Chairperson, I don't know what the point of order is. I won't withdraw my statement. To me it is English, and it means the same thing. Open opportunities or equal opportunities - that is what we hear every day as an ideological policy. That is what we say we are not agreeing with. Whether there is going to be another word next week that replaces "open" with "equal", or anything, we are not for that.
Those of us who have not read the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, must please go and read the document. That revealing document says to all South Africans that, in this country, South Africa, poverty has been drastically reduced. What has grown in this country is inequality.
It is for that reason that we say we must deal with these inequalities so that it is not only the haves who just continue to benefit, but also the have-nots. This rural development programme of ours is intended to do exactly that, leaving no stone unturned, focusing on the most vulnerable in our society, because those are the people that we've got to lift up, while continuing to support those who are in business and who must create jobs. We are saying that we have a dual focus. It must work. It has already worked.
The people who have been affected mainly, again in terms of the MDG report that we have recently tabled at the United Nations council - proudly tabled as a South African report; this time no shadow reports from the DA or whoever - unanimously agree and say that of the eight MDGs, six of the goals are about women. If we make an impact on women's development and empowerment - women who happen, by the way, to be in rural areas - we will actually achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Concerning those Millennium Development Goals, the report says that, in so far as equality in South Africa is concerned, we have actually reached and surpassed the target, even on education provision. What is lacking is in the area of quality of education.
Hon Boroto raised an issue about the need for us to do something really drastic for older persons, in relation to health services in the rural areas in particular, as well as services at the pay points.
I want to assure this august House that, regarding issues pertaining to paypoint matters, we are currently dealing with them. We will definitely come back to the portfolio committee and to this august House about how we are moving. Already, some steps have been taken towards computerising the payment system. We live with other people who do not actually want us to move in that direction. But we are more determined than ever to ensure that even the black community in South Africa also earn in a dignified manner, like their white counterparts in this country.
Therefore, regarding the paypoint system, in a few years' time, these problems that we see now will be a thing of the past. We will do our best in that regard.
The abuse of older persons is a problem. We want to appeal to everyone to join hands and to work together, so that we ensure that we really implement the law to the fullest, because those abusers are within our communities.
I think, as members of this Council, we must also continue to motivate other people out there to ensure that they become part and parcel of ensuring that older persons are not abused. In a short space of time from now, we will be launching, again rolling out, the charter of values on older persons. This is one instrument which is going to guide us as to what to do and what can be done for older persons in the future.
We also want to indicate that we are really attending to issues of fraud. Hon De Villiers, sometimes I don't know where you get your information. I really do not know where the hon member gets his information. Somebody stood here to define poverty. In South Africa there is no unified and agreed-upon definition of poverty, yet. We will get there, and yet we define it.
Brazil has overtaken us, we are aware, and that is why we cite Brazil as the example that we should follow in order to attack this poverty even in those areas. Programmes that we have to implement are, for example, Zero Hunger in communities. If we introduce, or at the time when we introduce Zero Hunger-for-all in communities, we will all realise how inclusive this programme is, because it includes the development of entrepreneurs. It is a lesson that we draw from Brazil. There are many lesson that we can draw, including that of ensuring that we educate our children, hon De Villiers.
It is not that we are copying everything. We have recorded our own successes in the field of early childhood development. The ECD deals with the ages zero to four years, and that is the age that Social Development deals with. We have made enormous impacts. Children who have not been in those foundation classes are now enrolled. We want to increase those numbers. We have a backlog of about just fewer than three million of those children, and we are definitely going to eradicate that backlog.
If we think that this government is just sitting back and not doing anything about corruption - by the way, we know that there is always a corruptor and a corruptee; we deal with both - you should know that, as I speak, there are people who are being tried in courts. We know that very well. As government we are not going to shy away from dealing with corruption. We have not created corruption; we found it there. We are dealing with it and not suppressing it. We don't even keep quiet about any form of corruption.
We are not shouting slogans only. The results are very clear. They are contained in world reports. There is no sloganeering or anything like that. We want to communicate with our own people, and as we do that we want them to hear and to remember the messages. What is important is the output and the product, and the output is okay. We believe that this is the route to go. Indeed, with self-help programmes, with all those projects in communities, with sustainable livelihoods and with the growth of the economy, we are moving rural development. We will get there.
Five years down the line when we again ascend the podium of the world we shall be reporting results that are saying, yes, we have made it. We are very optimistic and confident that we will make it. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.