1. Hon. MEC the Minority Front has always held the view that, there must be a calculated balancing act for decisions regarding economic development and environmental protection and promotion.
2. The ailing budgets for conservation versus economic development loses sight of the economic opportunities the protection and promotion of the environment offers. What is sorely lacking is the building of climate change adapted infrastructure for land, air and sea recycling initiatives. Missed opportunities on renewable energy is unforgivable. EDTEA needs to engage, the department of education, our schools ; colleges, technikons and universities on curriculum adaptation. EDTEA should offer bursaries for more climate change scientists. The MF reiterates that mitigating climate change risks deserves an equal budget to economic development.
3. With respect to Emzemvelo and the PPP or commercialization strategy, Hon. MEC, Emzemvelo is collapsing and must be rescued. Hon. Members, PPP is being confused with outsourcing and privatization and this is impeding open debate. It is important to stimulate a more strategic debate in this Hon House, dependent on the goals and values our government and businesses wish to achieve.
4. To create full-time jobs for sustainable agriculture or biodiversity conservation, all governments are increasingly depending on the private sector for implementation of projects. Given the budget cuts due to COVID-19, shows us that the public sector can no longer afford large investments, hence private sector involvement is required. For this reason the NHI has to be cemented and most of us agree on this in Health but in Conservation some of us have an opposing or skeptical view. Let’s not politize health or the environment – both are interdependent for our survival. Without these we have no economies. Without blurring the debate, the MF simply wishes to emphasize that this changes the relationship between government and the marketplace. Public management has to change because output and performance are now key criteria for evaluating the public sector. Hence, the attention to PPP‘s fits this context. The MF wishes to see both public and private sectors combine the efforts to make Emzemvelo workable.
5. With these recommendations, the Minority Front supports the programme 7 budget of almost R1.7 billion Rands of Vote 4, however doubling of this budget is required if we want to explore creative strategic management the SMART way, harnessing natures bounty to contribute to future prosperity.
6. Thank you.

Hon. S. Thakur-Rajbansi