cape, 24/30 municipalities received unqualified audits, 29/30 municipalities spent 100% of their municipal infrastructure grants- this is unparalleled- and the Cape Town Unicity spent 96% of its MIG funding. No wonder he doesn't want this to be politicized - it's political dynamite!

Wanneer mnr Shiceka sê dat die DA beheerde Wes-Kaap en Stad Kaapstad "'n eiland van uitmuntendheid omring deur ‘n see van probleme is" kan ek nie anders as om met hom saam te stem nie, want hy erken die doeltreffendheid van DA beheer en die mislukking van die naburige ANC-beheerde provinsies en munisipaliteite.

Mnr die President, en ek haal aan vanuit die Presidensie se begrotings-dokument: "Die doel van die Presidensie is om te lei, te bestuur en die strategiese sakelys van die regering te ontwikkel, daaroor toesig te hou om sodoende die verwesenliking daarvan deur die Staat in sy geheel te verseker." U moes teen hierdie tyd reeds verseker het dat die makro ekonomiese en rigtinggewende beleid afgehandel is en dat die beplanningskommissie hom moet toespits op die beplanning van die lang termyn ekonomiese strategieë en rigting van die land. Dit behoort gekoppel te word aan prestasie gestelde ooreenkomste en wat aanvaar moet word deur al die ministers en hul 28 adjunkte, wat ,met die uitsondering van ‘n paar, net hul alleen weet wat hulle doen.

Wat die skep van werksgeleenthede betref, is u ver van die bereiking van u verkiesingsbelofte om 500 000 werksgeleenthede te skep. Tussen April 2009 en April 2010 het Suid-Afrika ‘n netto verlies van meer as ‘n miljoen werksgeleenthede gehad. Tog wag ons steeds vir ‘n strategiese plan hoe ordentlike werksgeleenthede, veral vir die jeug, geskep kan word.

For example, what has come of Minister Gordhan's call for a wage subsidy and a two tier labour dispensation for first time young job seekers? Has COSATU's objection pushed this onto the back burner forever?

I know that this seems like a tall order for one year in office, but you have effectively been Deputy President for six years and the President of the ANC since 2007 and it is you that constantly refers to the ANC as a collective. This means that you didn't become President in a vacuum - the ANC has been in government for 16 years and we know that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan.

If the Ministerial Monitoring and Evaluation System is not underpinned with punitive action for non-performers, as per Minister Chabane's explanation, failure will become your companion. Because this is not the behavior of an administration pursuing excellence. It is the sign of an administration paying lip service to accountability but, underneath the rhetoric, is really concerned with the entrenchment of its own power through deployment on the basis of political patronage. It is the sign of an administration that regards itself as above the law, of an administration that has failed to plan, failed to perform and therefore failed to provide.

Mr President, with regards to this failure to perform and provide - is it not yet time for you as President of South Africa and the former Chair of the SADC to give the citizens of this country, and this Parliament, a full and detailed report on what is actually going on in Zimbabwe and the status of the Global Political Agreement? This is especially important as it appears as if Prime Minister Tshvangirai has succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome and the mesmerisation of the octogenarian "Wizard".

Further you need to clarify what kind of real investment protection the toothless Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) offers South African investors that conduct business activities in Zimbabwe- especially against the stated objectives of the draft legislation bill on indigenization of foreign owned businesses in Zimbabwe.

Locally much has been made of your and Minister Shiceka's call to prevent political party office bearers from holding public administrative office and that if such appointments are made, the relevant councillors will be held to account - all I can say is HA-HA - give this house but one example of such accountability and I'll retract this derision. I am confident that there is no such example though as the examples that do exist highlight instances of starling embarrassment and costly litigation across the country.

Accountability is something that is not synonymous with the ANC at all as even here in Parliament, despite the Deputy President's intervention as the Leader of House Business on at least two occasions in this Parliamentary term, your Ministers continue to ignore parliamentary questions and even refuse to appear before special oversight committees. This is not only an arrogant disdain of the opposition, it is, more worryingly, a disdain for Parliament and the Constitution.

It is important to say to you in this House that if and when you, and anyone in government, seek to transgress or undermine the Constitution, the DA will do what it deems necessary to prevent this both in Parliament and the Courts of Law - no matter how irritating and inconvenient you or your Cabinet find this. This is not only the role of an effective opposition, but also the responsibility of the opposition to prevent an abrogation of our much vaunted Constitution.

The same applies to your profligate ministers whose penchant for excessive and wasteful expenditure has taken the DA's Wasteful Expenditure Monitor beyond the R1 billion mark.

In this regard incidentally, how much longer must Parliament wait to see the amendments to the Ministerial Handbook that were promised last year?

Mr President, this past year can unfortunately never honestly be described as a year of "faster, better, smarter" governance. This debate might not be taken too seriously by you and your Cabinet, but you ignore it at your peril, as the 2011 Local Government Election is around the corner.

Sizakubona!