President Jacob Zuma has expressed satisfaction with improvement on rural development programmes he observed during his one day his visit to Qwaqwa in the Free State today, 4 October.
The President was in Diyatalawa and Makgolokoeng villages in the eastern part of the Free State, where he monitored the performance of government in the area of rural development.
The villages are located in Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District.
“I’m impressed by the work done thus far to improve the lives of the residents in this area, although a lot must still be done. During my interaction with the community they emphasised the urgent need for them to have better access to water and electricity, and I have instructed relevant department to address this with utmost speed,” President Zuma said.
The part of the Free State that the President visited has the largest rural population compared to other parts of the province.
In Diyatalawa village, Government bought a farm and settled about 50 families there.
Fifty housing units with VIP toilets have been built and solar panels have been installed in order to provide energy to the houses.
In addition to building houses, government also built a new school, a new crèche and a multipurpose sports facility.
When the cattle died government bought more cattle (about 274 at first and another 200 later) to assist the community to continue with cattle farming and milk production.
Each household has a bigger yard for which it is encouraged to turn into a garden and plant vegetables. Most families do indeed have gardens and planting on them in order to avoid having to buy food that each family can produce on its own.
In Makgolokoeng village near Harrismith, there is a 15 000 strong community and was planned as two sections Tsele and Mahabeng.
As part of its programme to develop the village, government built the following in Makgolokoeng: a new crèche, a new multipurpose sports facility, 100 RDP houses and a temporary health clinic. A mobile computer centre was given to the community and is equipped with 24 computers.
In addition, a community hall is under construction, VIP toilets are being built and boreholes are under construction to provide water to the community.There are also agricultural and farming projects in the village.
These projects include 200 hectares of soya beans planted, planting of maize, 3 hydroponic tunnels (which is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions without soil) are being constructed and two vegetable tunnels are also being constructed.
“When we established the Rural Development and Land Reform Department we did so as we wanted to see the face of rural areas changing.
"We wanted people residing in these areas to also have decent housing, schools,clinics, roads and other facilities available in urban areas.
"The two projects we visited are a very good model of rural development and we believe there are lessons for other parts of the Free State and the country.
"The biggest problem in Makgolokoeng however, is electricity. The new bakery which was built for the community has stopped functioning because of electricity problems.
"The new school and a crèche cannot also be operated because of the same problem.
"It is therefore urgent that the electricity problem be addressed.
"National government will follow up on this need,’’ said President Zuma.
Other issues of concern raised by the community included roads, crime particularly the raping of children walking to and from school, unemployment, need for recreational facilities and to address nepotism.
The community also requested government to assist with the provision of primary health care, scholar transport due to long distances to school, houses, agricultural assistance plus the need for better social services such as improved home affairs and social development services.
“Some of these challenges are already part of our main priorities, and are already receiving attention. We must work even harder to ensure that that delivery is at a desired pace,” President Zuma said.
The President is accompanied by Free State Premier Ace Magashule, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane, Deputy Minister for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Dina Pule, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa and Members of the Executive Council in the Free State.
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