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Mr Speaker, members of this House.

EK wil graag my dank teenoor almal in hierdie wetgewer uitspreek vir hul mooi woorde van gelukwensing. Min van u hier is seker al sestig. Dis 'n ouderdom wat met aftrede geassosieer word, maar ek moet sŠ dis iets waaraan ek nog nie eers gedink het nie. Hoe beter ons vaar, hoe jonger voel ek en ek voel sommer bloedjonk - 'n bietjie grieperig, maar bloedjonk.

Ek wil ook graag lede aan hierdie kant van die huis bedank vir hul insette, hul ondersteuning en hul begrip vir wat ek in my openingstoespraak uiteengesit het. U weet dit is belangrik dat u my hierin steun, want as ons nog groter suksesse wil bereik met dienslewering, verg dit 'n nog groter spanpoging. Ook 'n spesiale woord van gelukwensing aan die agbare Minister Malatsi. Sy eerste optrede hou groot belofte in vir die toekoms. Ek stem met hom saam, ons moet almal saamwerk om 'n selfonderhoudende samelewing te skep. Dis die ou storie van die visstok en die vis. Dit was ook weer lekker om 'n bydrae van die agbare lid Redcliffe te hoor. Ek deel sy erns oor verskerpte ekonomiese ontwikkeling en werkverskaffing.

Dit was duidelik uit die bydraes dat hierdie kant van die huis my toespraak beter verstaan het as sommige lede aan daardie kant. Ek het begrip daarvoor.

Die verkiesingsuitslag het die DA-regering 'n versterkte mandaat besorg.

The challenge is to increase the scale of delivery to all the people of the province. The honourable Minister Adams referred to this as well. Yes, we will get on with the job of service delivery. .

The honourable Minister Herandien has set an excellent example of service delivery. Give us the R1,4 billion of unspent housing funds and he will do wonders.

The honourable member Nic Isaacs referred to our policy objectives - the yardstick by which we measure ourselves. He says we have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to achievements. But that is being a bit too modest. I know we have much to be proud of.

Dankie ook aan die agbare lid Gelderblom wat my woorde onderstreep het, dat daardie verkose verteenwoordigers wat nie die mas opkom van dienslewering nie, plek sal moet maak vir die wat kan.

Die agbare Min. Bester het tereg verwys na samewerking met die nasionale regering en die noodsaaklikheid van goeie verhoudinge. Dis net jammer dat dit nie altyd op alle terreine twee-rigting verkeer is nie. Die voorbeelde is legio en ek sal in my begrotingspos meer hieroor sŠ.

Misdaad en ook dwelms is ons almal se kommer en erns. Dankie vir die agbare lede Hoza en Winde se bydraes op hierdie terrein.

Die agbare lid Louis het ook oor samewerking gepraat en die noodsaaklikheid om entrepreneurskap aan te moedig. Ek stem met hom heelhartig saam.

The honourable member Silke hit the nail on the head when he spoke about selective caring - that the ANC cared more about its own party's survival than democracy. I said, and I will continue saying it, I am the Premier for all the people.

Baie van u het verwys na my siening oor plattelandse ontwikkeling. Minister Van Rensburg het daaroor uitgebrei. Die agbare Minister Meyer het onderneem om te sorg vir paaie. Ek het die volste vertroue dat my siening bewaarheid sal word. Dankie ook vir die bydrae in hierdie verband deur die agbare lid Williams en die agbare lid Rossouw.

Die agbare Minister Meyer het ook verwys na sportgeriewe in landelike gebiede. Ek dink ook dat dit 'n belangrike bydrae tot nasiebou lewer. Dankie ook vir die agbare lid Isaacs se bydrae in hierdie verband.

Heelwat gewag is deur lede aan daardie kant van die huis gemaak oor die Wes-Kaap wat dan nou kwansuis homself as 'n eiland beskou, los van die res van Suid-Afrika. Dis onsin en ek staan op rekord dat ek myself en die provinsie as 'n integrale deel van die geheel beskou. Dankie agbare Minister Uys dat u hierdie skewe beeld weerlŠ het. Dankie ook vir die bemoedigende verslag oor die samewerkingsfondament wat gelŠ is tydens die afbakenings- en registrasie van kiesers prosesse. Ek sŠ altyd, bevorder die positiewe en doen weg met die negatiewe.

The honourable Minister Markovitz gave some excellent advice to that side of the house and also to their national leader. Respect the media! I feel he has been too kind to them. Why protect them against themselves?

Ek bedank ook graag die agbare Minister Koornhof vir sy toeligting tot my MIV/VIGS tema. Die lid van Zyl het haar gewaardeerde bydrae agter die wapenskandaal gaan soek.

I agree, HIV/AIDS is certainly a much bigger threat to South Africa than any potential aggressor.

Dan wil ek die agbare lid Lewis bedank vir sy ondersteuning van my siening met betrekking to samewerking met plaaslike regering, maar ook veral vir u ondersteuning vir die amp van die Premier, 'n demokratiese begrip wat vir sommiges nog DUISTER is. En ek dink die agbare lid Byneveldt se snedige en onbesonne uitlatings oor my integriteit as Premier laat dit duidelik blyk dat hy nog nooit die lig gesien het nie - hy weet nie eers waar die skakelaar is nie.

As I said, I will say more about this in my budget speech.

In my address I said I was proud of my team and our delivery to all the people. I appealed for co-operation. This is because I believe that the more people who climb on board the delivery train, the better will be our performance. And that is why I called on the opposition to support the delivery team.

Now let me turn my attention to the contributions from that side of the house. I will deal with the contribution of the honourable leader of the opposition in a moment. Some of the other contributions - by the likes of the honourable members Phenduka, Jacobs, Williams and Phike - are best forgotten. They were obviously totally unprepared for the debate. T

The honourable member Dugmore's suggestion that this government has broken its promises and failed to deliver was particularly ludicrous. President Mbeki may talk about people being on different planets. That may be a little extreme. But the honourable member Dugmore is obviously in a different province. Perhaps he thinks he is in the Eastern Cape.

Mr Speaker I want to extend an offer to the honourable member Patrick Mackenzie. Minister Zille knows about a number of adult education classes in which the honourable member might learn to count. His analysis of the election results yesterday prove beyond any doubt that he needs such classes.

I want to refer to the honourable member Ramatlakane's comments. The honourable member made a grave mistake when he tried to preach to me about co-operative governance. But I am not going to deign to engage him in a debate about that.

But then he went on to say that the DA leader, Mr Leon, went abroad to sow confusion about the government's HIV/AIDS stance. I am surprised that the honourable member chose to contrast the DA's approach to the AIDS crises with the approach of the ANC national government. He would have done much better to simply keep quiet on the subject. Because if he understands anything about confusion, he will understand just how disastrous and confusing is the President's attitude towards Zimbabwe, HIV/AIDS, a R43 billion arms deal, Judge Heath, and Mr Feinstein. I say let the people of South Africa and the Western Cape, as well as our international partners and investors must judge for themselves.

Mr Speaker, let me turn now to some of the comments made by the honourable leader of the opposition.

I'm afraid to say that am going to have to disappoint the leader of the opposition - retirement, either voluntary or forced, is simply not on the cards. I am sorry to have to inform him that every time the DA wins an election it leaves me feeling younger and more energetic than before.

I must say however that I was heartened to hear that the leader of the opposition wants me gone: it means I can go to sleep at night in the comforting knowledge that I must be doing something right.

Mr Speaker, there is one aspect of the leader of the opposition's address for which he deserves to be praised. To an extent, he did show that he was willing to put away the race card and deal seriously with the real issues that face the people of our province. Unfortunately, too many of his colleagues could not bring themselves to do the same.

Of course in every province and in every part of South Africa there will be examples of racism. All kinds of racism. For example, the colleague from KwaZulu-Natal of members on that side of the house, Mr Dumisane Makhaye, is a case in point. He recently made very public his belief that white people stink. He is a despicable man for doing so. And the ANC has done nothing, nothing at all, to censure that man. To quote the honourable member Strachen, if that is not racism, then please tell me, what is?

Mr Speaker, racism of any kind is wrong. And I can speak with authority on this matter. I also grew up in South Africa's past. But I believe that the vast majority of South Africans of all races, and the majority of the people of the Western Cape, wish to work together to build our province. This government stands shoulder to shoulder with those people.

Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition and almost every member on that side of the house said that I made no mention of the gap between rich and poor in our province. By doing so he is trying to suggest that this government does not care about the poor.

Well, there is nothing new in the ANC trying to label this government insensitive to the poor. There is also nothing credible about that particular line of attack, as the electorate in the Western Cape is desperately trying to explain to the ANC.

But he is right about one thing: in my speech I never divided the people of our province into categories, or classes, or races, or groups. I did that on purpose, Mr Speaker. The purpose was to show that this government is truly a government for ALL the people of the Western Cape.

Now of course the people of our province do not all have the same needs. Some have almost no need of government. By and large, they can take care of themselves. But for many, many others, the gulf between their hopes for the future and their present circumstances can only be bridged by government itself.

I am talking about babies, yet to be born, who are at risk of contracting HIV from their mothers.

I am talking about kids from the townships and flats and farms who face a world economic order that they cannot begin to comprehend, but which requires them to become knowledge workers in a knowledge economy.

I am talking about unemployed single mothers who first have to look to their children before sparing a thought for themselves.

I am talking about young boys who grow up surrounded by gang members who try to lure them into a life of theft and drug abuse.

I am talking about men and women who come to the Western Cape in the hope of finding work but who find themselves living in shacks along the N2 instead.

Mr Speaker, this government delivers to those people. And we deliver like no other government in South Africa delivers. Let me repeat that: we deliver like no other government in South Africa delivers.

Our guiding philosophy is simple: where there is no opportunity, there we intervene to extend to our people a helping hand. We work, every day, to bridge the gap between their present circumstances and their future hopes.

That is why the government of the Western Cape was fighting for the lives of those babies at risk of HIV infection when the leader of the opposition's party was questioning the very existence of the virus.

That is why the government of the Western Cape delivers better pass rates and better management of schools than any other province in South Africa.

That is why the government of the Western Cape ensures the delivery of income grants and pensions efficiently and on time, knowing, as our new colleague Minister Malatsi reminded us, that a delay of one day can be a matter of life and death to a pensioner.

That is why the government of the Western Cape is to execute a carefully planned, direct assault on gangsterism and the causes of gangsterism in the areas that are most affected by gangs.

That is why the government of the Western Cape is delivering more houses than the national government is prepared to pay for, and sits waiting for funds that lie dormant in the accounts of the national government.

And so when I hear the leader of the opposition suggest that this government does not care about the poor then I can only assume he is being a propagandist, and not the serious politician he called on all of us to be.

And I can only shake my head and wonder what he must think about the national government, or the governments of the other province in our country.

I wonder, Mr Speaker, if the leader of the opposition has the courage to acknowledge that the government of the Western Cape delivers to the poor like no other government in South Africa. And I wonder if he has the courage to take his concern for the poor to national leadership of his own party.

You see, the failure of the ANC everywhere in government hangs like a millstone around the neck of the leader of the opposition in the Western Cape. Because it is a simple matter for the people of our province to compare and contrast the quality of government in the Western Cape, with the disastrous governments in ANC controlled provinces.
And as time goes by, the people in those provinces are becoming aware of the differences also.

So when all is said and done, and the leader of the opposition has finished trying to rewrite the election results, and irrespective of all the plans he may have devised at his recent lekgotla, he will find his party coming up hard against this simple reality: as the clock ticks for the ANC nationally, so the ANC's prospects in the Western Cape trickle away.

Mr Speaker, before I end, perhaps I need to explain something to the members on that side of the house, something those who work with me don't need to have explained.

I may not wave my hands and raise my voice, either in this house or anywhere else. But they should know that I am passionate about delivering to the people of the Western Cape.

They should know that I am determined to keep the work of this government focused, with the intensity of a laser beam, on the business of delivering to all the people.

They should know that this government is inspired by a cause, and that cause is to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of our province so that the future really will be better than the past. For all the people of the Western Cape.

I Thank you.

Issued by the Office of the Premier, Western Cape, 9 February 2001