Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister and hon members, Gauteng is known as the economic hub of South Africa's industry, and therefore is somewhat irrelevant when speaking of agriculture, or so many people say. I am going to be speaking about issues which I think are important for us in tracing the footprints of our forefathers and mothers.
Exactly 348 years and five days ago, human beings of another colour, length of hair and physical shape arrived on the shores of this city, a few metres from where we are sitting today. The colour and shape of their noses or length of their hair had really nothing to do whether they were any different from other human beings.
An adventurous spirit in the human species propelled these human beings' needs to ensure their wellbeing and socioeconomic development. As if the dawn of the African sun would later open the skies on that historic day for human beings to discover themselves and their own kind for future peaceful existence, the dream which never was, what began as a shipwreck facilitated social interaction of human beings with each other in a manner not consistent with the complete human culture and organisation of the society which informed how the land was preserved as a collective resource and asset for all to coexist in without social or political contradictions. The social interactions unfortunately developed into 348 years of colonialism and oppression of man by man and finally led to the forceful and violent seizure of land by a few pitted against many.
They were warmly welcomed and introduced to the comfort of a complete humanity and the socioeconomic organisation of the people they found there. Yet what they did to people in this part of the earth has become a total contradiction of that basic human quality called in the African languages ``ubuntu-botho''.
Off the shores, there was complete co-existence of man with himself, with the habitat which fulfilled plenty of needs for the sharing of wealth which nature has given to all the species which occupied this part of the earth. There was peace and harmony, and human beings regarded each other as human beings because of other human beings - motho ke motho ka batho. And so, life continued and the belly of earth provided all and sundry with an abundance of food, fruits, medicinal plants and the rest of the things which we all need for our wellbeing and development.
The invaders failed to adjust themselves to an otherwise very scarce quality of African humanity which they found amongst the stone-age Khoisan people of the Western Cape, the Xhosas in the east, the Zulus on the Natal Coast, the Tswanas in the north and many African groups in the far north. From wherever they came, they brought their shameful greed, which drove the indigenous people of our land from the fertile parts of our country into barren and inhabitable small portions of land. Those who remained were captured to be turned into slaves, whose sweat and sufferings built our country to what it is today.
The culture of greed and individualism, as opposed to collective ownership of land and the wealth it brings, is now part of the social system we are struggling to transform. Many of our people continue to be victims of this culture of greed, which stands as the very centre pillar of the social system which this budget intends to change, at an even faster pace, and they continue to be victimised by the legacy of apartheid colonialism in many rural areas of our land.
The scourge of poverty and hunger in the land of plenty, which they continue to suffer, justifies us gathering here this afternoon to map a way forward in this fiscal year to advance the dawn of the African century. It is only through the budget and the equitable distribution of the national fiscus, in a manner consistent with our programme of reconstruction and development, that we can indeed say that we are addressing the legacy of apartheid colonialism.
Hardly a day passes in many parts of our country without farmworkers and residents being evicted. Just on Sunday this week, Comrade Derek Hanekom and I attended a meeting of farmworkers and residents in the area of Broederstroom, in the north-west of Gauteng. For five hours we listened with disappointment and anger, because we heard that even though this honourable House had passed the Extension of Security of Tenure Act in 1997, three years later, white farmers were still evicting residents and workers off the land. This is contrary to what Rev Moatshe of the North West has just identified as a bad attitude demonstrated by one or two farmers in that part of the country. In the area of Gauteng a 68-year-old man was evicted from the farm he was born on and worked on for his whole life.