Mr Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Members of Parliament, it is unfortunate that the hon De Beer is really uninformed. He has made very serious accusations. He has just suggested to the House that government is wasteful, misusing or abusing a lot of money.
Now, let us quickly try to put the hon De Beer back on track. Let us not forget that the government task team was actually established on 27 October 2009. It was even much earlier because this is one of the reports that came from the task team. The task team comprises the Minister of Finance, the Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration in the Presidency, and the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.
Now, the responsibilities of this particular task team are, firstly, to reduce wastage, inefficiency and fraud within government departments; secondly, to identify and eliminate corrupt practices within the departments; thirdly, to review the ministerial handbook - we know the ministerial handbook; fourthly, to achieve value for the money that the government allocates to departments; fifthly, to eliminate leakage and irregularities in the procurement system, wherever procurement takes place; and lastly, it is supposed to support the government key priorities. These are measures which have been put in place to ensure that none of the things that hon De Beer is talking about are actually taking place within the departments.
The ANC regards the question of rural women and food security as one of the key priorities to be addressed so as to ensure that we are able to develop the rural economy. The Freedom Charter states, in part, that rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry.
In the same vein, the ANC is committed to the principle of equal opportunity for rural women just like their male counterparts, irrespective of their geographical locations.
We chose the theme "Working together to intensify the war on poverty, hunger and socioeconomic marginalisation" because it was an issue around which we wanted to mobilise and educate people, particularly the poor in our communities. This theme spans land and agrarian transformation and social transformation and it specifically falls within the Department of Social Development.
We celebrate the International Day of Rural Women and World Food Day to remind all of us that we are living in a world that is characterised by hunger, poverty, deprivation, crime and corruption.
It is an important month in the Department of Social Development's calendar. The Select Committee on Economic Development marks this month in order to highlight the services that the department offers, and the extent to which access to these services can be strengthened through our oversight role, amongst others, in order to push back the frontiers of underdevelopment and hunger.
In his opening address to the 2010 national general council of the ANC, President Jacob Zuma called on government to pursue rural development as the major component of poverty eradication and women's empowerment.
Regarding international rural women, the ANC considers rural development a central pillar in our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality. Women living in rural areas face the harshest conditions of poverty, food insecurity and a lack of access to services on a daily basis. This is a worldwide phenomenon. There are gender inequalities in many parts of the world, but the subordinate position of women tends to differ.
Women living in rural areas face the brunt of poverty. Many of them work long hours for poverty wages or do not work at all. Women form the majority of residents in rural areas and face the burden of poverty, hunger and degradation.
This underlines the necessity of effective rural development programmes that can ensure that investment in infrastructure, services and training reaches those areas of the country that are adversely affected. The ANC is committed to a comprehensive rural development strategy linked to agrarian reform, which builds the potential for rural sustainable livelihoods, particularly for African women.
Economic development in the rural areas needs to go beyond land and agrarian reform. It must include affordable financing to promote economic development; support programmes and training in assisting co-operatives and small enterprises; public sector ventures; and strategies to develop appropriate industries including light manufacturing, handicrafts, services, tourism, etc. This also requires the creation of the necessary economic infrastructure, including IT services, roads and rail.
Part of our government's measures to support rural development includes infrastructure development to produce thriving rural economies and ensure sustainable development. The expansion of basic infrastructure - which includes roads, electricity, water connections and public toilet systems in rural areas - becomes a central priority for the current period.
Linked to food security is the land and agrarian reform programme. The Freedom Charter states that:
Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land redivided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger.
The state shall help to assist the process.
The whole of South Africa is watching the court case between the 96-year- old Mrs Sanna Mahlangu, and Lanseria Commercial Crossing with keen interest. Mrs Sanna Mahlangu has been staying on a piece of land in Lanseria, Johannesburg since the 1920s. The so-called owner of the land, who is white, has evicted all her family members and destroyed their houses. The owner insists that the land belongs to him and that only Mrs Sanna Mahlangu may stay on the land.
This takes us back to the dismal failure of the policy of willing-buyer, willing-seller, which needs to be reviewed. We must work to intensify the land reform programme so as to ensure that more land is in the hands of the rural poor women. We must provide the rural poor with technical skills and financial resources to use the land productively and to create sustainable livelihoods.
Part of the key task is to ensure that the land reform programme is integrated at national, provincial and local government levels. What we are calling for is an integrated approach to development. The Department of Social Development is keen to maintain this strategic task because it is at the centre of the socioeconomic needs of rural women.
Linked to the land reform programme should be an expanded agrarian reform programme for rural women. This programme should focus on the systematic promotion of agricultural co-operatives throughout the production cycle, with specific attention given to women. It should also involve active promotion of agro-processing in the agricultural sector.
In this regard, government must develop support measures to ensure more access to markets and finance for small women farmers. Indeed, we must ensure a much stronger link between land and agrarian reform programmes and water resource allocation, so as to ensure that water resources of best quality reach all our people, especially the poor. Access to clean water and electricity by rural women is key to the development of economic activity and the enhancement of quality of life.
I want to repeat what the Freedom Charter states, namely that:
Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry.
This is augmented by our own Constitution.
In conclusion, we support the programme from the Ministry of Social Development and we also support some of the programmes which have been undertaken to ensure that women in the rural areas are able to benefit and develop their own economic activity. Thank you.