KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu today launched the province’s master plan to combat prevalent poverty affecting a large percentage of the community.
During the launch of the Poverty Eradication Master Plan in KwaMaphumulo, Mchunu said it is government’s mission to ensure that communities living under conditions of poverty are helped to rise above their current condition.
“Poverty is a human rights issue and government will do everything possible to ensure that those communities that are faced with poverty are given a chance to better their lives,” said Mchunu.
Mchunu said KwaZulu-Natal had the third highest poverty measure of the 9 provinces in 2011, with poverty head count of 56.6 per cent, a poverty gap of 25.5 per cent and poverty severity incidence of 14, 4 per cent.
The Poverty Eradication Master Plan research also noted that 28 per cent of all KwaZulu-Natal citizens live in extreme poverty, and a further 29 per cent live in absolute poverty.
The research also confirmed evidence from Statistics SA which indicates that the majority of communities who are in absolute poverty reside in rural wards of KwaZulu-Natal.
About 50 of these wards are in the Nkandla, Msinga, Vulamehlo, Maphumulo and Mhlabuyalingana Municipalities.
“Through the Poverty Eradication Master Plan, we are hoping to restore the dignity of those communities and individuals that have been affected, through meaningful and holistic interventions,” said Mchunu.
Mchunu said one of the backbones of the plan to eradicate poverty will be to ensure the proper use of land which is already available to communities.
“Rural communities have at their disposal massive tracts of land, and with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture, we need to ensure that these pieces of land are put to good agricultural use. Within the next few months, we need to start seeing real benefits of proper use of this land,” said Mchunu.
Mchunu said the plan will focus on agriculture as the most critical aspect of fighting poverty, as well as social security and housing, enterprise development, employment creation and skills development.
