Honourable Speaker;
Honourable Deputy Speaker;
Honourable Premier;
Members of the Executive Council;
Honourable members of the Provincial Legislature;
Honourable members of the House of Traditional Leaders;
Honourable members of the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Agrarian Reform;
Leadership of Farmer Organisations and Rural Communities of the Eastern Cape;
Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (WAARD);
Leaders from religious fraternity;
Iindwendwe ezihloniphekileyo;
Abahlali nabemi beli le Mpuma Kapa;
Mholweni nonke bethu.
Honourable Speaker, and Members of the house, before I continue, I would like to send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Public Service and Administration Minister, Collins Chabane and the late former Port St Johns Mayor, Councillor Mangqo.
In remembering their contribution to the development of our country, we commit to soldier on with their struggles of better life for all.
Honourable Speaker, I stand before you to give account of how this ANC led government is developing rural communities, advancing agrarian transformation in the Eastern Cape. As I reflect on this, I will accentuate on the policy and political imperatives flowing from our progressive outlook as the ANC led government.
Honourable Speaker, reflecting on our 21 years of a free, democratic South Africa, demands that we report on the developments we have made in responding to matters that were and some that are still facing our country.
