Hon Chairperson, Cabinet Ministers, hon premiers, distinguished members of this House, ladies and gentlemen ...
... ndi madekwana avhu?i, a dovha hafhu a vha madekwana ane nda pfa ndi na dakalo fulu musi Vho Minisi?a vha Muhasho wa zwa Vhudzulo ha Vhathu vho amba zwauri vho vha vhe kha fulo ?a u ?ea pfufo. Hezwo zwi ita uri vhathu vhashu hangei nn?a mashangoni vha ?u?uwedze u ita zwinzhi u itela u swikelela vhutshilo ha khwi?e kha vhathu vho?he vha Afurika Tshipembe. A dovha hafhu a vha madekwana ane nda khou sumbedzisa uri ... (Translation of Tshiven?a paragraph follows.)
[... good evening, and it is an evening on which I feel happy that the Minister of Human Settlements said that he was at the campaign to hand over the awards. That encourages our people out there in the villages to do more for a better life for all the people of South Africa. It is also an evening on which I am showing that ...]
... since the democratic government came into being, led by the collective leadership of the ANC, it is evident that the culture of democracy permeates every corner of our country. It also reverberates throughout the workplace and can be felt even in our homes.
I'm bound by South African pride to indicate that South Africans' decision to return the ANC to power once again shows that the people of this country are content with the strides that we have made in the last 15 years.
South Africans, under the wise leadership of President Jacob Zuma, are confident that we shall do more and that there will be better implementation of ANC policy, a policy that says all people shall have the right to live where they chose, be decently housed and bring up their families in comfort and security.
The principles underlying the ANC housing policy are the following. The ANC government believes that all citizens of this county have the right to essential services such as water, sanitation, refuse removal, electricity and decent housing appropriate to family and individual needs. The democratic state should do more in undertaking appropriate legislative and executive action to ensure that these basic needs are met in a progressive manner.
Given the pervasive poverty and unequal distribution of wealth and land, the ANC's housing policy should vigorously promote nonracism and nonsexism and cater more for the disadvantaged groups such as the very poor, the old and the disabled. All racially based housing institutions must be replaced by institutions that are accountable to the people of South Africa. Hostels should be transformed into family units. To ensure that women's housing needs are addressed, their full participation and influence over the institutions controlling housing must be guaranteed.
A total housing development framework should include the economy, transport, health, recreation, religion, education, environment, social welfare policies, policies which facilitate access to jobs and the restructuring of the apartheid cities, towns and rural areas.
Our housing strategy is based on sustainability in the short, medium and long term. The ANC government believes that community groups should be able to participate in the design, implementation and management of their housing. We therefore advocate the introduction of a housing policy which encourages and supports community-controlled development initiatives.
Remember, the ANC-led government's housing policy is more than the delivery of a product. It is a process that contributes to the cultural, economic and social development of the entire society and is, therefore, part of our strategy to improve people's total living conditions.
Beyond any doubt, I am certain that South Africans witnessed that the apartheid housing policy focused on the housing needs of middle-income households at the expense of the disadvantaged. This policy's biggest impact was that it resulted in many and varied housing challenges, for instance the urbanisation of poverty and the proliferation of slums in urban areas.
To address this, the ANC Ministry of Human Settlements is vigorously implementing the Breaking New Ground comprehensive plan for the development of sustainable human settlements, with there being at least one project in every province that will improve the living conditions of about 103 000 households in informal settlements.
To achieve this goal, hon Minister Sexwale should strive to encourage a culture of working with a sense of responsibility within the department, because this must happen and be visible in order to lessen the noise made by some opposition parties as a weapon. We are also committed to ensuring that the poor men and women in both urban and rural areas have favourable access to building credit facilities. We also advocate the restructuring of the housing finance and subsidies system so as to target those most in need of assistance.
We reject the privatisation of land for low-income households, as we believe that it is the state's responsibility to ensure that low-income households have easy access to well-located, affordable land while also emphasising that low-income housing should not be equated or confused with poor-quality housing.
I have additional measures, or policy proposals, that will need to be undertaken by the developmental state to support the recommended shift in funding for housing and human settlements. These are: intervening in the industry to curb spiralling prices in respect of building materials in favour of house construction; adopting a central planning approach for the purposes of directing resource allocation and an overall co-ordinated response to prevailing socioeconomic trends in a manner that is not undermined by the regional administrative complex; prioritising metropolitan areas and large cities for interventions that seek to fast- track the upgrading of informal settlements and ensure national spatial restructuring in view of the space economy and preferred development trajectory. Is my time up? I'm sorry. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]