Thank you, Madam Speaker. We would join the hon Zoliswa Kota in congratulating and thanking those women who have come forward as volunteers to assist communities in the building of houses and the provision of shelter to the people of our country.
I also want to respond on the matter of road safety that has been raised by the hon Ntuli, to just indicate that we welcome the statements members have made calling on the people of our country to ensure that we arrive alive and do as much as we can to reduce speed and ensure safety on our roads.
I am pleased to be able to thank the hon Ntuli for drawing attention to the work that is being done by schools. We have a life skills programme that is fundamental within the curriculum that includes road safety for all our children who study life orientation.
We also have a 365 days programme on Road Traffic Safety which is run in our schools and our MECs have been asked to play a clear role in this regard.
Finally, we would want to say as we call on drivers let us also call on pedestrians because they are the ones most affected in terms of collisions and accidents and fatalities that occur during the festive season. Therefore, let us pay more attention to those who are walking on our roads.
Lastly, if I could just say that we wish to express our thanks to all the teachers of our country, particularly those who have exerted maximum effort in supporting our children to recover following the public sector strike. We would also want to indicate to the hon Mfundisi that we thank him for his words to the Grade 12s and the teachers.
Furthermore, we would also say that we will be running a national tutorial programme next year to create awareness that this is the final year of the old matric. We will be running tutorial programmes through hundreds of centres throughout the country for those children who would not have succeeded in passing their matric this year in order to assist them to work toward concluding by 2011, which is the cut-off date for young persons who might write as part-time writers. We have made it our responsibility as government to provide support in 2008 to children who would not have fully succeeded in the 2007 examinations.
I would also say to the Rev Meshoe with respect to the elderly that more must be done. Government has so far done a great deal. But why don't we go into Umlazi and ask members of the community to form a phalanx around the elderly as they go to the pension paypoints, and that we as communities should provide support and protection to the citizens who are aged in our country to ensure that everybody understands that as communities we will take on the mantle of ensuring that every person is safe and able to exercise their rights to pension and other forms of grants, and that no criminal will be tolerated in our communities, by us, the members of the community working hand in hand with the Police Service in our society. Thank you.