Deputy Chairperson, I still have to be convinced by anybody who says that co- operatives don't involve the broader society, because there everybody is equal. It's unlike private entities where you have a situation where some benefit more than others. Here is a situation where we believe that everybody is equal. In that respect, the involvement of the masses is what we are aiming for to ensure that they are part of it, so that the economic activity is not the preserve of a few.
When you talk about issues of demarcation, if you look at the Act that deals with demarcation, one of the criteria is to look at the economic nodes, and I think that's all you are doing. The problem is not with the demarcation; the problem is with our being able to crack local economic development to ensure that people, as South Africans, are involved in the economic activity of this country. That is why we are raising this issue.
Let me give two examples. In South Africa, 60% of the red meat comes from the O R Tambo District Municipality area. But I can assure you that the O R Tambo area is a poor area in South Africa because people have not seen value in actually having these cattle. To them cattle must grow and be old, and zingabinamazinyo [become toothless] and then to them they benefit. They want to look at them. They don't look at them in a modern way and say that they should ensure that they look after the cattle that they have, and so on.
If you look at that O R Tambo district, it is the richest amongst South African districts in terms of the land - the land is rich - but the people are not utilising the resources that they have in order to be able to move forward.
They always look at umlungu, ndiy' eGoli [the white people, or going to Johannesburg to find work].
They must go to the mines and be employed. We are saying, "Let's create mines wherever we are. We have the land and resources; whatever you have in your own area, utilise it. Government will give support, mentoring, access to finance and everything that is required, but do the work wherever you are." These are examples that I'm giving; there are many, many examples.
When you go to the mining towns in South Africa, you find that the local people are not benefiting; the people who are benefiting are outsiders, whilst they have resources in their own areas. We want to change all that. That's what we want to do in going forward. Therefore, from our point of view, we are saying we want to close the gap, as you are correctly pointing out, between the haves and have-nots. Thank you very much.