Mr President
Honourable Speaker
Honourable Members
Since the change of government in 1994 there have been improvements. Yet, judging by the uneasiness of the people who have been suffering due to poor service delivery, it is difficult to explain to them, when the same leadership which liberated them yesterday are now embroiled in the looting of state resources.
It simply means that the noble intentions which were pronounced in 1994 have been hijacked by thugs.
Indeed, many people who had hoped that when you, Mr President, ascended to office with your pronunciations that by today there must have been action taken against those who stole the money. Money that could have been used to alleviate the backlogs and imbalances of the past.
It is equally worrying that some of those who have been implicated are seemingly regrouping to continue with their looting sprees. It is for that reason that there must be a plan and strategy to improve on the performance of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Take all these cases, such as the massive Gupta looting, VBS robbing of the poor, municipalities’ monies, Bosasa and the other revelations of the commissions of inquiry… we can’t allow this nonsense to continue!
Either the NPA’s leadership must resign, or be fired, and we must employ competent people, or we must request secondment of experts from countries we have bilateral agreements with.
Honourable members, the state of our environment needs attention in particular pollution and the lack of enforcement regarding waste management.
Mr President, we propose that all vehicle owners or drivers be made liable for people throwing garbage out of car, taxi and truck windows. Shop owners should stop dumping packaging material on our sidewalks.
In addition, we propose that one of our public holidays be set aside to launch a cleaning initiative so that our streets and living areas can be made litter free and thus raising the quality of life of our people.
Cellphone companies should be lobbied to assist with a communication campaign as they have access to all our phones. It is time that we inculcate a culture of ownership. We must clean up the mess we made; nobody is going to do it for us.
Lastly, climate change is a reality of which South Africans should be keenly aware. General desertification, dams that are dried up and soil erosion are at the order of the day. Silting of dams and riverbeds are problematic.
Job opportunities can be created if government could launch a programme to plant grass and put other erosion combatting measures in place to preserve the soil in rural areas and to clear silted-up dams and rivers to restore their capacity.
I thank you.
