Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
My thanks to the organisers - Metropolitan and Topco Media - for inviting me to share a few thoughts with you.
Let me pay tribute to the sterling work done by the Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Awards in flying the flag for Broad based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) and raising the bar in identifying companies, public entities and individuals who have contributed through transformation and empowerment to make a real difference in the lives of people.
As a former teacher I was moved by the example that is quoted of a company which has worked with 50 schools to improve the literacy rates of some 5 000 learners. As our President never tires of saying: „Working together we can achieve so much more‟. But tonight I am here on behalf of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, so let me speak briefly on the theme: “Rural Development: A key site of BBBEE”.
I think the point needs to be made that Black Economic Empowerment often has a very urban flavour. Certainly if you think of the individual icons of BEE, most made their names in the industrial, mining, commercial or financial sectors. Much less is heard about the thousands of black rural businessmen and farmers – and yet, they are so vital to the future of a balanced development strategy for the country.
Let us remind ourselves that over half the population retain very strong links to the rural areas, and improving the lives of so many of our people depends crucially upon a sustainable rural development strategy, which in turn depends upon galvanising, empowering and supporting rural entrepreneurship. So let me speak about the strategic journey we are travelling as a department:
- First, we are a new department established in 2009 with the understanding that rural areas remain extremely underdeveloped, economically and socially and with a clear focus on agrarian transformation by which we mean a rapid and fundamental change in the relations, systems and patterns of ownership and control of land, livestock, cropping and community.
- Our vision as a Department is to create “vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities” - which means creating economic opportunities and jobs, reviving agricultural activities in some areas and providing the full range of services heath, education, roads etc.
- We also talk about equitable communities – by this we are saying that the very unequal racial, class and gender relations which existed historically in the countryside – simply have to change.
- And we need to do this with the communities not in a top-down fashion.
Now the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform cannot achieve all these objectives on its own. We act as a catalyst, to facilitate and bring people together – for example, the departments of education, health, public works, transport, human settlement, agriculture etc as well as private partnerships – all are vital parts of our Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP). It is our key priority to roll out CRDP to all rural municipalities.
In the 18 months since the first pilot site was opened by the President of the Republic in Muyexe, Limpopo, we have implemented CRDP in over 60 rural wards. This is where you come in – whether as public or private entities – we need to be thinking of every possible way in which we can use existing and planned economic activities to leverage further development in rural economies. To give an example, the Department of Education runs feeding schemes. Now we can either take the easy route of sourcing from the nearest large town, or we can think creatively as to how we use this programme to stimulate local economic activity.
On a larger scale: mining usually takes place in remote rural areas where infrastructure has to be put in place, and supplies sourced. We have to be asking how we can use this to also promote local rural development and enterprise. So, crucially, as a Department we are moving from a welfare model of development to a productive model of development. So it is not enough to hand out land willy-nilly. Our prior experience is that all too often this is simply setting people up for failure. Rather land transfers now need to be accompanied by viable business plans, and adequate training, resources, investment and support to ensure that the project survives and flourishes. This is the underlying thrust of the Recapitalisation and Development Programme introduced in 2010 with the following key goals:
- to increase production and food security
- to graduate small emerging black farmers into commercial farmers
- to create employment opportunities in agricultural
- to promote training, mentorship and strategic partnerships. Again this is where we need your help in terms of providing expertise and skills development.
Unemployment and lack of opportunities continue to be major challenges facing rural communities, and the youth in particular. In this regard the Department embarked last year upon a programme known as the National Rural Youth Service Corps - or NARYSEC for short – a programme that has already created nearly 10 000 employment opportunities. Under NARYSEC:
- We will recruit four young people from each rural ward – with a gender balance; and including people with disabilities.
- We provide a small income for two years – which must be shared with the families.
- We provide training which begins with discipline and work ethic – a joint programme with the Defence Force.
- The NARYEC recruits then assist us with profiling rural communities to establish the actual real needs of those communities. (I need to emphasise this. Part of the CRPD approach is to establish what communities actually need, rather than parachuting in with a one-size-fits-all formula.)
- At the end of two years of further skills development, the youngsters return to their communities and are supported to use their skills in establishing businesses with the goal of eventually employing others. Again the shift is from a welfare model to a productive developmental model.
That is probably enough from me. It only remains for me to congratulate the award winners. Keep doing what you are doing. And to the rest of the guests: enjoy the evening. I thank you.
