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10 September 2008

Programme director: Councillor Malebo
Members of the Mayoral Committees and Councillors present
Our host: The Principal of Reagile Primary School: Ms Msiza
Representatives of the Gauteng Department of Education and district officials present
Officials from my department and other government bodies
School principals and teachers present
Members of School Governing Bodies
Community Development Workers present
Parents and residents of Thembisa and Winnie Mandela Informal Settlement
Learners
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a pleasure and an honour to be with you in this occasion and to take part in this worthy cause, the fight against poverty and rising costs of food.

I wish, from the outset, to thank the organisers of this event for bringing us together. More importantly, I wish to thank all of you for attending this gathering. To me your attendance reflects commitment to wrestle against one of the greatest difficulty that our society faces today, that of increasing costs of food and the consequential rise in the number of people who stare poverty in the face day after each day of their lives.

The war against poverty and the rising cost of food prices is not going to be a simple walk in the park. The many factors that cause poverty and the rising cost of food will make our task quite gruelling. But then, every noble work is at first impossible, to borrow the words of the Scottish philosopher, Thomas Carlyle. On the other hand, hard work defines the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses and some do not turn up at all.

Knowing that the people of South Africa have, in the past, shown amazing tenacity and absolute commitment to conquer even the most daunting of challenges, including the tyranny of apartheid, I am sure we shall win this skirmish.

To briefly define the challenge that we confront, we shall perhaps recall that a survey by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) shows that the costs of food have increased by 17 percent between May 2007 and May 2008. Within this scenario, the price of vegetables increased by 26,41 percent and that of fresh meat by 12,59 percent.

Women and children continue to carry the greatest socio-economic burden, with black working-class women being the most disadvantaged. An estimated 24 percent of the approximately 2,65 million households in Gauteng live in informal dwellings.

It is estimated that about 48 percent of children live in poor households, with 51 percent of under-fives living below the poverty line.

Between 1995 and 1999, the poverty rate for children increased from 24,2 percent to 37,8 percent. This trend is likely to have continued during the last few years. This means that approximately 40 percent of all children aged between one and nine in Gauteng are experiencing hunger.

During 2006, long before the major food prices crisis that has hit the world, the United Nations (UN) released a report on poverty. In part the report reads that 'every seven seconds a child dies of the direct or indirect effects of hunger. Millions of others are born blind or crippled or mentally impaired. The possibilities of people and whole countries to fulfil their economic potential are irreparably damaged. The terrible dimension of human suffering, so often missing from formal descriptions of food insecurity, is the unbearable, nagging dread that tortures undernourished persons from the moment they wake up' With the current crisis, you can well imagine the global situation.

Acknowledging the seriousness of the current situation, we hosted a Food Summit on the 10 to 11 July 2008, at Gallagher Estate. This was followed by a National Agri-Consultation on Land and Agrarian Reform, held in Polokwane from 30 July to 1 August 2008.

The essence of resolutions emerging from all these meetings is simple – we must all work hard to fight poverty and combat the price of foodstuff. Another essential point raised in these meetings is that we must particularly increase the amount of food our country produces.

Today's launch is specifically aimed at doing exactly this. Working with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), we have identified 515 schools falling within the poorest of the poor schools category.

It is our intention to encourage all our people, learners included, to work all available land within these schools and ensure that the poor learners produce nutritious food that will complement feeding schemes that may be in place.

We have also identified those of our communities defined as being amongst the poorest of the poor. These include communities in Metsweding and Soweto. In these places, we shall adopt the same approach. We shall encourage participation by communities. We shall also practically participate in the establishment of community food gardens. Using the traditional Letsema/Ilima approach, we shall bring to the table seeds, gardening tools, shade-nets and watering equipment. It is our hope that you will find it within your hearts to come along and help those of our people in the grip of poverty.

We have also identified areas within the former 'maize triangle'. It is in this place where we shall speed-up our support to farmers. In these areas our assistance will largely focus on production inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and environment-friendly pesticides. This contribution to the massification of grain production programme is expected to start during the month of October 2008, to coincide with the planting season.

Other disadvantaged farmers, including the 117 farmers who are in the process of acquiring title deeds as a result of interventions by the department, fall within the target group of the department's intervention. Following a needs analysis study conducted by the department with the help of the farmers, the department is committing to assist with hiring of tractors, planters, harrows, disk and mouldboards, among others. Mobilisation of farmers to appreciate and participate in the Letsema/Ilima approach has started. The practical implementation of this area of the campaign is expected to start during the first half of October 2008.

With the adoption of the Agriculture Black Economic Empowerment (AgriBEE) by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as of 5 February 2008, the department's Letsema/Ilima War on Poverty campaign is enjoined to promote the objectives of the charter. In line with the charter, the department recognises farm-workers and farm tenants as designated groups that should benefit from the development of the entire agricultural sector. Individually and in collaboration with other government departments, we shall also ensure that the benefits accruing to these communities are implemented.

In conclusion, allow me to borrow from the words of Henry Ford who observed that there may be no joy and happiness in work except in the realisation that we have accomplished something. Let us all lend a hand in working the land to fight poverty and to increase food production in our country.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng Provincial Government
10 September 2008
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gdace.gpg.gov.za)