S Sekoati: International Poverty Eradication Day

17 October 2006

Programme Director
Mayor of Lephalale Local Municipality, Councillor Mogotlane
Local Government Councillors present
District Manager and department officials
Ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of our government and the people of Limpopo I am honoured to
welcome you all on this important occasion of calling for the eradication of
poverty. I am equally happy to welcome men, women, youth, disabled and children
gathered here today. We have also convened here today to reaffirm that
collectively we have to push back the frontiers of poverty, underdevelopment,
joblessness, starvation, hunger and all evils associated with poverty.

We have therefore also convened here at Shongoane village to reaffirm that
the provincial as well as local government will continue to work together in a
people's contract for a better life for all. Our coming together here is a
clear message that indeed we are committed to work together to fight poverty,
promote full employment and decent work for all.

Our collective vision is to address the needs of the vulnerable and
marginalised and to eradicate poverty in our country, region and our continent.
Historically 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 17
October as 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 to 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. Countries and representatives of the people assembled at
that summit committed themselves to build a humane, equitable and caring global
society cognisant of the need for human dignity for all.

Millennium Development Goals, amongst others, talk of the eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger and the development of a global partnership for
development and the combating of HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Programme Director, the central objective of my department is to improve the
quality of life of all people and in particular, the most poor and marginalised
sections of our community.

This objective should be realised through a process of empowerment which
gives the poor control over their lives and increases their ability to mobilise
sufficient development resources. This is the basic philosophy that underlines
the vision and mission of my department. Poverty in our country, as a result of
the duality in the economy, requires focused interventions, which should take
into account both the immediate goal of poverty relief and the long-term
objectives of totally eradicating poverty.

Official national unemployment figures indicate that since 2004 we have not
been able to drastically reduce unemployment and hence Limpopo province remains
one of the highest. We see a similar increase in HIV and AIDS. In response to
the challenges of poverty, hunger, HIV and AIDS and other debilitating social
and physical ills, the department provides a continuum of integrated services
that target the poorest population of the province.

These services address the psychosocial needs, through social welfare
services, socio-economic needs through social grant and developmental needs
through community development and poverty relief programmes. Social Security
which deals with social grants is seen as the biggest poverty relief programme
of government. It should however be complemented by other services to ensure
that needs and challenges of the population are addressed in a holistic and
sustainable manner.

We also have the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). This a national
programme aimed at creating employment accompanied with training and payment of
stipend for unemployed people in the nine provinces. It is focused on women,
youth and people with disabilities. This programme in our province has so far
reached:

* 700 gardeners trained in vegetable propagation (general gardening
maintenance)
* 700 cooks trained in cooking
* 107 youth trained in vocational skills
* 608 practitioners completed training in Child Care Level one
* 1 500 started training in Community Care Support Level one in September
2006
* Skills audit for 600 Community Care Givers started in October
* a Memorandum of Agreement signed with Umsombovu Youth Fund.

We have gathered here as a collective and as individuals to inspire,
encourage and support one another towards the envisaged notional and global
goal of eradicating poverty through self-help initiatives. Through the
inspiration and support of the department and various stakeholders, such as Old
Mutual and others, communities have been able to establish 785 self-help
projects at an amount of R110 million since 1994.

Types of established projects vary from bread-making, sewing, gardens,
brick-making, poultry, juice, fence and others. Since 2003 to date, the
department has introduced emergency food relief. This is a multi-pronged
approach aimed at meeting the immediate food and other consumption needs to
vulnerable households and individuals simultaneously assessing the cause and
effect of their vulnerability, recognising their strengths and developing
appropriate strategies for sustainable socio-economic development.

To address the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS which is mercilessly
destroying communities, families; leaving the children without any means of
livelihood; leaving children to take care of themselves; exposing children to
all sorts of social ills; we have in collaboration with communities and
stakeholders established 92 drop-in centres and 75 home based care centres
throughout the province. We salute the volunteers, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations (FBOs) and non-profit
organisations (NPOs) who are rendering this very demanding service for our
people.

We call upon the following community action to:

1. Compulsory education: Support from government action of eradication
poverty through compulsory schooling. If our children go to school they will
learn skills to help them and their families to earn a living.

2. Cr�ches: Establish Early Childhood Development centres that will help
build a strong foundation for our children's education.

3. Co-operatives: Organise ourselves into co-operatives to have projects
like bakeries, poultry, brick making knitting and sewing and many other
projects.

4. Greenery projects: Let us first start gardens in our homes and later use
these skills in a collective to develop vegetables gardens to such extent that
we can feed our communities and neighbouring towns. Such effort would help both
poverty eradication and provide proper nutrition for families.

The department is determined to continue to support and strengthen community
initiatives that are geared towards poverty eradication and sustainable
livelihoods within communities. It is also extremely pleasing to inform you
that Thakgalang Poultry Project received Sizanani Golden Award in Cape Town on
Friday, 25 August 2006. What an encouraging effort. I am also informed that the
project has been able to purchase its own vehicle out of its own proceeds. This
is what I would like to see happening in all projects. Enjoy the day and do not
forget our theme which is "promoting full employment and decent work for
all."

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Health and Social Development, Limpopo Provincial
Government
17 October 2006
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government (http://www.limpopo.gov.za)