House Chairperson, Minister of Public Enterprises, Members of Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Afternoon.
May I start off my 2018 Budget vote debate by congratulating Minister Pravin Gordhan on his welcomed appointment as Minister of Public Enterprises, the loss of his membership on the Public Enterprises Portfolio Committee is a gain for the Department and South Africa as a whole.
It is long overdue that South Africans stand together and once and for all kill the monster of State Capture that almost destroyed our country as a whole.
Once again the brave men and women of South Africa, who, despite facing tremendous pressure, potential job loss and alienation from certain sectors, have boldly spoken out against and exposed corruption, State Capture, nepotism, cronyism and mismanagement must be applauded.
To all of you, I say thank you on behalf of South Africa, for your determination to safeguard the South African coffers, and for your relentless patriotism in the face of serious opposition from the highest echelons of power. Your names will go down in history as true South African heroes.
Our state-owned entities (SOE) have not just been in a state of chaos, they have in fact been in a state of capture. Still every single morning, another scandal breaks in the media.
If we are not dealing with Gupta associated businesses receiving tenders, we are dealing with children of employees being given multi-million rand deals and ex CEO’s being linked to various dodgy contracts at SOE’s.
The Public Protector has certainly had her hands full with the DA requesting multiple investigations into issues within the SOE’s.
The latest revelation, including the intimidation of journalists who have exposed this scandal, shows the lengths to which those with much to hide are willing to go to cover up. Criminal charges have been laid and these charges are now finally being investigated. These charges are serious and are a
matter of national importance.
The DA welcomed the removal of Lynn Brown as Public Enterprises Minister, but this is simply the first step in rectifying the disaster that rocked our country’s economy.
I am most pleased that the Committee of Public Enterprises has stood firm and that full Parliamentary investigations into the shenanigans at Eskom, Transnet and Denel are underway.
These investigations shed light on important information regarding state capture and cannot be left unfinished.
What has happened at Eskom is a good start. It now needs to happen as a matter of urgency in Denel, Transnet, SAA, Alexcor and SA Express.
The rich simply cannot keep getting richer while the poor become poorer. It is up to us to break this cycle, we can do this, South Africa, we have to do this.
We want the SOE’s to work, we need our SOE’s to work. We want to share our ideas of how to make them financially sustainable not to mention more effective. We may not have all the answers but this issue is of such national importance that we cannot make this a party political issue, we are all on
team South Africa.
Minister Gordhan has shown us bravery and shown that he is a true South African patriot. We now, however, need the Minister to dig deep and show us bravery one more time.
The foundations have been laid, we have proven that we can expose those who have tried to lapse our county for personal gain. We cannot allow those who have been found guilty to simply slither away and disappear off the radar.
Now is the time to follow through. No commission of enquiry, be it parliamentary or otherwise is enough.
People need to be tried in the Courts of law and sent to jail. The full might of the law must be thrown at those who tried to sell our county. We need government and the cabinet to give us as, Parliament, the final tool to finish the job we started.
The Department of Public Enterprises will play a pivotal role in ensuring that SOE’s are never again, given the free reign they have enjoyed in the past to appoint unsavoury individuals to positions of power. This Department must form a line of defence for our county’s economy. This Department needs to fundamentally change the way it operates and it must start holding the SOE’s to a far higher standard of accountability and transparency.
Do not let anyone stand in your way, this is your country duty.
We broke the legs of the State Capture Monster, now is the time to break it’s back and teach a lesson to those involved that South Africa must and always will come first.
Let us stand together, as team South Africa and slay the beast of State Capture and deal it the final death blow. South Africa, we have got this!
South Africa is not for sale.
Our SOE’s cannot be bought by the Gupta family with the help of Number 1. As the web of State Capture starts to unravel, so will the stranglehold that this unwelcome family has over our country.
The time is now to put a stop to this corruption and capture. South Africa is not for sale, not on our watch!