ANC no letters.jpg Statement by the ANC in Parliament, 19 May 2016 The Budget Votes and Other Recent Developments On Wednesday, 18 May 2016, the National Assembly burned the midnight oil, considering and approving the budgets of 40 government departments and other state institutions, in line with the service delivery priorities announced in the President's State of the Nation Address, and the subsequent annual budget statement by the Finance Minister. Last night's adoption of the budget allocations - in the form of the Appropriation Bill 2016, totalling over R1.3 Trillion, is the culmination of five weeks-long robust multi-party debates on the departments' previous spending and the 2016 proposed budgets. This paves the way for government to kick-start this year's ambitious programme of providing the much-needed services to the people of South Africa in line with their 2016/2017 budget and the Medium Term Strategic Framework 2014-2019. The adoption of this year's budget within the context of the prevailing difficult local and global economic conditions, encouragingly coincided with the affirmation of South Africa's credit rating by Moody's, which also upgraded the credit ratings of the ANC-governed Metros of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, respectively. This is an affirmation of our strong, resilient and creative endeavours to manage our economic challenges; intensify job creation and radically reduce the levels of poverty and inequality in line with the National Development Plan. Over the next three years, government has committed to spend a further R457.5 billion to support the indigent, to cushion the impact of poverty on the poor and the vulnerable through social grants. This is in line with the commitment the ANC made in the 2014 election manifesto to intensify the rollout of social grants to all eligible South Africans to bolster their quality of life. To further uplift the poor's living conditions, over R171 billion will be directed towards local government equitable share to support the expansion of access of poor households to free basic services. Education and health are some of the ANC government's apex priorities. This year's budget will see increased spending on those crucial areas to ensure that we continue to expand access to education, particularly for the poor and the underprivileged. Parliament's approval of the budget votes yesterday will ensure that, in the next three years, relevant departments direct over R841 Billion on subsidies to schools, building of new schools, learner and teacher materials, NSFAS and allocations to universities. A number of processes, which include the Presidential Commission of enquiry on funding for poor students and the "missing middle", will assist government in further expanding access to higher education by the poor. The ANC's 2014 manifesto has committed to ensuring early childhood development, eradicating illiteracy, improving quality of teaching and learning and building capacity in higher education and training. The adoption of the 2016 departmental budgets by Parliament also put our government in good stead to further radically increase the current total of 16 million people with access to a home by directing over R108 billion to expand public housing in the next three years. To further radically expand access to primary healthcare for the benefit of particularly the poor in line with the concrete commitments made in the 2014 manifesto, over R4.5 billion will fund the operation of the NHI pilot districts. The ANC government has radically increased access to clinics by the poor to over 70% , reduced mother to child HIV transmission by over 66%, placed over 2.4 million people with HIV on antiretroviral treatment and increased average life expectancy to around 60 years. Our government remains on course to create jobs and enhance the performance of our economy. Despite the tough economic climate, we have managed to create over 700 000 jobs in the last financial year. As part of the 9-point Plan announced by the President last year, government has embarked on an ambitious multi-billion Rand infrastructure development programme to boost our economy and create jobs. Our government is investing more than R1 billion each working day in infrastructure and has, amongst others, built 160 news schools, 29 new clinics and one new hospital; extended water to communities, connected 245 000 households to electricity and added 1 700 megawatts onto the national grid. All these achievements were made possible through the impeccable policies of the ANC and its pro-poor government budget allocations. We have observed with dismay futile attempts by DA MPs to sabotage the passing of this progressive budget last night. The DA brazenly indulged in silly tactics, including repeated walkouts, in an attempt to stop the passing of the budget to deny much-needed services earmarked particularly for the poor. Had DA in Parliament had it its way, our government would not be able to provide monthly support to the existing 16 million poor social grant beneficiaries, provide shelter to the homeless, electrify and connect water for households without them, and extend decent health and education to millions of poor people. This is the sort of destructive opposition which serves only the rich and does not care about the poor - the majority of whom are Black. Once again, the DA has reminded all of us that to them Black lives do not matter. We condemn such misguided conduct with the contempt it deserves. Similarly, we denounce the conduct of the EFF, which claims to be pro-poor, socialist and pro-Black, for orchestrating its absence at this crucial budget vote process aimed at bettering the lives of the poor. This party continues to fail to understand what our country's first President, Nelson Mandela, said when he stated in his last address in Parliament, "Because the people of South Africa . chose a profoundly legal path to their revolution, those who frame and enact the Constitution and laws are in the vanguard of the fight for change. It is in the legislatures that the instruments have been fashioned to create a better life for all. "It is here that oversight of government has been exercised. It is here that our society, in all is formations, has had an opportunity to influence policy and its implementation." We welcome the decision of Parliament to press criminal charges against the EFF Members of Parliament for their repulsive acts of violence against the security staff of Parliament and for their malicious damage to Parliament property. The EFF MPs, both individually and collectively, must be made to account before a court of law, and hopefully face serious penalties for the disgraceful chaos they unleashed in this Parliament. Those found guilty by the Court of law must be convicted and the EFF, as a party, must be made to foot the bill for the damage caused. Taxpayers must never be made to pay for the damages perpetrated by these individuals. The type of thuggery witnessed this week is unprecedented in the recent history of this institution. The barbaric assault of a defenceless female security officer, which included repeated kicks on the head by EFF MPs, the storming into the Chamber by a man alleged to be Julius Malema's bodyguard to fight with parliament staff, and the damage to property amounting to thousands, represent shocking acts of unadulterated criminality unbecoming of honourable MPs. It is unheard of that MPs, who ought to reflect exemplary leadership to the whole of society, would mimic and replicate the unacceptable culture witnessed elsewhere across the country of damaging properties of schools, clinics, universities and other public buildings. Time has come for Parliament and the entire society to draw the line, shun and isolate such characters from our society. Parliament, for its part, must strengthen its security, including ensuring that harmful objects are not permitted in the House and that the Chamber is protected against intruders. We have been made aware that certain EFF MPs' bags were stuffed with heavy objects such as bricks to use as weapons against the security staff of Parliament. This must be investigated. Parliament must carefully study the whole footage of that day and use it as concrete evidence in Court. We commend ANC MPs for remaining calm and acting with restraint in the face of such provocation by EFF MPs. Issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo, 082 370 6930 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
