Hon Manuel, please leave me to preside.
I shall certainly do so, Madam Speaker. Firstly, I would like to respond to the three statements. The first one is from the hon De Lille. It is rather confusing because she starts with a confusing story in the Sunday Times and it looks like the Daily Voice or Die Son or something like that. It is a serious reduction in the quality. She then ends up with the child support grant and I don't see what the link is. I don't see what the link is, because these two issues are quite unrelated.
As far as the child support grant issue is concerned, I thought that I have adequately responded to the hon Greyling, two weeks ago, and the hon De Lille was in the House. You can rake this thing up all the time, but we can't go any further with it.
In respect of the hon Opperman, if he has left the House I suppose I should just ignore what he has said. [Interjections.]
No, Madam Speaker, I stand to be advised. If somebody makes a statement and doesn't want it to be responded to ...
Proceed and give an answer, hon Minister. It is of interest to the House.
Indeed, it is of interest to the House. If he had read today's newspapers, which I'm sure he might get to do next week, he would have seen that the president of the South African Institute of Race Relations, Mr John Kane-Berman, confirms the results of the community survey. He confirms that there have been very significant improvements in the quality of life of the people of South Africa; confirms that services have reached people where previously nothing had existed; and says that there are still people who are left outside of the system.
It does not accord with the basis from which the hon Opperman, who now has found his way back to the coffee room, has argued this point. So I think he is so fundamentally wrong on the issue, because he doesn't have any facts that accord with what he is saying. We must invite him to read Kane-Berman this morning on this issue.
The hon Thompson had spoken to the issue of food price inflation. Indeed, it's an exceedingly difficult problem. As we pointed out yesterday, rising from the G20 meeting, across the world without exception food price inflation is a huge problem and the largest increase is seen in grains, maize and wheat. In respect of maize prices we've seen people in Mexico, where maize is a staple as it is here, take to the streets because we've had these very rapid increases.
The Department of Agriculture is engaged in programmes that involve food gardens and local support systems, but the challenge of significantly increased food prices is a global phenomenon, and like oil prices, it is something we have to face for a while. We must then ensure that the maximum amount of land will be utilised for the planting of maize and that we won't divert the use of maize away from its consumption, as primary foodstuff, into other uses that may impact on supply and demand preferences. Thank you.