Presiding Officers;
Your Excellency, President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa;
Deputy President Mr. Paul Mashatile;
Honourable Members of this august house;

Nearly five years ago on 15 October 2020, Mr. President, you presented to Parliament the Economic  Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) as a response to sluggish economic growth impacted by the deadly COVID-19, devastating floods, and the July civil unrest. At the time President, you characterized infrastructure development as a flywheel on which our country should rebuild its economy due to its multiplier effect.

Subsequently, Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) was established under Minister Patricia De Lile and Dr Kgosiyenthso Ramokgopa headed ISA championing infrastructure preparation where ISA became a single point of entry for infrastructure planning, management, and delivery.  

This ensured that once projects are ready, line function departments take over and lead the execution processes. This was followed by the establishment of the Infrastructure Fund (IF) as an added instrument to provide blended finance, including opening for the first time the participation of the public [PRIVATE?] sector in financing public infrastructure. In 2022, ISA released the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP 2050) with a focus on projects in water, energy, transport, and digital infrastructure.

Under the 6th Administration in 2020, 62 Projects or Programmes were gazetted as SIPs with an additional 7 Programmes gazetted as SIPs in 2022. Taking into account the various programmes gazetted as SIPs, we have approximately 268 individual projects gazetted as SIPs, which are dominated by the Energy sector under the Embedded Generation Programme, the Green Hydrogen Programme and the various  Bid windows and preferred bidders as announced by the DMRE and the Minister of Electricity and Energy. The total value of these projects is already estimated at around R3 trillion. Eighty two (82) of these projects are already in construction worth an estimated value of approximately R437 billion.

Since the SONA 2024, the Infrastructure Fund (IF) and its partners have made great strides in the infrastructure landscape. Seven more blended finance projects with a capital value of R37.8 billion have been added to the IF pipeline as noted by the President in the SONA last week. These are in the water and sanitation, student accommodation, transportation, health and municipal energy sectors. Government commitment for these projects is estimated at around  R13.8 billion over the 2025 medium-term, comprising of bespoke and innovative first loss capital grant finance, short and long-term viability gap and project derisking debt instruments. The associated financial additionality from the private sector and public equity contributions is estimated at around R24.2 billion.

Honourable Members, we must add that the 12 projects that are ready for implementation that the President referred to in the SONA were packaged and included in the Construction Book, the first of its kind, which we launched here in Cape Town under the 6th Administration.

Factually, this demystifies the myth that things are happening only now because there are new parties that are now in government. Never mind that these parties boarded a train already rolling and delivering tangible results, they are not in the habit of giving credit where it is due; it is not in their nature or training to acknowledge work done by others before their arrival as the obsession is to claim easy victories in desperate attempts to woo the South African voter, by hook or crook.

They are embarrassed to attribute accolade where it is due, not because of anything, but hypocrisy and disrespect of the process of knowledge development. If it was not hypocrisy and the bad habit of misleading the public, it would not be difficult to acknowledge the good work of the previous Minister who was instrumental in the packaging of projects and the release of South Africa’s groundbreaking Construction Book launched by President Ramaphosa during the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium (SIDSSA) which took place from 17 to 19 March 2024.

Since they do not value knowledge development, they have no appreciation that plagiarism is frowned upon among knowledge workers and scholars, and that the consequences of intellectual theft or deliberate misrepresentation of facts are extremely severe, at least to those who have been exposed to rigorous discipline akin to academia. Indeed, plagiarism and data integrity are not taught during basic education stage, yet they are the heart and soul of Higher Education.

Honourable Members, going forward, this government will enhance project preparation by easing regulations affecting Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), and further ensure a quicker turn on PPPs implementation unit while National Treasury continues with its overall monitoring to avoid potential corrupt practices. This will ensure an increase in investment in all infrastructure which in turn will lead to the growth of Gross Capital Formation which is the primary feature of our country’s balance sheet while creating more skills and sustainable jobs.

As a developmental state, our approach on infrastructure development is not about caring only for selective areas but the whole of South Africa.  Each day, we play our role to reverse the evil legacy of apartheid spatial planning which neglected poor townships and rural communities.

The Welisizwe Rural Bridges prgramme connects rural communities with each other and to amenities. To date, 40 bridges have been completed in six provinces with the highest numbers in Kwa-Zulu Natal followed by the Eastern Cape. The breakdown of completed bridges may be summarized as follows: Kwa-Zulu Natal (18), Eastern Cape (14), Mpumalanga (4), Limpopo (0), Nort West (1), and Free State (3).

The Department has developed recovery plans for all provinces. I have visited the bridges in the North West Province in November 2024 working together with the MEC for Public Works and Roads, Ms Sempe Mokua. We managed to unlock hindrances affecting the construction of bridges in that province. Before the end March 2024, we will handover six (6) completed bridges in the North West.
Honourable Members, whilst the apartheid regime preserved small harbour development for the Western Cape only, by the end of March 2025, we would have completed feasibility studies that will allow for the actual construction of new small harbours in Port Alfred (Eastern Cape), Port Nolloth (Northern Cape) and Port Edward  (KwaZulu-Natal)for local communities to have fishing infrastructure.
We continue to ensure that all 13 habours that we have refurbished in the Western Cape are opened for all communities to exploit economic opportunities, including big and small fishing companies. We are aware of reports on enemies of transformation and enemies of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous South Africa who seek to marginalise Black communities in Hout-Bay. We shall deal with them like a bulldog dealing with a bone because they have no place in the South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, black and white, envisioned by our forebears who adopted the Freedom Charter 70 years ago.

Honourable Members, the implementation of social infrastructure remains crucial. Clearly, the state needs to enhance its role in this respect. In recent years, we have seen the Independent Development Trust (IDT) cultivating itself and becoming one of the key role players in social infrastructure delivery. State organs need to be enhanced and supported. It is thus important that all client departments, whether in the provinces or at national level, pay implementing agents like IDP on time.

At the same time, we have seen the impact of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in many communities. We are acutely aware of fiscal constraints, but when President Ramaphosa launched the 5th Phase of EPWP for period 2025 – 2029 in April last year, he did so because of the impact of this programme in alleviating poverty for many of our vulnerable communities. Whilst departments have fiscal challenges, the reduction of EPWP based on age is unacceptable. The working age in South Africa is from 18 to 65 years, and therefore none must be excluded. We must work together guided by the Presidency and National Treasury to give meaning to priorities of the 7th Administration.

Fellow South Africans, our country and the world have been bombarded with propaganda and deliberate misinformation about the Expropriation Act recently assented by the President. This Act empowers the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure to expropriate land or assets only in the interests of the public, and with compensation even if compensation is NIL. Firstly, in South Africa there is an Office of Valuator-General. Secondly, on the implementation of expropriation, a Valuator shoud be appointed to determine the value of the property. Thirdly, there should be negotiations with the owner of the property. The three stages provided for by the Act add to the existence of the Valuator-General. All four guarantees ensure the security of tenure and property rights in the country.  

This misinformation about land grabs and all other falsehoods are rather unfortunate. Worse, when a Minister publicly says the Act will be implemented over his dead body, not when he is still the Executive Authority. Ministers take an oath of office, committing that they would obey and uphold the Constitution and all other law of the Republic. That they will uphold their offices conscientiously.

Such a response is unfortunate but bear the need for self-development. There are many Ministers who would not be comfortable with certain Acts but upon taking office they have to implement them. We are seeing what was perfectly described by the late MEC Dumisani Makhaye where he said where racism is combined with ignorance, they produce arrogance. And it is this type of arrogance that invites foreign countries to attack our country and government on the basis of disinformation peddled not just by right wing organizations like Afriforum or Solidarity, but a Minister in the GNU who is expected to obey and uphold the Constitution.

Compatriots, contrary to what you hear from opponents of transformation on South African property relations, we can state without any fear of contradiction that expropriation is not exclusive or unique to our country or the post 1994 democratic state. A little bit of research on the subject reveals that the ability of governments across the world to expropriate land for public good is not something peculiar to South Africa.

In the USA, they use “Eminent Domain” for land to be acquired or expropriated by the state. In India and Singapore, it is referred to as “Land Acquisition”. In New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK, it is called “Compulsory Purchase”. In Canada, Russia, Brazil and most of Western Europe, these powers are referred to as “Expropriation.”

In our case, this Act which has caused unnecessary noise and attacks on our country replaces the previous Expropriation Act No 63 of 1975 and aligns expropriation with the Constitution, unlike the 1975 one. Now South Africa has a new policy framework which clearly spells out how and when expropriation can take place, setting a standard procedure to all Expropriating Authorities to have uniform procedures when they expropriate for public purpose and/or in the public interest as outlined in the Constitution. The African National Congress cares more than anyone in this House to achieve land reform while ensuring investor confidence to grow our economy and create jobs for our people.

As the African National Congress, we are confident that the Act will pass Constitutional muster. We call on all patriotic South Africans represented in this House to support government to defend the Expropriation Act in court now that the DA has decided to take this route. This is nothing but an attempt to delay the implementation of the Act and will give the Minister responsible (and his party) an excuse not to begin the drafting of regulations. More than that, this court challenge will only add to unnecessary confusion and further polarize our nation as the enemies of progress and transformation drag the country into court.

Fellow South Africans, let us unite in a common vision of building a truly non-racial, non-sexist society. Lets us unite to fight unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

Let us unite to fight illiteracy, ignorance, and promote education, let us unite against gender based violence and fight discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community.

It is time to unite to fight crime and promote sports, culture and social cohesion.    

We will do well to heed former President Thabo Mbeki’s caution to SANEF in 1998 where he pleaded with all to fight the negative stereotypes that linger on in the colonial imagination about a supposedly backward, dark continent requiring white trustees to supervise Africans.

Indeed, it is time we owned our narrative and reported Africa as Africans to ourselves and the world and report South Africa as South Africans as former President Mbeki advised.

I thank you!