Minister Lindiwe Zulu: Debate of Presidency Budget Vote 2022/23

Address by the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, MP On the Occasion of the Debate: The Presidency Budget Vote 1 2022/23

National Assembly, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
Honourable Deputy Speaker, Honourable Lechesa Tsenoli (pronounced Tshenodi);
His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa;
His Excellency, the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Deputy President David Dabede Mabuza;
Honourable Ministers;
Honourable Deputy Ministers;
Honourable Members; and
Fellow South Africans

While continuing to provide solid leadership to all-of-government in the service of society and all our people, His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa is intently steering and capacitating The Presidency to:

• effectively carry out executive oversight on coherent policy and integrated programme implementation pursuant of an inclusive, transformed and prosperous South African society;
• provide responsive technical competencies by which accountability is necessarily engendered in the quest to realise government's strategic agenda; and
• continuously improve governance, State capacity and programme implementation with the view to qualitatively better the state of our people - yes, your constituency - through social and economic reconstruction and recovery.

2. Within these three programmes and objectives of The Presidency's Budget Vote 1 for the 2022/23 financial year, The Presidency will continue to lead and coordinate processes that formulate and implement comprehensive and sustainable solutions relative to the legacy of poverty and unemployment, as well as the novelty of climate change and the global order that are making living and securing livelihoods precarious for our people. Accordingly, it is the humanlevel impact of the role of The Presidency - owing to the leadership interventions of President Cyril Ramaphosa - that I am drawing your attention to in these areas.

3. Under the leadership of President Ramaphosa our government is implementing a once-in-a-generation set of programmes whose integrated implementation will tackle unemployment and poverty in our communities and thereby reclaiming the productive lives and dignity of 11 million South Africans who - as a result of the inhibiting structural economic conditions - are excluded from participating in and benefiting from the economy.

4. Our social protection framework constitutes part of our comprehensive approach to inequalities, unemployment and poverty. Not only do we provide targeted social assistance to over 18 million South Africans who cannot provide for themselves and their families every month (excluding over 10 million who are receiving the CoVID Social Relief of Distress grant), we are further consolidating the entire social wage through increasing the reliability and quality of basic services that our people receive.

5. Whereas some among our people are privileged to earn their living from being self-employed, pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities or being employed in public works' programmes or by established employers, the social wage represents government's growing investment in the quest to protect South Africans and improve their state of living. The size of government's social wage investment is evident in, for instance, our contribution to free basic education to a growing number of children of school-going age (in particular early childhood development), health services, housing and the development of core
infrastructure network that supports social and economic activities.

6. The leadership that The Presidency is providing our society is firmly securing policy continuity across different mandates and spheres of government. This role is fore-grounded by the pursuit of the wellbeing of every South African. To truly address the felt needs where poverty and unemployment are concerned, we heard South Africans when they told us that while some of them will need targeted social assistance interventions to be able to lead dignified lives and not fall below the social protection floor, a growing number of them are expressly saying that they opt to receive financial and non-financial support that will contribute to their realisation of their entrepreneurial capabilities. Still, others wish to be employed in public works' programmes, and by established employers.

7. From CoVID-19, to the July 2021 unrest, to the recent episodes of floods and drought, our collective resilience and adaptability as communities and as an economy continue to be tested. In this regard, our government continues to work together with community-based, private sector, scientific, local and multilateral partners as well as the diplomatic community to attend to the adverse impact that the recent floods had in various parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces in particular.

8. The indiscriminate nature of climate change events, especially their impact on the most vulnerable among our people, immediately transform our communities as well as our entire economy into frontlines where someone's limb, life, livelihood, loved ones or the only possessions that they have may be lost. With food security, shelter and mental health being threatened by the impact of re-

current climate changes in our communities, no longer can we consider these to be remote possibilities. The scientific data at our disposal enables us to plan and prepare better. It enables us to enter into meaningful partnerships. With an increase in climate change-induced adversities in the past few months, we all witnessed our government's leadership of responsive people-private-civicacademic-multilateral partnerships in the service of our traumatised communities. This was our demonstration of social compacting-in-action, and we are looking forward to strengthening these partnership into the future.

9. At the strategic level, the Presidential Climate Change Coordination Council was appointed to: device energy transition strategies; mobilise climate financing; develop mitigation approaches for greater and inclusive economic resilience; and establish socially-responsive and technologically-pre-emptive adaptations to the lived reality of climate change.

10. Please allow me to preface the last leg of my input by invoking the timeless guidance of the Freedom Charter where we, the people of South Africa, firmly stated that we [I quote] [respect] the rights and sovereignty of all nations; [we…] shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation - not war. Peace and friendship amongst all our people shall be secured by upholding the equal rights, opportunities and status of all [Unquote].

11. Let me take this opportunity to remind you that exactly a month from today we will be commemorating the launch of the African Union in Durban, eThekwini 20 years. South Africa is a member of the African continent and community. It is for this reason that The Presidency continues to support efforts that are intended at the realisation of an integrated, peaceful and prosperous Africa that is driven by its own citizens. This is the Africa that determines its developmental agenda without undue influences from old as well as aspiring neo-colonisers alike.

12. As I mentioned earlier, and as will be elaborated by the Honourable Members of the majority party, the implementation of South Africa's social and economic reconstruction and recovery plan through increasing investments in our people's productive skill and ownership of productive activities, together with the re-invigoration of our industrial capabilities and the development of core infrastructure will not only result in economic growth and the employment of our people (particularly youth). On a continental scale, these will increase South Africa's meaningful contribution and participation in integrating Africa's economy through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that has been ratified by 42 Member States of the AU.

13. Accordingly, Africa's social and economic development - and growing and sustainable intra-Africa trade between AU's Member States - have symbiotic relations with peace and stability throughout our continent. It follows that theattainment of deeper economic integration between African countries ought to arise from the realisation that Africa is the foundation that each seeks.

14. Informed by the Freedom Charter, the Sixth Administration of our democratic government is not neutral in the Ukraine conflict. Seeing neutrality in this matter is squaring the circle. In any conflict situation no none of the warring parties is conferred with super-human privileges to righteousness. Nowhere has a military solution resolved a violent conflict. It is this sort of irrational logic that has perpetuated the pattern of conflicts that have been raging in living memory. We align with neither warring parties because we firmly believe that no nation should be invaded by another and be subjected to never-ending conflicts, especially where third parties are covertly supplying ammunition and thereby extending the suffering of ordinary people on both sides of the conflict.

15. Far from being detached from this conflict, the majority of South Africans are affected by it in that: the price of cooking oil, flour and taxi fares have increased astronomically.

16. As has consistently been advocated by President Cyril Ramaphosa, dialogue as well as negotiations are sustainable ways of ending this conflict. Our own CODESA is the case in point. For the sake of our people, the warring parties ought to dialogue. Peace-loving people of the world must transform the state of the people by adopting non-alignment in the global order system. We reject all conflict-based solutions and innovations around people-centred solutions to address poverty, unemployment and climate change.

17. Aspects of this budget vote correctly reinforce The Presidency's capacity to exercise oversight, coordinate and lead all the areas in which a responsive, capable, developmental and ethical State is required are welcome.

18. Let me conclude by invoking the wise words of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe OR Tambo when he said [I quote] … you might think it is very difficult to wage a liberation struggle. Wait until you are in power…. People will be expecting a lot of services from you. You will have to satisfy the various demands of the masses of our people. [Unquote]

19. Deputy Speaker. Budget Vote 1 of The Presidency is supported.

I thank you.

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