They cited as one example the failure in terms of integrated development plans in municipalities.
Mr Speaker, there is nothing romantic about poverty, inequality, unemployment, cultural backwardness and social fragmentation. And we dare not romanticise these socioeconomic ills, for they are real and they are very bad, as reflected in rural communities and peri-urban areas across our country. We have to deal with them in a decisive manner. This much has been stated and emphasised by the President in his state of the nation address, his reply to the debate on it and in numerous media interviews - before and since his address. We want to restate what we said during the state of the nation address, that the road to rural development and emancipation will be a long and winding one, but one which, together as a nation, we must undertake if we are to attain our historic mission of bringing about a better life for all our people, irrespective of where they reside in our country. It is only through this national partnership - as the President enjoined us, South Africans, in his state of the nation address - that we have the possibility ...