Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
Honourable Premier, Ms Noxolo Kiviet;
My colleagues in the Executive Council;
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature;
Honourable Executive Mayors and Mayors;
ANC leadership and alliance partners
Esteemed Traditional Leaders; Our social partners;
Senior officials in government and the private sector; Distinguished guests;
Comrades and friends and
Ladies and gentlemen.
Honourable Speaker, we table this Policy Speech during a year which marks, unfortunately, a painful commemoration of the 1913 Natives Land Act. The promulgation of this Act, as history has shown, robbed the indigenous people of our beloved country, of 87 % of their land. The net effect was to turn our people into exiles and pariahs in their mother land.
This 1913 Natives Land Act set aside 13% of South Africa's land for black occupancy. This meant that blacks were not allowed to buy, rent or even become sharecroppers outside their designated areas. As a result, thousands became squatters who were evicted from farms and forced into increasingly overcrowded reserves, or into the cities.
Honourable Speaker,
The consequences of this notorious piece of legislation have caused immeasurable harm to millions of people in this country and in this province. Our people to this day, still suffer the indignity of being pariahs in their own country due to scarcity of suitable land, for human settlements development. Whilst we recognise the policy interventions made post 1994, to redress the effects of this Act, more work still lies ahead to restore the status and dignity of our people, who have been impaired by this opportunistic piece of legislation.
Honourable Members,
This year as a nation we are celebrating the 191 anniversary of our hard earned democracy. To date the ANC-Ied government has made remarkable strides in our quest to turn around the fortunes of our people towards a better life for all. We remain cognisant that for the majority of our people, hopes and aspirations for a better life will be realised as our government delivers on its mandate.
Whilst on the one hand we are able to reflect on the considerable gains and achievements we have accomplished thus far, we are also equally aware of many families who are yet to benefit from our programs for sustainable human settlements.
This is our area of focus, and remains our mission. As we begin the second centenary of the African National Congress, and as we reflect on our democratic dispensation, it is imperative and opportune for us to accelerate social transformation programmes, particularly where Rural Development initiatives are concerned as there are scores of our people still trapped in shacks, backyard dwellings and collapsing mud structures. Our programs and activities are also intended to respond to the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, hence our department will participate in government anti- poverty campaigns by providing housing units to the destitute individuals and the Foster Care Homes in targeted municipalities. Temporary jobs will be created through construction, thus providing much needed relief to poverty stricken families.
Full speech [PDF]
