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Your worship, the Executive Mayor of Waterburg
Your worship, the Mayor of Mogalakwena
The Head of Department, Pandelani Ramagoma
Councillors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Programme Director, We have come here today as part of the Imbizo Focus Week that ends today. This is one of the many ways that we, as government, seek mandate from you the electorate. We do so, as we have always done in the past, because we have always said that the people shall govern. More than this, this is a way of communicating government programmes to you.

We have also come, Programme Director, to celebrate a fulfilment of one of the promises we made, of providing houses to our people. The fulfilment of this promise is in line with our constitutional mandate of ensuring that make use of the resources available to provide houses.

We believe freedom is more meaningful when the lives of our people change for the better; hence we consistently embark on programmes geared towards the attaining this objective.

Providing roofs over people's heads, particularly the poor, is a milestone worth celebrating. No other government in this country before 1994 cared about building houses for the poor. It is only the government that you have put in power through the ballot that regards the provision of houses not only as a priority, but also as a right.

When we celebrate our ten years of democracy, our people in these villages will be counted amongst several others who have benefited from more than 1, 45 million houses that we have provided since 1994.

Ramokoni Key Hloka, a sixty three year old pensioner who represents all other beneficiaries today will also be counted amongst South Africans who have benefited from the provision of houses that the African National Congress government has built for the poor.

Programme Director, today we hand-over three hundred houses that are spread across thirteen villages in this Municipality. An amount of SIX MILLION, NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND RANDS (R6 9 000 00) was spent on this project. In the process of construction, two hundred and thirty people got short-term employment and skills transferred to them. We would also like to thank the developer for the sterling work done.

Programme Director, we are aware that whilst we have achieved much on the provision of houses both at National and Provincial level, we still have a backlog. We will continue to identify those who are poor and allocate them houses.

We have already made another allocation of one thousand houses for this Municipality. This will go a long way addressing the backlog.

We are also aware that some of our people in this area work in farms, and are not treated with dignity. They stay in squalor conditions that expose them to all forms of diseases.

It is against this background that we have introduced a concept of agri-villages geared towards ensuring that these conditions are improved. This will be one of the many ways that we shall use in intervening in order to address the plight of farm workers.

As I conclude, I would urge all of you who do not have ID's to take advantage of the presence of Home Affairs today to apply for ID's. They are free until November. If you do not have an ID, you will not qualify to vote. You will also not be able to enjoy benefits brought by government like social grant if you qualify.

We must also heed to the IEC call to register in order to vote in forth coming elections next year. You have the responsibility to put in place a government that will accelerate change in this country.

Finally, I also would like to remind all of us, young and old to obey the ABC of sex. These will put to an end, the spread of HIV/AIDS that continues to claim the lives of our people. Some young children are left without parents because if AIDS. Government is doing its part, but you have a responsibility to change your behaviour.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Limpopo Provincial Government

19 October 2003