Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members
Leadership of our SOC
The Acting Director General of the Department
DPE colleagues
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Where we once were, should remain our motivation to move forward. As we look back, we should do so to measure the extent of our success and prepare for the road ahead.
In 1984, a young African male graduated with a B.Proc degree from the UCT.
For two years he struggled to secure a firm to do his articles.
He kept to his passion and eventually opened his law firm.
His name is Noor Kapdi from the Western Cape.

Our SOC namely Alexkor, SAFCOL and Eskom showed confidence in this company by giving it legal work.
When we celebrated 20 years of democracy, we also celebrated this company Kapdi-Twala becoming Denton South Africa part of Denton global.
It is now the largest law firm in the world.
These are the fruits of the 21 years of democracy.
Transformation of the legal profession is central to the rule of law.
The rule of law is central to economic activity.
In this MTSF we shall be monitoring how our SOC are giving work to black and woman legal firms.
Our SOC are the catalyst of ensuring that black and woman legal practitioners enter the commercial practice space.
We have directed our SOC to drastically improve the quality and quantity of legal briefings to black and woman law firms.

We can report to this house that four of the six SOC reporting to the Department of Public Enterprises are being audited by black accounting firms.
South Africa can no longer afford to have only big four auditing firms.
We want the big 100 and more.

Our SOC are positioned as strategic levers to drive   transformation.
Our resolve to capacitate the previously disadvantaged firms supports the country’s broader transformation agenda.

SAFCOL has been progressively proceeding without any reliance on the national fiscus.
The company invested R5.1 million on social economic development while R1.5 million was directed towards enterprise development.
True to our commitment to develop rural communities, Safcol signed Social Compacts with 13 communities where it operates.
The company’ spend on Socio-Economic Development increased to R6.8m in the past financial year.

In developing communities, the company is directed to ensure increase in:
-          The development of skills in research and development,

-          Procurement inputs and contract forestry services from black owned enterprises.

-          Skills development programmes for local communities, and

-          Enterprise development projects

ALEXKOR continues to make progress to financial sustainability.
Investment in the mining operations led to improvement in diamond production and job creation.

In the past financial year, Alexkor realised growth in the operations of the mine.

This enabled Alexkor to effect greater impact in the socio-economic conditions of the people of Namaqualand.

The 2013/14 financial year saw an increase in diamond production from 46.000 carats to 79.000 carats in the 2014/15 financial year.
Revenue from the sale of diamonds increased from R277 million (2014) to R414.2 million (2015).
The marine mining rights have been granted and;
Production is envisaged to start in the third quarter of this financial year.
This operation will result in the production of 180 000 carats per year at full production.
This progress carries the community with.

(SKILLS) The government identified a need to approach the shortage of critical skills from all fronts.
In the 2014/15 financial year, the Companies collectively   enrolled 5286 new trainees in various scarce and critical skills.
This represented 790 artisans, 616 technician, 387 engineers and 11 Cadet Pilots.
3320 trainees were enrolled in various sector specific critical skills programmes.
Eskom collaborated with its supplier network to train 1916 matriculates in artisan trade.
541 graduates were placed in experiential programmes.
The 2015/16 financial year will see a collective enrolment of 5776 trainees in various skills.
The targeted beneficiaries are the young people.
Where we once were, Africans in particular were barred from receiving this type of training as VERWOED once said “What is the use of teaching a bantu child maths and science, where is he going to use it.”
Our answer to Dr Verwoerd and his followers is to go to Transnet, Denel, Eskom SAX, SAFCOL and Alexkor you will see what South Africans do with Maths and Science.
The MOU signed with the Department of Higher Education has seen Denel receiving R58 million to train 197 artisan trainees.
Eskom received R174 million to train 1250 artisans trainees.
We are responding to the NDP’s call to increase the artisan pool.
Our SOC continue to ensure that the winter of despair is changed into a summer of hope by driving entrepreneurship.
Denel’s local spend in the 2014/5 financial year was R3.1 billion.
From this budget:
-          Black Owned companies received  R683.5 million,

-          Black Women Owned companies R251.2 million,

-          Black Youth Companies took R29.2 million.

-          114 companies received support to an amount of R17.3 million through the Enterprise and Supplier Development interventions.

Transnet spent over R43billion on local content in the last financial year.
-          R9 billion was spent on Black Owned Companies,

-          R4 billion on Black Women Owned Companies while

-          R748 million was directed to Black youth owned and companies with persons with disabilities.

Eskom spent an amount of R102 billion in line with the BBBEE requirements.

We have placed a lot of emphasis on the CSI collaborations.
Moving beyond our relationship with Tata-Africa, we are in discussions with MTN and Nedbank to foster collaboration of our CSI spend.

We believe that public-private partnership will contribute in achieving government’s developmental objectives.
In education, we have connected more schools to the telematics system.
The Transnet school of Excellence registered a 93% pass rate in grade 12 with 35% obtaining exemptions.

The Eskom Annual Expo continues to provide a platform to thousands of young learners to demonstrate their innovations in the fields of science, Technology and Mathematics
Where we once were rural people did not matter.
Under our ANC led government, rural development is a priority.
The Eskom Infrastructure Development Programme, funded   infrastructure improvement of schools in rural areas of
North West, KZN and Limpopo province.
Denel and Safcol have spent about R3.2 million supporting rural schools in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KZN.
On health, to date the Eskom Mobile Health Clinics have
Had an impact to 2900 people in 37 schools in rural areas.
By June 2015, the number is expected to increase to 5000.
Transnet is committed to a comprehensive primary health care.
The two Phelophepa trains touched 133,000 patients and provided experiential training to 1335 students.
The SOC continue to support disadvantaged communities through their Teenage Health Programme.
Dignity packs are distributed to learners including children with disabilities in poor communities.
We ask you to support this budget to change the face of rural health for our people.
Collaboration between MISA and DPE SOC is set roll into the Westonaria Local Municipality in Gauteng.
Artisans trained at Eskom, Transnet and MISA will be working on reviving the municipal infrastructure in the municipality.
Peter Tosh in his album equal rights and justice said
‘Everybody is heading towards the top but how far is it from the bottom. Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. I want equal rights and justice”.
I ask that those who know how far it is from the bottom but wanting to go to the top, those who want equal rights and justice to support this budget vote.

I thank you.