Hon Chairperson, Minister, members and guests in this august House today, to understand the topic of this debate, one must take cognisance of the very important issues of poverty, hunger and education, as well as the socioeconomic position and health of the population. Poverty, hunger and unemployment are worrying matters for us, as South Africans.
For the purpose of analysis, poverty is defined as an income below R4 560 per person per year. That is R308 per month. Taken from The South African Child Gauge 2008, 3,3 million children - that is 18% - living in households were reported as hungry. According to 2008 statistics, the provinces reporting the highest rates of child hunger are the North West, with 18% in 2007 and 25% in 2008; and KwaZulu-Natal, with 15% in 2007 and 25% in 2008. The province with the highest unemployment rate is the Eastern Cape. By race categorisation, 20% of the children reported as hungry are African, followed by coloured children at 10%, white children at 2%, and Asian children at 1%.
According to the EU-funded Municipal Outreach Project, poverty is mostly found to be very severe amongst children, at 65,5%, with adults at 45,2%. The total number of poor children is 11,8 million. A breakdown of the child population reported as hungry is as follows: aged 0 to 4 years, 66%; aged 5 to 14 years, 65,7%; and aged 15 to 17 years, 63,8%. Although the child support grant is provided to children up to the age of 18, it is surprising that poverty rates are higher amongst children. It is most likely that the child support grant does not move the child above the poverty line. In short, it brings alleviation, but it is not the ultimate solution unless it is raised.
This situation is neither affordable nor sustainable for the South African government. On 17 February 2010, Minister Pravin Gordhan said that R89 million will be spent on social grants in 2010-11, in the face of increasing unemployment and the impact of the previous year's recession. He also said that nearly 14 million South Africans benefit from the social assistance programme. Notwithstanding these grants, government is also supporting municipalities in other ways, for example through the municipal infrastructure grant, MIG, the provincial infrastructure grant, PIG, and also funds to support the indigent to pay their municipal taxes.
This cycle of payment and support by state revenue is unaffordable, bearing in mind that not even a quarter of our population are tax-paying employees. Poverty is a dangerous threat to the wellness of any population and its future.
Armoede het 'n negatiewe aanslag en impak op die sielkundige karakter van mense. Armoede breek die menswees en welstand van mense se gesondheid en hul waardesisteem af. Werkloosheid is dus 'n baie groot bedreiging vir ons land. As ons na werkloosheid kyk, is die Oos-Kaap en Mpumalanga die provinsies met die hoogste werkloosheidsyfer, naamlik 29,8% en 29,3%.
As ons ook kyk na die verskillende toelaes wat ons mense ontvang, word hierdie mense ook baie meer verarm deur middel van die sosio-ekonomiese probleme wat ons in ons gemeenskap het. Dit sluit hierdie geldskieters in wat ons mense se geld vat en hulle nog verder verarm. Die regering doen wel baie om armoede in die verskillende gemeenskappe te verlig, maar binne die gemeenskap self doen die gemeenskappe niks om hulself uit hierdie armoedesituasie te lig nie. Derhalwe sal ons ernstige, manhaftige stappe moet neem om hierdie geldskieters en ander dwelm- en smokkelbedrywighede vas te vat om sodoende ons gemeenskappe te help om uit hierdie greep van armoede los te kom. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Poverty has a negative bearing and impact on the psychological character of people. Poverty breaks down people's humanity and the wellbeing of their health and value systems. Unemployment is therefore a big threat to our country. When we consider unemployment, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga are the provinces with the highest unemployment rates, at 29,8% and 29,3% respectively.
When we look at the various grants our people receive, these people also become more impoverished due to the socioeconomic problems that exist within our communities. These include money lenders who take our people's money and cause further impoverishment. The government does indeed do a lot to alleviate poverty in the various communities, but within the community itself members of the community are not doing anything themselves to rise above this impoverished situation. For this reason we need to take serious and brave steps to clamp down on these money lenders and other drug and smuggling activities in order to help our communities free themselves from the grip of poverty.]
Chairperson, to meet the Millennium Development Goals, we as South Africans must work together to find solutions to poverty and unemployment. We must put more emphasis on an open opportunity society for all in all spheres of our country, and open up the economy for different role-players to let the economy grow more to create jobs and employment. Then we can lessen the impact of grants on the government, and people can then take more responsibility for their own lives and state of wellness.
We must reduce people's dependency on the state. The only way to do this is by giving people the chance to learn how to catch a fish, teaching people how to support themselves, and giving them the opportunity and the environment to do so.
There is a very interesting situation in South Africa. Foreigners like the Somalis, the Zimbabweans, the Ugandans, the Sudanese, and others have come into our country with virtually nothing to show for themselves, and have started to make a living. They show us that they can do it through the fellowship they enjoy amongst themselves and by extending a hand and supporting each other to help create a better life in our country. So, why can't we, as South Africans, do this for our people so that we can lift ourselves out of poverty? I thank you very much. [Applause.]