Thank you, Mr Speaker.
We have no illusions in the ANC. We have a clear understanding that to address poverty and provide decent jobs is a struggle. It is not a struggle only because of political will, but also because of mobilising resources to go to where the people are. Now these hon members on my left talk about choice. What choice? The person who has money, has a choice to buy clothes, to buy houses, live where they want to live, broadcast their adverts to everybody. The people in the rural areas have no choice. They live there under duress, under grinding poverty. Now you come here and talk about choice, believing that choice is a phenomenon that is a reality for those people. We know that choice is not a choice for those people; it's a struggle.
Let me turn to the consequences of insecurity for those people. The deteriorating health situation that we find in the rural areas is caused by the absence of soil, on which they have been crammed in a reserve. This has caused soil erosion, and therefore they cannot plant food to feed themselves.
The hon President of our country is saying that 60% of the food that these people must have must come from their own labour, from their own land. But where is the land? [Interjections.] Where is the land? The land is in the hands of huge conglomerates and corporations in our country. That land is not producing food and that land is lying fallow.
And now you are telling us that they have a choice. We have a choice to make food for these people, and make sure that there is tenure. We are introducing a system in our government, through the ANC, to make sure that we are going to create a secure tenure system, to remove all these smash- and-grab tenure systems since 1652. [Applause.]
For the first time in the history of this country there will be no more smash-and-grab tenure systems. There will be a regulated form of tenure in terms of which, whether you have money or not, you must have access to land, because land is a basic source of food, is a basic source of wealth, is a basic source of housing, is a basic source of security. [Applause.] There is no way that we can live for another 15 years and leave this country under this form of tenure that we have. We must make sure that the land is shared among those who work it. [Applause.]
Comrade President, the hon Shilowa was here. [Interjections.] Maybe the Whip of Cope will report. With me here are photos of what has happened in Muyexe, Ward 7. Photos don't lie. If the hon Shilowa wanted to see, he would not have missed the 300 houses that have already been completed in Ward 7 under this pilot, where we are going to build a total of 350 houses for the people. All of them are still standing. They are built with facebrick, as are the houses in Sandton. [Interjections.]
The hon Shilowa would not have missed the Thusong Centre in that ward if he wanted to see it. The hon Shilowa would not have missed the satellite police station in the same ward if he wanted to see it. In that ward there is a clinic that is open five days a week for eight hours a day. He could have seen it if he wanted to see it. The hon Shilowa would have met the 36 women that are planting and reaping vegetables. They are selling to Spar in Giyani and in Tzaneen. He would have seen that if he wanted to see it. There is fencing that is taking place in that ward, for 114 homestead gardens. If the hon Shilowa wanted to see it, he would have seen it. We are making the bare minimum in livable conditions for the people in that area to demonstrate that we can do this, and we are going to expand it throughout the country.
But the people in Muyexe have boreholes that are still functional. There are toilets where there were none before, that are built with facebrick. There were none there before. I wonder whether the hon Shilowa wanted to see this. If he really wanted to see this, he would have gone to Chief Muyexe, Kgoshi Muyexe. He is the chairperson of the council of stakeholders of that area, of the greater Giyani.
The hon Shilowa, if you did not want to speak to the kgoshi, at least you could have gone to the ward councillor of Ward 7. He would have taken you around to show you what I am talking about. I don't quite understand hon Shilowa coming here to Parliament. A leader of a political party visiting a rural area would at least ask my office in advance, "Can you prepare something? I want to go to Muyexe, can you show me around?" He did not happen to be in Muyexe. Maybe he didn't go. [Interjections.]
The ANC has undertaken to change the face of our rural villages and communities through comprehensive support programmes with proper monitoring mechanisms to ensure sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of the rural poor, the farmworkers, the farm dwellers and small farmers, especially women. Employment creation, quality jobs and sustainable livelihoods can only be a reality if we work in concretely identified labour-absorbing sectors, and invest resources accordingly. Structural weaknesses in the economy must be identified and addressed, building on the good work that has been done over the past 16 years. The commitment to create 4 million jobs by 2014 must be taken seriously, and all the sectors must make concrete commitments on what they can be doing in real terms.
The Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform has visited a number of provinces. We have gone to KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, and members from this side were part of the delegation. They have seen for themselves what is happening in Burgershowe, in Mlalazi, in Qumbu, in Tsolo. They may even visit Riemvasmaak to see for themselves that this Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has initiated programmes to make sure that the people will be able to take responsibility for their own livelihoods and sustainable life.
We must take practical steps to ensure that we change the face of our rural villages and communities. We must do it soon, through the provision of infrastructure development: water, electricity, roads, transport and economic activity.
Hon Speaker, the department has received a large sum of money, R860 million to be exact, to recapitalise all the parcels of land that have been given to people via restitution and the Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development programme, specifically to make sure that these communities are able to use the land to produce the food and look after themselves, and not wait for government to come and help them. What we require is that all the departments of the government crowd in around the initiatives that are taking place in the pilots.