Madam Deputy Speaker, today South Africa has a caring government with housing system programme for the poor. With clinics being built close to where people live, households being connected to water and electricity, more people having access to telecommunications, over 400 families living in Muxiyani in the Greater Giyani Municipality will no longer be expected to travel long distances to fetch wood in order to cook.
Thanks to the electricity switched on in the village, the important turning point in the lives of the Muxiyani villagers is that 417 households will have electricity for the first time, with government spending almost R4 million to make this possible. As the ANC, we have known for a long time that the biggest casualties of lack of access to electricity in particular, are women, children, people with disabilities and pensioners.
The ANC considers rural development to be a central pillar in our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality. I thank you. [Applause.]