Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and members of the Human Settlements family led by Director-General Zulu, South Africa, like other countries, is faced with rural development challenges. International development practitioners argue that for development to be effective, one of its central elements has to be community participation. South Africa has acknowledged, through the development of the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy, that the success of development would be enhanced by local community participation.
Numerous rural development initiatives have been undertaken in South Africa. These include policy developments and programmes, as well as strategies. Unlike in many other African countries, rural development in South Africa is influenced more by politically motivated experiences than rural-urban economies. Rural development was and still is influenced by segregationist policies created by the apartheid era.
Hon Minister, apartheid laws and policies are largely responsible for the insecure tenure rights experienced by the majority of South Africans today. The Group Areas Act, Act 41 of 1950, and its succeeding Acts resulted in people being evicted from their homes without compensation and being relocated to remote, racially defined areas that deprived them of work and educational opportunities. More homes were demolished than built.
The apartheid government had grossly unequal approaches to housing for each racial group. Subsidy schemes were racially divided, poorly targeted and inadequately funded. Black residential areas were exposed to growing housing shortages, a lack of resources, poor or no infrastructure and poor service delivery, which resulted in substandard and highly inadequate housing for black people in South Africa.
Although some people in the House think that we must forget about our past experiences and focus on the future, the legacy of apartheid is still with us - a constant reminder of what we as the ANC-led government need to do to restore the dignity of the majority of South Africans. South Africa's historical policies meant that the majority of South Africans had no right to own land and no water or property rights. We were also not "human enough" to have adequate infrastructure and were restricted to moving from rural to urban areas.
The postapartheid era in South Africa ushered in a wide range of legislation and policies aimed at guaranteeing, promoting and protecting the rights of individuals to adequate housing and sanitation. The plight of vulnerable people, mostly women, children and people with disabilities, is receiving serious attention from the ANC-led government.
Hon Chairperson, in his state of the nation address our president announced the huge nationwide campaign of infrastructure building, which will boost the country's economy. This announcement is an indication that the ANC-led government will move mountains to ensure the restoration of dignity of all South Africans to create a nonracial, nonsexist democratic country. South Africa should take this opportunity to develop and establish new towns, cities and townships. The multibillion rand investment throughout the country in ports, rail, roads and many other developments will create many job opportunities for the majority of South Africans, especially in the rural areas. Hon Minister, the Department of Human Settlements will not win the battle against the mushrooming of informal settlements if rural areas are neglected, because people move from rural areas to seek job opportunities in the cities. Some move because they think the urban areas are more developed. In his written response to the NCOP, President Zuma acknowledged that the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme faced funding challenges and that insufficient co-ordination across government spheres was frustrating efforts to improve rural communities. However, a number of projects focusing on enterprise development, basic services and agricultural development were in various stages of implementation.
The provision of social and economic infrastructure in the 23 district municipalities experiencing the largest backlogs is one of the strategic projects contained in the infrastructure development plan adopted by the Cabinet and the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission. Hon Minister, there is a need to look into the funding model and policies regarding budget allocation to address the huge backlogs, especially in rural areas. We cannot continue to follow the apartheid pattern of allocating budget funds. We need to change this so that we can transform our country.
During our oversight visit to the Free State, we visited an agri-village called Diyatalawa, which means "falling apples". Diyatalawa was originally an apple farm. The ANC-led government, through the Department of Human Settlements and in partnership with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, made it possible for the former farm labourers to become the new owners of the farm. It has beautiful and spacious houses, cattle and chicken runs. The building of schools, a clinic and roads was also in the pipeline. This is the kind of transformation we need to see in the country, in line with what is captured in the Freedom Charter, namely that the land shall be shared among those who work it. [Applause.]
Let me applaud the Mpumalanga province for implementing its Comprehensive Rural Development Programme. Seven municipalities benefited from this programme. All these municipalities have 960 units each: Nkomazi, Bushbuckridge, Mkhondo, Thembisile, Dr J S Moroka, Pixley ka Seme and Albert Luthuli.
When we are dealing with rural development, there is a need to bring industry to these areas. For example, there are sugar-cane farms and two mills in the eastern part of Mpumalanga. The sugar is refined 400 km away from where the sugar cane is produced. Why not have those factories next to the sugar-cane mills? This would create job opportunities for the people of that area.
The provincial subsidies of R83 000 for people earning between R3 500 and R15 000 will ensure that professionals in the rural areas will be able to access housing finance from accredited banks. This is a step in the right direction of ensuring a better life for all.
Hon Minister, the Department of Human Settlements has the huge task of ensuring that the injustices and inequalities of the past are addressed and the dignity of our people restored. We applaud the department as it strives to ensure that the majority of vulnerable people are settled, but there is a need to ensure that quality houses are built. This would avoid any rectification of newly built houses and of rectifying the rectified houses. Hopefully we will see the National Home Builders Registration Council more in action during this financial year.
Sengigcina nje, Ndvuna lehloniphekile, umuntfu unelilungelo lekuhlala lapho afuna khona. Bantfu basemakhaya, ngisho le etabelweni, abangaphocelelwa kuya emadolobheni ngoba bafuna imphilo lencono. Ematfuba emisebenti akaletfwe nasetindzaweni tasemakhaya. Umuntfu akayewusebenta khashane ngobe atsandza, hhayi ngobe aphocelelwa simo.
Tinsita atitfolakale ngalokufananako, njengoba nemalungelo ayafanana. Kute umuntfu lonemalungelo lancono kunewalomunye. Siyati kwekutsi tindzawo tasemakhaya atifani, kepha leto letingakhona kutfutfukiseka, asiyibone intfutfuko ifika. Siyabonga, Ndvuna, kwekutsi naloluhlelo lwetindlu tangasese, letiletsa sitfunti nekuhlonipheka kubantfu ngisho etabelweni, lutawuhamba kahle njengoba litiko lakho lisetfulele emhlanganweni welikomiti lelibukene nekwakhiwa kwetindlu. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.) [In conclusion, hon Minister, a person has a right to stay wherever he wants to. People from rural areas, I mean deep rural areas, should not be forced to move to towns in pursuit of a better life. Job opportunities should also be brought to the rural areas. It should be a person's choice to work far away; it should not be because of the situation people find themselves in.
Services should be accessed in the same way, as the rights are the same. One person should not enjoy more rights than another. We know that rural areas are not the same, but we want to see development in those that can be developed. We thank you, Minister, that the toilets programme, that brings dignity and respect to people in the deep rural areas, will be well implemented as outlined by your department in the meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements.]
Hon Minister, I just want to say a few things to the two hon members who have never set foot in the committee. I want to thank them for supporting the Budget Vote, but ... [Laughter.] The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]