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It is a great honour today to stand before you and feel proud to be a member of this society and government that is championing different approaches and strategies to ensure a qualitative improvement in the lives of all the people of our beautiful country.

Allow me to hail our President as leader of our country in his opening speech to parliament, once again showed strategic leadership for our country by providing a clear direction and a series of programmes and projects to achieve our mandate as given to us by the millions of our people who voted for the ANC.

Allow me, Mr. Speaker also to thank our Premier, Comrade Mbhazima Shilowa, for the visionary leadership in the province, for his tireless efforts to drive, co-ordinate and motivate all of us to achieve our collective goal of eradicating poverty, stimulate the economy and deliver quality services.

Mr Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not thank our people for going to the polls and vote for the democratic local government. The overwhelming mandate given to the ANC is a reflection of the confidence in this government and its policies to achieve development and fundamental change.

The vision of sustainable communities through which we will achieve a better life for all is not only realisable but shall be touched, felt and enjoyed by the generations to come. And my department is ready to do this.

Mr Speaker, the fundamental task to achieve a better life for all is the eradication of poverty. This is a challenge that requires commitment from every woman, man, black or white; every institution, public or private, in short all of us. However, I continue to be amazed at the narrow self-interest expressed by the opposition.

Mr Speaker, Professor Sono's a-historical contribution to this debate, provides the theoretical basis for the DP's "alternative policies" which are designed to protect privilege and yes, Professor, history has not been erased, it is White Privilege!

I am reminded of a book I read in 1971 by Frantz Fanon, "Black Skin, White Masks". Professor Sono's utterances are similar to that encountered by Fanon who wrote in 1952: "Lay aside your history, your investigations of the past, and try to feel yourself into our rhythm. In a society such as ours, industrialised to the highest degree, dominated by scientism, there is no longer room for your sensitivity. One must be tough if one is to be allowed to live". Said in another way, Fanon quotes a disabled war veteran who said, "Resign yourself to your colour the way I got used to my stump."

Comrade Speaker, I want Professor Sono and the DP to hear Fanon's response that epitomises mine to what I deem a personal affront. "Nevertheless, with all my strength, I refuse to accept that amputation. I feel in myself a soul as immense as the world, truly a soul as deep as the deepest of rivers, my chest has the power to expand without limit."

Not only do you deny us our pride and heritage, you deny us our future! Let me answer Professor Sono's question. "What meaningful change to the material conditions of poor people and the formerly oppressed will such an admission bring? The answer lies in your own colleagues statements. Honourable Goodall's assertion "That the single biggest challenge facing Gauteng today is that of the retention and development of skills". Yet, his colleague Hon. Quail says, "We believe in merit and the best person for the job. We do not think that all appointments in the name of transformation and race and gender representavity have been in the best interests of delivering quality training."

This assertion is repeated by Hon. Bosman, that an aggressive programme to place Black people in Senior Civil Service positions is RACISM! The Hon. Members of the DP are forgetting history. It is apartheid that created a minority of white people with skills! How do you deliver quality service in the context of Batho Pele when the only people employed cannot communicate with the majority of the people in their mother tongue or intrinsically understanding their needs? Let me request you Hon. Bosman to read the Premier's speech, just two sentences beyond you misquote. "To succeed in the implementation of our programme, we embarked upon a process to retrain personnel", " to inculcate a culture of transparency, accountability and effective and efficient service delivery". Comrade Speaker, I could continue to give examples of this defence of White Privilege by the DP but I wish to turn to the Premier's speech.

Comrade Speaker, it was clear as early as 1980 that the strategy of the Apartheid Regime recognised that certain blatant apartheid laws could be removed and apartheid would remain. The fact is that the racial laws had institutionalised class supremacy, that is the working class and the poor were, and remain overwhelmingly Black, while the middle, upper and owning classes are overwhelmingly White.

This fact is the fundamental tenet of the DP strategy. Strip government of the capacity to intervene to ensure transformation. Consequently, Hon. Quail and Bosman oppose steps to create a representative public and private sector. Hon. Thusi devoid of all facts opposes intervention for transformation. Hon. Prinsloo downplays the uptake of child support grants, in short, the safety net for the poor.

Hon. Killian by innuendo implies that every black person who improves their social condition through black empowerment is as a result of patronage. The sum of these innuendos and input is to retain the status quo, in other words, white privilege.

Plans For Municipality Support

The transformation of the Local Sphere of Government that was unleashed with the full implementation of the Constitution on 5 December 2000, presents massive challenges. The key is to create institutions that are developmental in nature, fosters people involvement and is focussed on quality service delivery that will advance the battle to eradicate poverty. In some cases the establishment of municipalities has been a legal process and the integration of the business of the old municipalities to the new municipalities in ongoing.

END

Issued by: Office of the MEC for Development Planning and Local Government, Gauteng, 20 February 2001