Speech by the MEC for Health and Welfare: Honourable Mr S.C. Sekoati on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at Vhembe District

15 October 2004

Programme Director
The Mayor of VhembeDistrict
Khosi Vhamusanda Vho-Mphaphuli
Councillors Present Here
Project Leaders
Mahosi Othe Present
Senior Government Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen

NDIA A VHA VUSA

Programme Director, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to commemorate this very historic day with you here at Vhembe District. We have gathered here today to share a great moment in the lifetime of the nation. I am also honoured today to take advantage of this important occasion to salute and pay tribute to all of you who made it possible for South Africa to be free and gave all of us the inspiration never to give up until freedom has been achieved. It is through your invaluable contributions that we stand here and celebrate our ten years of democracy. We are now very sure that our collective future is very certain.

Many years ago, Non-Government Organisations across the Globe resolved to celebrate their commitment to the eradication of poverty and this has been going on until December 1996 when the United Nations resolved to declare the 17th October an International Day for the eradication of poverty in a summit for Social Development held at Copenhagen. At the same general assembly the period 1996-2006 was declared an International decade for the eradication of poverty.

The world summit on sustainable development held in Gauteng in August 2002 resolved to eradicate poverty by the year 2015, a target that has been missing in all other United Nation’s resolutions. Our Government in celebrating the ten years of democracy, has put poverty eradication as a priority on its national agenda.

In his Nation of the State Address, the President, the Honourable Mr Thabo Mbeki, encouraged all of us to help construct a new world order that is more equitable and responsive to the needs of the poor who constitute the overwhelming majority of our population.

It is with this vision in mind that we must walk together, one step at a time, on our journey towards growth, towards learning, towards reconstruction, towards solidarity, towards reconciliation, towards prosperity, towards development and freedom. It is our responsibilities as a collective and as individuals to translate the resources at our disposal and the opportunities before us into People-centered development and human fulfillment.

According to the 2001 national census, unemployment rate in the Limpopo Province is 36,1 percent as against the national percentage of 41,6 percent. This position explicitly reveal to us that as a Province and as a country, more efforts should be directed towards the eradication of poverty and unemployment. Similarly, Statistics South Africa informs us that about 35% of the total population or 14,3 million South Africans are vulnerable to food insecurity and we know that women and children bear the brunt of this evil situation.

Programme Director, HIV/AIDS continues to be the most serious global challenge. In our Province the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate as at 2002 was 15,6 percent. As at 2003 the prevalence rate stands at 17.5 percent. This state of affairs reinforces the need to step-up all measures required to deal with the challenge.

We are gathered here today at Jim Kone Village as a country and as individuals to inspire, encourage and support one another towards the envisaged national goal of eradicating poverty through self-help initiatives. Let me further emphasis the point that people alone cannot deal with the legacy of underdevelopment and marginalization from the economic mainstream. I therefore call upon business that the time is now and the moment of action is here. Government, business, and the people themselves must collectively combine their efforts to eradicate poverty.

The Department of Health and Welfare has for the past decade of democracy initiated 719 projects at an amount of R94,4 million. Significant progress has been made in initiating projects such as bead making, sewing, community gardens, brick-making, poultry, juice making, candle making, fence making and various others.

The Department of Health and Welfare promotes Public Private Partnership by joining hands with other stakeholder such as Eskom, DBSA, to name but a few, to ensure that programmes are funded holistically to avoid peacemeal and fragmented service delivery. At this juncture let me commend business sectors that have shown interest in the upliftment of our disadvantaged groups. Max Chicken in Capricorn District has trained the food production clusters on white meat processing, while our two Universities, that of the North and that of Venda trained project members on Project Management which included pricing and marketing.

The Department is making great strides to link poverty alleviation projects with local markets. These are bakeries which were linked with crèches, local businesses, shops and government institutions. Community gardens are able to supply local markets like Gants in Makhado and Goseame in Polokwane with fresh vegetables.

Women participating in projects organized themselves to form catering companies which are catering in big functions like Imbizos. The Department’s initiatives are evidenced by today’s function which is being catered for by women’s projects.

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