Speech by Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Ms Pamela Tshwete in Durban for the Rural Women's Conference
Thank you programme director.
Ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all and thank you for joining us today.
Naze nabahle bo sisi no mama. As a woman, I am so proud and honoured to be part of this year’s important conference under the theme: Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: Women in Enterprises and Industries.
(How will you get support if you are not coming forward)?
Today rural enterprises play a crucial role in our society and they are predominantly cooperatives and 60 percent of them cooperatives are found in rural areas with women as majority players.
These cooperatives that are led by our women contribute immensely and perform major roles that enrich the social-economic conditions thus transform rural economy. As government we will continue engaging the private sector and various stakeholders such as Ithala, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Small Enterprise Development Acengy (SEDA), etc. to ensure that these cooperatives see major injection in terms of support, growth and sustainability.
Programme director; it is widely acknowledged and articulated that South Africa is part of an unstable world system in terms of food crisis, increasing inequalities, poverty and unemployment; however the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) through cooperatives as a catalyst to ensure food security and independence of rural women.
When we are empowered as women we then don't subject ourselves to abuse by men, gone are the days that we wait for men to feed us and our families!
Wathinta bafazi, wathinti mbokodo!
Our Rural Cooperatives Sub Programme provides ideal support for rural women that are involved in cooperatives in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme sites through financial and non-financial support.
The non-financial support from my department comprises of the facilitation of information about co- operatives, pre-incorporation workshops, registration of co-operatives and capacity building.
Programme director, the financial support entails procurement of inputs for production for both agricultural and non-agricultural co-operatives. Simvile uMinister ethetha nge Rural Women's Cooperative Bank, we encourage women to commit and have sense of entitlement by contributing something for their own growth, development and sustainability.
In conclusion I want to say to the rural women in art and crafts, now is your time make your mark, have your footprints and leave your legacy in the rural economic space within your community, our government policies, the department's CRDP are all on your side make the best of this era! Empower a woman, empower the nation, Malibongwe!
