Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon members, MECs and special delegates, this debate takes place at a time when our nation has lost a veteran human rights activist, Mrs Sheena Duncan, who sadly passed away a couple of days ago on Tuesday, 4 May 2010, at the age of 78 years.
Mrs Sheena Duncan was a distinguished and unrelenting community activist for justice and the pursuit of human rights for all South Africans, particularly the poor, and women. Her life exemplifies devotion to the highest ideals of justice and freedom when our nation was ravaged by institutionalised and socially entrenched racial segregation.
As the ANC, we would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to the family of Mrs Sheena Duncan. We hope that they find solace in the contribution she made in the struggle for a nonsexist, just and democratic South Africa.
Chairperson, under apartheid our people were socially, politically and economically excluded. They were faced with the harshest living conditions, characterised by systematic exclusion from the labour force through lack of opportunities for developing their skills and education.
When the ANC came to power in 1994, it gave an undertaking to devise many creative ways to redress the legacy of apartheid in order to afford our people the opportunity to take part in the economy of their country.
We identified the Department of Public Works as central in assisting our government to tackle the challenges of poverty and unemployment. Looking at the department's Budget Vote, we are indeed happy that it is on the path to moving our people out of the trap of poverty and that we will halve unemployment by 2014.
Chairperson, the Expanded Public Works Programme is one of the crucial interventions by our government, which is intended to create both short- term and ongoing work opportunities for our people. This programme clearly speaks to the ANC's commitment to alleviate and reduce unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment in our communities.
Chairperson, as the ANC we are indeed proud that the Budget Vote of the Department of Public Works is in line with our Polokwane resolutions to absorb the unemployed and unskilled through the following: labour-intensive production methods and procurement policies; significant expansion of the Public Works programmes, linked to the expansion of economic infrastructure, and meeting social needs with home-based care and early childhood development on a massive scale; a much larger National Youth Service, ensuring the linkage of industrial strategy with key youth development programmes in the form of an Integrated Youth Development Strategy; and programmes that target the employment of women.
Chairperson, it is important to note that by the end of December 2009, 480 000 Public Works job opportunities had been created, which is 97% of the set target. The jobs were in areas where the majority of the poor and unskilled people are located, such as construction, home and community- based care, and environmental projects.
The involvement of women, youth and people with disabilities in the Expanded Public Works Programme is another area that shows that the ANC remains a caring government that understands the needs and conditions that are facing our people. We say this because we know that despite the challenges that our country faces our people know for sure that the ANC will do everything in its power to move them out of poverty.
We are indeed grateful that during the 2008-09 financial year, the beneficiaries of the EPWP in KwaZulu-Natal were as follows: 5 219 women, 10 833 youths, and 302 people with disabilities.
In May 2008, North West Province reported that it had created 20 708 EPWP job opportunities in the 2007-08 financial year, and they were divided up as follows: 8 106 women, 9 497 youth, and 49 people with disabilities.
As at 6 August 2009, the Sakh'abakhi Contractor Development Programme in Mpumalanga comprised the following Expanded Public Works Programme beneficiaries: 55% women, 40% youths and 2% people with disabilities.
The economic activities generated by programmes of the Department of Public Works clearly indicate that our government is working decisively to assist the poor, particularly women, unemployed youth and those who are unskilled and therefore unable to access formal employment.
We are indeed happy that the department prioritises women, the youth and people with disabilities. We are also aware that the department is currently working on finalising a policy to expand the participation of people with disabilities in Expanded Public Works projects.
We want to say, hon Minister, that when we visited provinces during our last Provincial Week with the programme of Taking Parliament to the People, our people appreciated the interventions of your department in affording them opportunities to put food on their tables. Many communities told us stories of how they had survived through the Expanded Public Works Programme and taken the opportunity to break the cycle of generational poverty.
Chairperson, our goal of infrastructure development is informed by our developmental objectives and commitment to building efficient and reliable assets for our nation. We say this because we know that the creation of infrastructure is instrumental in assisting us to achieve a number of secondary socioeconomic goals, including local economic development, SMME development, black economic empowerment and skills transfer. There are many more.
We have seen how our people are able to expand their business initiatives in their communities because they have reliable roads and transport systems. They are able not only to produce for the local community market but also move to central economic centres to sell their products.
Chairperson, a year ago in Mpumalanga, during the handing over of houses to women and senior citizens, the women in construction made a plea to Minister Sexwale, the Minister of Human Settlements, to ensure the prioritisation of women in the provision of houses. [Interjections.] I hope the Minister remembers what the women said about the 50:50 ratio in giving women work to do in construction. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]