Modulasetilo, maloko a a tlotlegang a Palamente, bangwe bao ba leng teng kwa ntlo phatlhalatseng ya rona. Ke lebogela go bua mo nakong e ya meriti e seng ka nako ya mampa a kolobe, gonne moAforika ga a nke a di atlhatlha sentle ga e le ka nako ya mampa. Fa ke bua jaana ke batla ke tlisa mo phatlhalatseng gore fa e ka bo e se ka chatara ya batho, eo e kileng ya tlhomamisiwa ka ngwaga wa 1955 kwa Kliptown, re ka bo re sa fitlhelela diphitlhelelo dingwe go akaretsa le ditshwanelo tsa botho.
Ditshwanelo tse, ke tse di ungwetseng mongwe le mongwe. Ga ya ka ya nna motse re feta wa balala, wa baruakgomo re tsena nao jaaka mo nakong e e fetileng. Go ya ka karolo ya bobedi ya Molaotheo wa Aforika Borwa, batho botlhe ba na le tekatekano. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[Ms M L MATSEMELA: Chairperson, hon members, as well as those in our public gallery, it is a pleasure to deliver my speech in the afternoon, but not at midday because an African cannot apply his mind well during lunch. Let me bring your attention to the fact that if it was not because of the Freedom Charter, which was adopted in 1995 at Kliptown, we wouldn't have achieved some of the things we have, which include human rights.
These rights benefited everybody, unlike in the past where they were only enjoyed by certain people, and excluded others. According to Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa everyone is equal before the law.]
Speaking on the occasion of the 95th Anniversary of our movement, the ANC, at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga this year, President Mbeki, quoting the resolutions of the 2005 National General Council, had the following to say: The central challenge our movement faces in the second decade of freedom is to defeat poverty and substantially reduce the level of unemployment. This means that the ANC government must develop a coherent development strategy, identifying where we need to move to and what strategic leaps we need to get there.
Undoubtedly, today's topic could never have been more relevant. Further, the ANC's draft Strategy and Tactics, which is being work-shopped with all our constitutional structures on an ongoing basis, says:
The National Democratic Revolution, NDR, seeks to ensure that every South African, especially the poor, experiences an improving quality of life. It seeks to bring the best traditions of a developmental state, represented by an efficient state that guides national economic development and mobilises domestic and foreign capital to achieve this goal.
This perspective is indicative of the ANC's long-term commitment to the resolution of the scourge of poverty, unemployment and other social ills guided by people-driven and people-centred principles.
To fight poverty, the ANC-led government is guided by numerous policies and a sound fiscal regime that not only provides for well over 11 million citizens through social grants, 7 million of whom are children supported by a Budget of R62,4 billion, but continues to employ all the wisdom in the world in order to ensure the human rights of all South Africans, especially socioeconomic rights.
This means that grants constitute more than two thirds of the R89 billion budget of social development. Government has already started, through National Treasury, to establish a poverty line that will be used as a measure of the incidence of poverty so that we do not use inappropriate instruments in determining poverty in our society.
Furthermore, more efforts are being made to oil the wheels of economic growth so that there can be development and redistribution at an accelerated pace. Women and children bear the brunt of poverty in our society and it is important closely to monitor the implementation of socioeconomic rights such as water, sanitation, education, health, housing, social security and food.
While our Constitution says these must be realised progressively, there can be no doubt that government does not seek to hide behind this proviso. Instead, the more the fiscus expands, the more the benefit to the population, especially those that are underprivileged. An example is the nonpayment of tax by all those who earn R3 583 per month, thus giving back R8,4 billion back to the taxpayer.
I am not unmindful of those who have no means of income at all, the majority of whom are women. It is for this reason that I wish to join in with all those in our country who have called for the sustenance of the Extended Public Works Programme and the transfer of skills. The poor must be empowered to take care of their own lives. Nothing is as emancipating as the ability to throw off the yoke of poverty and ignorance.
No doubt that we will take forward our struggle against poverty only if we understand that human rights are indivisible and interrelated.
Incidentally, the Nobel Laureate for Economics, Amartya Sen, defines poverty as: "The lack of certain capabilities, the core of which would include education, food security, water, social security, health and shelter."
We must continue the fight against poverty across all spheres of government, in all the departments and other organs of state. Necessarily the women of our country, who constitute over 50% of the population, must be at the head of this struggle. We believe that women's rights are human rights.
Ke ka moo, ke ratang gore bomma, a re se e tlogeleng go e tshwara ka fa bogaleng, gonne mosadi ke mooka o nyaa le mariga. [I would therefore like to encourage women not to stop intervening, as we usually do, to save the situation.] In conclusion, six days before the celebration the Human Rights Day, we call on all South Africans to mobilise themselves into a strong battalion that will persistently and consistently push back the frontiers of poverty in order to ensure sustained development of humanity. I thank you. [Applause.]