Environment, Mr Khabisi Mosunkutu, at the World Food Day commemoration, held at
the Jabulane Welfare Centre, Soshanguve, Tshwane
16 October 2006
Programme Director, Ms Mcata
Executive Mayor of the Tshwane Metropole
Members of the Mayoral Committee and councillors present
Head of Department, Dr Steven Cornelius
Representatives of the financial and retail sectors present
Representatives of research and academic institutions
Invited guests
People of Tshwane
Ladies and gentlemen
I first wish to thank the organisers of this event for bringing us here
today to mark this important day. Like millions of people of conscience the
world over, we are gathered here not only to observe World Food Day. Hopefully,
we are all here to observe this important day and also to rekindle and further
hone our collective dedication to what easily equates to being amongst the
greatest callings on earth - the liberation of fellow human beings from
poverty.
The United Nations(UN), having noted that over 1,2 billion people worldwide
survive on less that $1 a day, resolved that all member states must, at the
least, halve poverty by 2015 as part of the world's millennium goals. Research
by the UN further reveals that hunger and malnutrition continue to sentence 35%
of our continent's children to underdevelopment and death. The 2005 Statistics
South Africa (Stats SA) research shows that 3,7 million households in our
country live below the poverty line. Needless to say, women and children suffer
the most. In almost all societies the world over, women eat last. They gather
the food, prepare and serve it. Then they eat - the last to eat.
Friends and colleagues, the essence of our coming together here is not
really to further analyse the tragedy that confronts us. Together we need to
consolidate our initiatives and find methods aimed at speedily eradicating
those of our communities that are trapped in this crime against humanity. Yes,
lack and want of food is a crime that must be combated. It is on this account
that, as the Gauteng Provincial Government, we also committed ourselves to
fight poverty and to build secure and sustainable communities.
It is this objective that drives our Gauteng Agricultural Development
Strategy (GADS). Towards this strategy, the Provincial Treasury has committed
R14 million for 2006 and another R16 million and R18 million for the subsequent
years ending in 2009.
We have allocated R4,7 million for Hydroponics Farming; including the R1
million that was utilised to establish the Hydroponics Incubator Project, which
is expected to produce qualified hydroponics farmers on yearly basis.
We also have committed to establishing 32 community food gardens during the
current financial year, at a cost of R2,5 million whilst another R3,5 million
will be utilised in the establishment of homestead food gardens.
Friends and colleagues, the brief exposition on some of the work that we do
to extricate some of our people from poverty is not at all aimed at bragging.
We know that countless other organisations, including the private sector, are
also contributing towards ensuring that more and more of our people have access
to food.
The point here is, having spoken about the work that we do, to find
commonalities and forge synergies. It is my earnest hope and fervent wish that
when we call on the organisations represented here and the others who could not
attend, we should be able to agree on a common plan.
In conclusion, allow me to leave you with an extract from a report prepared
for the United Nations.
It is a report that, I believe, eloquently captures the enormity of the task
that confronts us. This sombre report reminds us 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.'
May we all find courage to form fruitful and sustainable synergies to combat
this scourge.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng
Provincial Government
16 October 2006
