Madam Speaker, the promotion of social cohesion and the creation of a caring society have indeed been and continue to be areas of priority focus for the government. A critical part of this relates to the responsibility of government to spearhead the transformation of society. It includes the following: a social and economic development agenda, especially the eradication of poverty; increasing our rates of economic growth; the elimination of inequality; and ensuring equitable access to social and economic resources for all South Africans.
In this regard, through the Budget Vote debates, the Presidency and the Ministers have accounted to the House on the ongoing measures aimed at ensuring shared economic growth and the acceleration of and improvement of the efforts towards the achievement of the goal of a better life for all.
Indeed, part of the challenge to foster social cohesion is that the economy of our country should be owned, controlled and managed by all sectors in all sections of the South African nation. This means that we should improve the pace and quality of the delivery of services in a manner that is befitting of and addresses the issue of human dignity. This challenge also relates to the need to interact continually with communities in various ways - such as through the izimbizo programme, the Presidential Working Groups, Nedlac and so on - in order to forge the partnerships that we need and that are critical to the achievement of the goal of social cohesion. Furthermore, government has undertaken various campaigns working with structures of civil society in order to promote value systems of a caring and tolerant society and to improve the moral and ethical behaviour of all South Africans. These campaigns are done in collaboration with institutions such as those representing the faith communities and other structures of civil society.
I am referring here also to such issues as the Moral Regeneration Movement, the National Anti-Corruption Campaign and other campaigns focusing on various forms of crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and women and child abuse. And, indeed, as the hon member knows, these are carried out not only at national but also at provincial and local government levels.
We have also been very pleased with the initiative taken by the Minister of Education for all of us to debate the matter of a pledge to be taken by learners. Indeed, we believe this must apply to more than just the learners because it assists us to define ourselves and to say what it is that unites us as a nation. Clearly, we have to continue to address these matters in our educational curricula to see to what extent they contribute to all of this.
A matter, which is going to arise just now, about geographic and place names is one of these matters, again, which continues to be an area that we should attend to in order to address the matter of national and social cohesion. There are also other programmes, for instance those directed at young people, such as the National Youth Service and those for the encouragement of sports activities, which are also very important in this regard.
In short, this challenge of the creation of a caring society cuts across all government programmes and is demonstrated through such programmes as service delivery around housing, electricity, water, and sanitation for the poor; indigent policies of the different spheres of government; social grants; the rolling out of health services to the poor; and special dispensations for children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with disabilities. All of these, and many others, are clear testimony to the fact that one of the central tasks of a democratic government is, and continues to be, the creation of a caring society.
In this regard, we need to emphasise that members and leaders of all the parties assembled here do indeed also have a responsibility to promote this social cohesion and ensure that together we do build a caring society.
The question that we must continue to pose to ourselves all the time is: As the collective leadership of this country, what are we ourselves doing, and are we doing enough, to mobilise all sectors of our population to foster that social cohesion, so that we join hands to build the caring society the hon Maluleke is addressing? Thank you.