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Programme Director, the honourable Mayor of Mafube, Jozi Ralibenya, honoured guests, comrades, friends, ladies and gentlemen. The leadership!!

Having spent the past two weeks at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, I am delighted to be attending a ceremony that represents the very core of sustainable development. The Kopanong Tourism Route project represents what South Africans are really about, particularly those people living in marginalised communities who identify opportunities that can benefit their whole community on an ongoing basis. This project tells the story of the community spirit in the rural areas of this country and in particular our Province; it speaks of finding solutions through innovation, sound local leadership and commitment to one another.

While at the Summit, I could not help thinking about what we have been discussing for many months in my constituency - trying to find solutions to the many development-related problems that exist amongst our people. The problem that kept coming to mind was how we can make the Summit decisions real for our people on the ground, who I am sure, wonder whether the decisions made at these high-flying conferences will have any effect on their daily lives.

Perhaps the difference of this particular global conference is that while it addressed issues of a global nature, it is these very issues that we grapple with at every one of our own discussions - poverty alleviation and job creation, water and sanitation, electricity, health, finding appropriate agricultural methods and the preservation of our environment.

In fact, just as the world leaders need to overcome some of their own personal agendas and work together at a global level to preserve our planet, so too should all people in all communities see the need for working together for a common goal - the development of our areas to be able to sustain us for years to come. The issues are the same - the distances are shorter and even though we might come from different backgrounds, we have a commonality in that we are all South African.

The Johannesburg Summit reinforced the policies of our government and laid a solid foundation for governments, citizens and communities of the various countries to build on that base. One of the overriding challenges faced by the South African government is not only to make our people in rural areas aware of sustainable development but to ensure that it impacts on them through the creation of proper developmental structures. As you all know, our rural and small town communities have some of the highest levels of poverty, limited access to resources and very high levels of unemployment.

Our meeting here today is another important step by all of us and in varying measures to build on that strong foundation and ensure that sustainable development is realised in this area of the Free State through structures such as this one we are launching here and others that are in the pipeline.

The Kopanong Tourism Route is one of several initiatives that fall within the key strategic and integrated interventions to combat poverty in this region:
* Food Security
* Job Creation
* Skills Development: with special focus on youth and women.

As mentioned earlier, it has had the benefit of a number of committed and dedicated players that represent what we are hoping to achieve in this region in the near future: integrated sustainable development.

The route that we are launching here today is not only intended to showcase our magnificent scenery and vibrant culture but will more importantly also touch the lives of the people who live in these areas that we so much want to put on the world map.

This is not an act of charity but a genuine effort by the local communities, working closely together with external role players, to ensure that the people on the ground decide the direction and pace of their own development in a sustainable manner.

Because our future is interlinked, sustainable development presents us all - rich and poor, developing and developed - with a common challenge. It can only benefit everyone if all sectors of our societies forge a common response to the lack of sustainable development. Any improvement in the quality of our people's lives has to begin and be maintained at home, but outside players have a duty to support and facilitate sustainable development.

At the core of the principle of sustainable development is the notion that sustainable development is a people-centred process for the benefit of the whole of humanity. The local communities have been central from the beginning in shaping the process of their development for their own benefit and of the future generations.

The process that you are beginning today may not impact on your lives in the near future, what is important is the fact that you are building something that will have a positive effect on your children and the future generations. This is the commencement of a potential legacy.

I would also like to mention that I am so heartened by the leading role that women in this region have taken in order to develop not only themselves but also their immediate families and their communities.
We particularly need to empower women in order to ensure that our efforts in developing poor rural communities pay off. Considering that women in this country constitute 56% of the unemployed and that 60% of female-headed households live in poverty, we clearly need to heed these words as a matter of urgency and address the plight of women by introducing programmes aimed at promoting sustainable development.
The significance of developing women is well captured by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan when he says:

"There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central player."

In closing, I would like to thank Team Open Africa's initiator and founder Noel Africa for his and the team's vision for introducing us to this brand of sustainable development through ecotourism. To thank them I would like to quote former President Nelson Mandela who said: "I share you enthusiasm in promoting the vision of a tourism that is unique to Africa through developing our natural and cultural resources, as the key to the future prosperity of the sub-continent." I would also like to thank Ms Portia Nxumalo from Engen Petroleum for her support and for being involved in this community's development processes.

I genuinely believe that our collective innovation and efforts here will in the long run transform this region through a process of sustainable development that could serve as a model for similar poor rural areas throughout the country.

I hope that I will be informed very soon of where I can come to stay, recharge my batteries and enjoy the beauty of this region!

Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development http://www.doj.gov.za)