Speaker, I would like to thank the hon Kopane very much. No, indeed, as government we agree with you that quality education is the main equaliser in society. But, of course, given the fact that education itself is acquired over an extended period of time, we can't take a view that is, in a sense, sequential, meaning that we start off with education and leave everything else. We can't do so because the needy are needy here and now and today.
Therefore, whatever intervention is required has to be made to sustain those who are no longer trainable and no longer able to go back to school, and so on.
On Saturday, I was in Nkomazi in Mpumalanga, in a very poor area that is also a catchment area for people who live in Mozambique and Swaziland and who walk in and out of that area, and so on. I came across the mayor who shared with me an account of one gentleman who lives all by himself in a house. The roof and the walls of this house have collapsed. This gentleman, instead of doing something about the collapsed shelter, dug a hole like a chicken. At night he creeps underneath this roof without walls that is almost resting on the ground, and in the morning he creeps out and goes drinking.
So, there are those kinds of cases that are, in a sense, real welfare cases. They are beyond repair. That gentleman can't be taken to any training institution; he can't be assisted in that fashion. But we agree with you that quality education is the main equaliser. Whilst we are doing everything else to ensure that quality education is accessible, we also, in the interim unfortunately, have to take care of even those hopeless cases. Thank you.
Government's position on demands by Tibetans for greater autonomy
14. Mr K S Mubu (DA) asked the Deputy President:
(1) What is the Government's position on the demands by Tibetans for greater autonomy from Chinese rule;
(2) whether the Government will support Tibet's demand in the spirit of ubuntu; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NO3712E