Hon members, the last time we were asked to consider the basic income grant, the administration of the proposal was seen as prohibitive. Instead, the approach we follow is that of profiling households. By doing so, we seek to identify poverty-stricken households. We take our data and direction from Statistics SA's provincial poverty index.
When we go into those households, we try to identify change agents in each of them. If we find someone who dropped out of school and did not complete his or her studies but is keen to go back and complete those studies, we then give dedicated support and we monitor such a person's progress. We do this in the belief that unless we identify such change agents and support them, poverty will be transmitted from one generation of that family to the next generation. The idea is that there have to be some members of the family who can pull that household out of the morass of poverty.
This is over and above other initiatives. For instance, when there is an aged person who does not have an ID, it is organised for him or her so that that person can source from the pension fund. If there are children, they will be registered for child support grants, and so on. So, all the other grants are awarded, but the idea is that there must be some members of the family who can be assisted in one way or the other.
In some instances, where the house is properly roofed and all that is required is for the gutters to be fitted onto the house and a water tank to be provided in order to harvest rainwater, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is able to do that. They can provide that kind of support and help the family. If there are extensive yards, they can help people to till the ground, cultivate it and produce vegetables to supplement the family supply of fresh vegetables. We have seen how those kinds of interventions assist in that regard.
This weekend we went to Plettenberg Bay with the premier of the province, Ms Helen Zille. We visited an area in the morning where in one of the households there lived five different families. The main tenant of the house was a Rastafarian gentleman who had taken some herbs. He told us there was a whole community of them, living somewhere in another part of the township. He requested that he be given ploughing fields where he would go and till, together with the rest of his community. We persuaded him that his yard was big enough and that he should begin there. We told him that we would assist the rest of his community when we find them there, but that he should till that piece of land he was staying on. It turned out that he had rented out space in the yard and his sub-tenants were paying him R150 per family. He had an income stream.
What I am trying to say is that it is helpful to have an understanding of each household's profile and intervene in that way, because a general basic income scheme means that you give R100 to everyone, from the ones who need it to those who don't. From those who don't need it, you then find another way of deducting it from their income. The administration of it proved to be a bit prohibitive. I am sorry I was a bit long-winded. I thank you.