(Budget Vote Debate: Presidency)
Since its inception in 1994, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has been part of every Parliament, and has always maintained a constructive and positive approach. We will continue in this same vein, because we must find solutions to secure a better future for all.
So, it is counterproductive when President Cyril Ramaphosa dismisses good proposals for ensuring progress as racism. South Africa has failed under ANC rule and it cannot go on like this.
This is the gist of the message Dr Corné Mulder, leader of the Freedom Front Plus, conveyed to President Cyril Ramaphosa today during the Budget Vote Debate on the Presidency. Here is the full speech:
“The Freedom Front Plus believes that solutions to the country’s challenges have to be found to create a bright future for all our children and grandchildren, and to make South Africa a successful and winning country. This includes ensuring a bright future for the Afrikaner as well as every other minority group in South Africa.
In your (the President’s) reply to my follow-up question during the previous question-and-answer session, you stated the following: ‘The GNU is going to spend a considerable amount of hours and number of days to discuss the economic strategy and trajectory we should pursue.’ Now is the time to do this.
Three questions were put to me which I could not reply to at the time, but I will respond now. Firstly, should black people continue to play the role of labourers and consumers only? The answer is a clear, unequivocal no.
Secondly, may black people not own productive aspects of our economy? Of course, they may and they should. It is in everybody’s best interest.
Thirdly, may black people not be rich as well? Of course, they may, and some are already spectacularly rich. Yet, the majority of South Africans are struggling to make ends meet.
Professor William Gumede of the Wits School of Governance recently said in this regard that, conservatively calculated, R1 trillion has been moved around between less than 100 politically well-connected people since 1994. The same people have been empowered and re-empowered over and over. That is not black economic empowerment (BEE).
You also referred to Afrikaner history, specifically when we had to overcome the challenge of abject poverty. Your assumption that this crisis was resolved because Afrikaners were the beneficiaries of Apartheid policies and privileging legislation is, however, wrong.
The Carnegie Report of 1939 (9 years before the NP came to power in 1948) had a central theme, namely that government aid cultivates dependence.
The more comprehensive a state’s social security net, the greater the public’s dependency. That is why our premise has always been “a people saves itself” and “we will do it ourselves”. In the past, we saved ourselves, and today, we are doing it again – ourselves.
As a result, a multitude of independent Afrikaner institutions, such as the Reddingsdaadbond, Federale Volksbeleggings, SANTAM, SANLAM, Volkskas, and many others, were established.
However, since 1994, the ANC has adopted the opposite approach: not “we will save ourselves”, but “the state must”. Last week, the Minister of Social Development revealed that 45% of South Africans rely on social grants; this figure excludes NSFAS.
A staggering R290 billion of her total budget of R294 billion is earmarked for social grants. It is simply not sustainable. This is not sustainable.
At the heart of the country’s crisis lies an obsession with equality of outcome, while the rest of the world understands only equality of opportunity.
Equality of opportunity empowers everyone, while equality of outcome enslaves – because it requires perpetual social engineering, control, quotas, confiscation and coercion.
To secure stability and a bright future, the Freedom Front Plus believes that all black, white, coloured and Indian people need to progress economically. After 30 years, the facts show that current economic policy is failing.
Do not dismiss proposals that criticise it and propose better solutions as racism. The Freedom Front Plus is ready to fulfil our role and come to the table to make this a winning country for everyone.
FF+ Manifesto on Federalism: The party advocates for a federal system of government to decentralize power.
Fresh Peper
Qatar: You have two cows. They each have a maid.
Muzish
North Korea: You have two cows. Its name is Kim Jong Un.