Chairperson and hon members ...
... ha mi khensa Tatana Mabasa, hosi ya mina. [We thank you, hon Mabasa, my chief.]
Some years ago, as a student and a keen reader, I used to read books from the African writers' series. Some of those books were written by Kenyan writers. They told stories of Kenyan towns and general unemployment in those towns. They told of notices put on the doors of almost all shops and factories reading: "Hakuna kazi" [There is no work.]
Our country has joined that trend. Notices of "No hawkers" and "Geen smouse" [No hawkers] are disappearing and are being replaced by "No jobs", "Geen werk nie" [No jobs] and "Ga go na mo?omo" [No jobs]. That is why Azapo supports the idea of expanding opportunities for sustainable livelihoods through support for co-operatives and microenterprises. People in communities are organising themselves into co-operatives because they know that jobs are scarce. What they need is information on how to go about it.
There is a need to remove a little bit of red tape in registering and accessing funds by co-operatives. We also need to look at how we can guide these communities because there are also stringent requirements, for example, where they have to develop business plans. Some of them cannot read and write and it presents a big challenge. Of course, there is a need for protection by the state of these co-operatives.
As I said, our people need information. I would like to record my appreciation for the staff of the Department Of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality for their nonpartisan support and approach to development. They continued to support Members of Parliament, MPs, without regard to which political parties they belonged to.
With proper encouragement, information and support, our communities can run self-reliant programmes and be able to feed themselves, their families and, indeed, the country. Maybe we would even be spared the embarrassment of eating imported donkey meat and some other animals. Our people are not lazy. They just need opportunities and support. Thank you.