Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, the Deputy Minister and the other Deputy Ministers in the House, hon members, guests, ladies and gentlemen, !Gi ts?s. M re? [Good day.] [How are you?] [Interjections.]
Dis geen wonder dat die arme agb Willie Madisha so kop onderstebo in hierdie Huis sit nie. Hy het seker maar 'n identiteitskrisis of iets van di aard. Hy het dit tog self genoem. Hy is onseker, en onsekerheid laat maar daardie smaak agter. Mre sal hulle so onseker wees en nie weet of hulle nog Cope of Coida is nie. Dis die onsekerheid. Die ANC bly die ANC en het geen naamsverandering nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] Die ANC is hier om te bly, want die ANC leef en hy sal voortlei. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[It is no wonder that poor hon Willie Madisha is sitting in this House so deflated. He must be experiencing some kind of identity crisis. After all, he mentioned it himself. He is insecure, and insecurity does leave a bad taste in the mouth. Tomorrow, they would be even more insecure, not knowing whether they are Cope or Coida. It is the insecurity. The ANC remains the ANC, and it did not have a name change. [Interjections.] The ANC is here to stay, because the ANC is alive and will lead on.]
I will be debating mostly on the rural women and rural youth. The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women, known as the Maputo Protocol, consider women's poverty and underdevelopment as a result of how gender discrimination causes unequal distribution of resources such as land, water, food and education. We take pride in the programmes of the government of the ANC that makes the plight of rural women and youth a priority.
One of those programmes is the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, which hon President Zuma's administration initiated as a vehicle through which vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities could be attained. For most of the rural women, land is not only an economic resource, it is also a source of status and recognition. Yet, there are many barriers to women's access to land, and many of those are structural in nature.
Rural development is a central pillar of our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality. High levels of rural poverty and inequality inhibit the growth of our economy and undermine efforts to ensure that growth is more equitably shared amongst our people. From the women's point of view, the crux of the CRDP intervention is to change the structures that create and uphold unequal distribution of resources and power between women and men.
Vroue het oor die algemeen 'n baie lang, swaar en moeilike pad geloop. As ons net vir 'n oomblik kan terugkyk, sal dit ooglopend wees dat die vrou nog nie haar regmatige plek in die samelewing ingeneem het nie.
Die berugte Natives Land Act van 1913 het daardie tyd al dinge vertroebel. Dis daarom dat die vroue toe, in dieselfde jaar, in opstand gekom het teen die destydse regering om hul stem te laat hoor en hul regte te eis, danksy die ANC-regering met sy wonderlike Grondwet en wonderlike beleid. Ek wil net een beleid noem, en dis die beleid wat ons almal vandag hier geniet as vroue, die 50/50%. [Tussenwerpsels.] Die Vryheidshandves van 1955 het toe die grondslag gel dat die grond gelykop verdeel gaan word. Almal sal toegang h tot 'n stukkie grond. Dit staan geskryf in die boek van Jesaja 62, en ek hou van die vers in IsiXhosa:
Ngenxa yeZiyoni andiyikuthula ndithi tu, ngenxa yakho Yerusalema andinakuzola ...
[For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest ...]
Dis waaroor die ANC se lede in tronke opgesluit is en die meeste van hulle in hul grafte l. Dit is oor hierdie waarheid dat die ANC nie stilgebly het nie en in die toekoms nie stil sal bly nie. Die grondkwessie was en is nog steeds 'n seer pyn. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[In general, women have walked a very long, tiring and difficult road. If we look back for a moment, it is clear that women are not occupying their rightful place in society yet.
Back then, the notorious Natives Land Act of 1913 already bedevilled matters. It is because of this that the women revolted against the government at the time in order to make their voices heard and to claim their rights, thanks to the ANC-led government and its wonderful Constitution and wonderful policies. I just want to mention one policy, and that is the policy that we, as women, all enjoy today, the 50%/50% policy. [Interjections.] The Freedom Charter of 1955 laid the foundation for land to be divided equally. Everyone would have access to a piece of land.
It is written in the Book of Isaiah 62, and I like the verse in IsiXhosa:
Ngenxa yeZiyoni andiyikuthula ndithi tu, ngenxa yakho Yerusalema andinakuzola ...
[For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest ...]
This is why members of the ANC were locked up in prisons and why most of them are in their graves. It is because of this truth that the ANC did not keep quiet, and will not keep quiet in the future. The land issue has always been and will remain a sore point.]
Over the last three years, the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform travelled the length and breadth of our country to see for ourselves what the department had done with the funds voted by Parliament.
Ek moet nou so 'n bietjie spog. Dis dan ons regering. [I have to boast a bit now. It is, after all, our government.]
In Limpopo, we found the Mancena Women's Vegetable Garden in Giyani, which focuses on food security and economic empowerment for rural women. In Mpumalanga, at the Mkhondo Local Municipality, the Jabulani Agrivillage is focusing on the mobilisation of women for economic development. [Applause.] In the Northern Cape, at the Kai Garib Municipality, the cattle holding facility at Sending has helped rural women to improve their livestock management. In Wards 29 and 5 of the Moses Kotane Local Municipality, the North West province, the department has championed the green economy project for solar street lights. The government installed 120 solar street light systems comprising of the photovoltaic system, PV, panels, batteries and luminaires in Mokgalwaneng, Disake and Matlametlong.
In Limpopo, the Tshivhazwaulu Communal Property Association, CPA, has received land in terms of the restitution programme. A group of women are managing a commercial agricultural enterprise which has generated jobs for the CPA. Currently, they use 15,5 hectares and have over R800 000 turnover. They are planning to expand their production. All these projects are contributing towards improving the status of rural women. They are part of a programme that gives effect to the ANC's 52nd National Conference resolutions, which states that gender equality must be a critical ingredient and an important outcome of all our programmes of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
Our oversight visits have also highlighted lessons to be drawn from the implementation of these projects. One of the key issues is enhancing the co- ordination of government and nongovernment interventions to support rural development and land reform. The committee has welcomed the strategy presented to it and will monitor the implementation of this programme.
In the contemporary African land reform debates, issues of private and communal land tenure systems emerge as two contending models of what the appropriate governance models should be for land tenure. In many cases, these become a much polarised discourse, especially when dealing with women's land rights, where the importance of communal or collective land rights are emphasised on the one hand, and there is reluctance in terms of yielding to groups or communities on the other hand. We trust that as the department finalises the policy framework on communal land tenure, special attention should be given to women's land tenure issues by getting rid of provisions that reproduce women's poverty and disadvantage. In fact, I would urge that we need substantive gender equality that transcends treating men and women as equals.
The ANC supports this Budget. Hon Trollip, my friend, sorry, I would have said something to you.
Jou oupa het gesorg dat ons die "dummy" in die mond kry en dan swaarkry op die ander ent. [Applous.] [Your grandfather saw to it that we had dummies in our mouths and then suffered at the other end. [Applause.]]