Transcript of speech by DA MP, Lindiwe Mazibuko, in the debate on the President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address, National Assembly Parliament, February 16 2011
Ms L D MAZIBUKO: Mr Speaker, hon President and hon members, it has been a very long debate. Over the past two days, we have had the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the concerns of opposition parties with regard to the state of our nation today. As MPs have reflected on the remarks of the hon President Jacob Zuma on some of the pressing issues facing South Africans today and what it is that this government can do, and should be doing to address those challenges.
We have also had a very interesting insight in what was often referred to as the sole of the ANC, South Africa's governing party. Mr Speaker, what we have seen has not been pretty. From the hon Ben Turok yesterday, who by his own admission, instead of engaging in a productive debate about the future of South Africa, chose to deliver a lecture about such varied subjects as: "the liberation struggle, and the masses" Of course his own pseudo marks his distortions of the DA and liberal political philosophy. [Applause.]
To the hon Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, who was more concerned with spinning a conspiracy theory about the evil racist agenda of the opposition and insulting the dignity of this House with questionable language, than with engaging the genuine concerns of opposition MPs about the state of education in this country.
Mr Speaker, I am sure that if one had enough time on their hands to conduct a survey of all the speeches delivered by ANC MPs in the House over the past two days, would reveal a startling number of mentions of the word apartheid and of course, in addition of revolutionary revolution and other permutations of the word. Why is it that 17 years after the fall of apartheid, when millions of children born in 1994 are already approaching voting age, and beginning to grapple with their own adulthood, is the language of the governing party is so hopelessly mired in the past?
Why the constant laboured reverences to the national democratic revolution and the 20 minute history lesson on the ANC since centenary, from our Minister of Home Affairs, the hon Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma? How will these dance words help us to feed the poor, stand the tides of crime, or educate our young people?
Even the ANC's youth arm, led by men and women in their 20s who were barely out of nappies when the battle to free this country was been waged, speak in outdated revolutionary speak, instead of addressing the hopes, fears and dreams of their generation. [Applause.]
As my colleague Prof Wilmot James stated earlier today, and I quote:
"Parliament cannot be treated like the pallet bureau of the SACP, where the outdated rhetoric of battles long since fought are the order of the day."
Mr President, we are here to talk about the present and the future. That is why it is called a state of the nation address. The history of South Africa and of its liberation are of course essential elements for an understanding of why our people are facing that they do on a daily basis. I agree with the hon Dlamini-Zuma, that we should never forget which, and how many South Africans made untold sacrifices to enable us to sit here in this vulnerable House, and debate the state of South Africa in an open and democratic space. We will never forget that.
The fact remains that it is not only the ANC which was responsible for the liberation of this country. [Interjections.] Just as it is a fact that the solutions to the crisis of joblessness, grinding poverty, and the increasing inability of our people to access decent education and public services, do not lie in a slavish pre-occupation with the ANC's past. What these challenges require is progressive thought, innovation and an honest assessment of our present circumstances. This is the debate about the current state of our nation, and what needs to be done to achieve a better future.
In the DA we often say that the ANC is fast becoming a party of cronyism, corruption and the closed society. Senior leaders of the governing party have repeatedly expressed similar concerns in this regard. If we have learned anything over the past two days about the ANC, it is surely that it is also a party of the past. It is so self-involved and mired in the ugly divisions of apartheid and the legacy of colonialism, that it increasingly unable to look up and see the suffering of our people for what it is - a crisis of the present.
Fortunately, the DA is a party of the future. [Interjections.] Constantly grappling with our present circumstances and actively seeking to craft a better and more prosperous future for all South Africans. The ANC members of this House often accuse those of us sitting in the opposition benches of: "longing for the days of apartheid or of wanting to preserve the outcomes of apartheid".
I would argue that it is the ANC which longs for apartheid. For a time when references to the so-called masses, as if the people of this country are some theoretical constructs. Sentiments about the glorious revolution and the colonial edifiers where relevant.
Lastly, while we were talking about the so-called masses, perhaps the hon Nzimande can tell when last he left his air-conditioned suit at the Mount Nelson hotel or his two plash Ministerial homes in the suburbs, climbed into his R1,1 million BMW 750i and took a ride through one of the townships for which he seem to have so much affection. I thank you. [Applause.]
Source: Unrevised Transcript, February 16 2011
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