Hon speaker, hon members, and hon Mulder, this government is engaged in a war on poverty in our country regardless of the race or religion of the people affected. The way the war on poverty works is that the poorest wards in our country have been identified using Statistics SA's Provincial Poverty Index. Since the unit of intervention is the household, every household and family that lives in these targeted poor wards across South Africa is thus eligible for all government service interventions, irrespective of race, religion, social or political persuasion.
So, to reiterate, government attends to the needs of all its citizens regardless of their race. Poor white people are as entitled to government services as any other race group of our nation. Basic services are a constitutional right and the war on poverty uses a needs-based approach to service delivery co-ordination.
Government actively discourages a return to the old dispensation where skin colour was the sole determinant of access to social services, as well as the quality thereof. As President Jacob Zuma said when visiting the poor white community of Bethlehem earlier this year, this government is determined to fight and eradicate poverty in every community and every corner of this society. Our efforts in this regard will not be driven by considerations of race, colour or creed. It is therefore important that the fight to eradicate poverty becomes not just a government fight. It should be a fight in which South Africans from all walks of life collectively come together to wage and win this war. I thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker and thank you, Deputy President, for your answer. It is exactly what I expected. However, as far as I am concerned, it is not necessarily what we are experiencing in practice out there, and that is what I want to take up with you.
The fact of the matter is that President Zuma visited an area around Pretoria called Wesmoot on 30 March. The President undertook to do certain investigations into the problems the people face there. It is now five months after the visit, and we have had nothing and no reply back from the Presidency. In that specific area, there are 5 000 whites living in informal housing; and in and around Pretoria, there are now more than 70 informal settlements where whites are residing.
The Bureau of Market Research indicated that there are more than 650 000 whites, 16 years and older, that have no income whatsoever. According to the Institute of Race Relations, there has been an increase of more than 95% in white poverty, and we have more than 430 000 poor whites at this stage.
The President says that government does not make any distinction, but in practice we see something different. There are certain projects where government departments get involved, like Social Development and Agriculture, for example, in Limpopo. But we are not aware of any projects from government's side in terms of what we experience in respect of white poverty.
Arising out of the hon Deputy President's reply, my question, basically, was whether the government is prepared to investigate this issue because it is becoming more and more serious. I want to ask again: Is government prepared that we investigate this issue and see what the actual facts are? Thank you.
Thank you, hon Speaker. Hon Mulder, as I said, we follow Statistics SA's Provincial Poverty Index. Just to illustrate the point that I am making, outside Kroonstad in the Free State, there is an old township called Marabastad. This is a very, very old township. When I visited the area last year, the houses there were disintegrating. I am happy to share with you that there are RDP houses that are being constructed in the area, and homeless white families, 74 of them from Kroonstad, are being allocated houses there and have accepted taking ownership of those houses.
That indicates, in practical terms, that these services are not meant for only one race group, but we follow Statistics SA's Provincial Poverty Index. If there are people who are poor and deserving of this intervention in a particular area or town, that happens to them as well because the target is the household. And in each household we try to identify change agents.
Tomorrow and on Saturday, I will be going to Plettenberg Bay and Bitou with the Premier of the Western Cape to do exactly the same thing. We go from household to household to establish whether we can assist the families to free them from this grip of poverty. I thank you.
Mhlonishwa Somlomo, namhlanje sifuna ukukhuluma isiBhunu. [Hon Speaker, we want to speak Afrikaans today.]
Meneer die Speaker, armoede is 'n verskynsel wat nie kleur ken nie. Ek wil met die agb adjunkpresident saamstem. Hy ken nie kleur nie. Ons is almal arm of ryk. Ek wil ook met dr Mulder saamstem, dat daar iets aan wit armoede gedoen moet word. Terwyl ons vandag oor wit armoede praat, kom ons bespreek dit deeglik. Ons praat baie keer oor armoede oor die algemeen, maar om te dink dat daar 'n 150% groei in Afrikaner armoede die afgelope klompie jare was en dat daar omtrent 600 000 arm blankes is skokkend. Ek wil ook s dat daar rondom Pretoria 77 plakkerskampe is en landswyd is daar 470 blanke plakkerskampe.
As 'n mens daarna kyk, mnr die Speaker, dan het jy pyn in jou hart oor hierdie armoede. Daarom doen ons 'n beroep op die regering om ook te kyk na wit armoede.
Ek wil afsluit deur te s ons bring hulde aan die vakunie Solidariteit, wat 'n spesiale afdeling, die Helpende Hand, het. Hulle reik die hand uit na wit armoede toe, onder andere, en hulle verdien ons groot dank en waardering vir die goeie werk wat hulle doen om armoede te bestry. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr Speaker, poverty is a phenomenon that doesn't know colour. I want to concur with the hon Deputy President. It doesn't know colour. We are all rich or poor. I also want to agree with Dr Mulder that something should be done about white poverty. While we are talking about white poverty, let us discuss it properly. We often talk about poverty in general, but to think that there has been an increase of over 150% in Afrikaner poverty over the past few years, and that there are about 600 000 poor whites, is shocking. I also want to add that there are 77 squatter camps around Pretoria and countrywide there are 470 white squatter camps.
Looking at it, Mr Speaker, one feels pain in one's heart about this poverty. That is why we are appealing to the government to take a look at white poverty as well.
I want to conclude by saying that we pay tribute to the trade union Solidarity, which has a special section called the Helping Hand. Their hand has been reaching out to white poverty, among others, and they deserve our thanks and appreciation for the good work that is being done by them in combating poverty.]
Thank you very much, hon Speaker and hon Van der Merwe. As I have stated, there is no barrier based on skin colour with regard to these interventions, whatsoever. The fact that we follow Statistics SA's Provincial Poverty Index simply means that we have not been able to go to those areas, but there is absolutely no barrier to these communities accessing similar interventions, even now. What really needs to happen is that these communities have got to apply for RDP houses if, for instance, they are squatting, and so on, and those would be provided.
If they can afford rental stock, the Minister of Human Settlements will be able to ensure that they are included on the list of those who do not quite qualify for RDP houses and bonds from the banks. The Minister of Human Settlements is targeting precisely that category of people in that gap market. However, if they have absolutely no income stream, they apply for RDP houses. As I said, in Marabastad in Kroonstad, 74 of them have done so and are being allocated houses. Thank you.
Thank you, Speaker. Hon Deputy President, I fully agree with you that it is not only poverty of the white people that has to be taken into account, but that of all our people in South Africa. The key question should be whether any steps have been taken to help the growing number of all the people, given that the gap of South Africa's Gini coefficient continues to widen and is at 0.679 at present. The other issue is that 40% of the population lives in the rural areas. Out of that, only 10% is economically active. What strategy is there in terms of closing this gap and dealing with the 30% that is not economically active? Thank you.
Thank you very much, hon Kotsi. The growth path deals precisely with the issues that you are raising, and the Minister of Economic Development has worked out a detailed manner in which we will be able to address this challenge of the widening gap between the affluent section of the South African population and the poorest of the poor. The point, however, is that wherever we find poverty, we should be able to tackle it. At the moment, we, as it were, freeze poverty through the various social grants and other government assistance. The idea is to empower household members, particularly with education and skills, so that this poverty is not transmitted from one generation to the next. So, that is the kind of intervention we are looking at. Thank you.
Speaker, hon Deputy President, poverty affects everyone in South Africa; it knows no boundaries. It is a disgrace that a party in the ANC government has racialised poverty in their question to you. For the record, the DA wants to eradicate poverty in the country. No person or individual should suffer the indignity of poverty. Only through job creation can we solve this problem. One way of stimulating job growth in our country is through wage subsidies. My question then is: When will the ANC government implement such wage subsidies? I thank you.
Thank you, hon Speaker. Hon members, the most effective way of addressing poverty in the country is really to provide bulk economic and social infrastructure because the ... [Interjections.] Let me finish here.
Order! hon members. You ask a question and expect answers. Before they answer, you interject! Order!
Thank you very much, Speaker, for protecting me. I was just developing the point that, for as long as the physical infrastructure - whether one is in a plane or on the ground - says we have two nations in one country, that is the affluent nation and the poor nation, so shall our fault lines ever be yawning. And that why it is important to ensure that, first and foremost, all South Africans have tarred streets, waterborne sewer systems, potable water, and electricity. After that, we would be able to unleash and harness the energies of our people to address the problem of youth unemployment, and so on.
The interventions that the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans is initiating to address unemployed youth would make merely a dent in the total of 2,8 million youth up to the age of 24 that are without jobs, not in training or at any college, and so on.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Finance announced that, as government, we would be prepared to consider subsidising the earnings of young people who have skills and qualifications but lack experience. This will enable young people to gain that requisite experience and be in a position to be employable. They also get caught between a rock and a hard place because companies stipulate experience as a requirement, which they do not have and cannot have unless they are given the opportunity and privilege to serve, even at subsidised earnings.
This was met with protestations from organised labour, but that does not mean that is the last word on this matter. As government, we are still committed to ensuring that we address this matter and implement what the Minister of Finance announced. We are quite committed because, if we did not do that, this youth would forever remain on the margins. It is important for us to get them. The economy needs them and their skills. It is important that we take that ... [Time expired.]
Steps to prolong unity of nation and focus particularly on needs of the poor, following successful hosting of 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer tournament
7. Dr G W Koornhof (ANC) asked the Deputy President:
Following the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer tournament, what steps will the Government take to prolong the unity of the nation, with particular focus on the needs of poor people?