Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698135950617.pdf (South Africa)
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 1 of 157 TUESDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2016 ____ PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES ____ The Council met at 14:02.

The House Chairperson (Mr A J Nyambi) took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.
NOTICES OF MOTION Ms B A ENGELBRECHT: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA: That the Council– (1) notes that the latest losses in employment figures, as released by Statistics SA, show that employment in the formal sector fell by 0,7%, which equates to 67 000 jobs in the second quarter compared with previous quarter of 2016; and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 2 of 157 (2) debates the implementation of economic policies proposed by the DA that will stimulate the local economy to provide jobs for the thousands of unemployed people that are slowly losing hope.
Mr M KHAWULA: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the IFP: That the Council- (1) notes the hon Pravin Gordhan left the SA Revenue Service in 2009 when he became the Minister of Finance, and that it has been seven years since Minister Gordhan’s departure from that position; (2) recognises the announcement today, 11 October 2016, by the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA, voicing the intent to charge Minister Gordhan and the statements by the state President in the past denying that state institutions in the country are at war with one another; (3) further recognises that this is in sharp contrast with statements by the Deputy President who warned about the danger of state institutions that are at war with one another; and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 3 of 157 (4) believes that it is very odd that when Minister Gordhan speaks out against wrongdoings in the SA Airways, SAA, and against financing nuclear power, he suddenly becomes a target of State Security forces, this just 15 days before Minister Gordhan is due to deliver his 2016-2017 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.
Mr E MAKUE: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the ANC: That the Council– (1) debates the threat by the DA in Gauteng to withdraw from the SA Local Government Association, Salga, after having lost election in the provincial conference; (2) notes that the DA delegates walked out of the conference after they were outvoted by the ANC majority that elected Mr Parks Tau as the provincial chairperson; and (3) further notes that the move is aimed at creating instability as this will automatically be taking workers out of the bargaining council which would have dire consequences for the workers.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 4 of 157 Mr J J LONDT: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA: That the Council debates the conduct of army recruits at the various bases across the country and their readiness to serve our country and the continent when needed.
Mr O S TERBLANCHE: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA: That the Council debates the current level of business confidence in the economy, the impact on investments and job creation, the removal of red tape, and the facilitation of accelerated investments.
Mr C HATTINGH: House Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move on behalf of the DA: That the Council notes the repatriation of 23 boys between the ages of 6 and 16 to Ghana, the recent discovery of a truckload of more than 50 Malawian children in Rustenburg, the arrest of Thai women at brothels, the arrest of 167 Malawians in North West, the Free State, and Limpopo in July and in the first week of August and debates human trafficking in South Africa and its resultant slavery.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 5 of 157 PASSING AWAY OF FEZEKA “KHWEZI” KUZWAYO (Draft Resolution) Ms T J MOKWELE: House Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes the sad passing away of Fezeka Kuzwayo known in South Africa as “Khwezi”; (2) further notes that Khwezi passed away after a long illness, according to the statement from her family; (3) acknowledges that Khwezi passed away without ever seeing justice, as she was demonised, hurt, had her mother’s house burnt down, and was forced into exile by the supporters of Mr Zuma, after she had accused him of raping her; (4) further acknowledges that Khwezi’s father, Judson Kuzwayo, sacrificed his life fighting for freedom in his country and was jailed on Robben Island where he shared a cell with Mr Zuma; (5) recognises that it was this relationship between Mr Zuma and Mr Kuzwayo that led Khwezi to see Zuma as a father figure; 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 6 of 157 (6) further recognises that many women in this country get subjected to what Khwezi was subjected to, as they are molested often with impunity by men who have access to power; and (7) sends its condolences to the family of Khwezi, wishing them strength in this difficult time and praying that Khwezi’s soul will rest in peace.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
UNVEILING OF INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCERS (Draft Resolution) Mr S G MTHIMUNYE: Hon House Chair, I move without notice: That the Council– 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 7 of 157 (1) notes that the Department of Energy yesterday unveiled coal independent power producers Khanyisa and Thabametsi as preferred bidders to build two coal-fired power stations; (2) further notes that the plants will add 863,3 megawatt of electricity to the country’s power grid in the next five years; (3) also notes that the two projects will create 6 613 jobs during the construction phase and 13 524 jobs during the operational phase; and (4) congratulates the department on their endeavour to make sure that we no longer have problems with availability of electricity and for assisting in the economic development of our country.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
ESCALATION OF VIOLENT PROTESTS AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING (Draft Resolution) Ms L C DLAMINI: Hon House Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 8 of 157 (1) notes with concern the escalation of violent protests in most institutions of higher education in South Africa; (2) also notes that property has been destroyed, and human life continues to be threatened; (3) appreciates the leadership of the Ministry of Higher Education and Training and the university management in pursuing dialogue to bring amicable solutions to this impasse; (4) believes that education, and higher education in particular, is a public investment and not the monopoly of any stratum of the society; and (5) calls on all sectors of society, including organised business and labour, the religious fraternity, and different formations of civil society to intervene in this higher education crisis by mapping out a common, immediate, medium and long-term intervention to this crisis.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 9 of 157 Ms L C DLAMINI: How?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
UNLAWFUL AND IRRATIONAL APPOINTMENT OF HLAUDI MOTSOENENG (Draft Resolution) Mr J W W JULIUS: House Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes and welcomes the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment which held that the appointment of former SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was unlawful and irrational; (2) further notes that this case was taken to court by the DA based on Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s findings against him in 2014; (3) calls on the Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, to act against the defiant SABC board and stop the vexatious litigation attempts to protect Hlaudi Motsoeneng; and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 10 of 157 (4) further calls on the remaining SABC board members to resign with immediate effect to pave the way to stabilising the SABC.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

Mr J W W JULIUS: How?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
UNEXPECTED DEATHS OF COUNCILLORS IN GEORGE MUNICIPALITY (Draft Resolution) Mr O S TERBLANCHE: House Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes the tragic and unexpected deaths of Cllrs Gladwin Xesi and Martin Johannes du Preez, from Wards 11 and 25 in the George Local Municipality respectively; and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 11 of 157 (2) conveys its condolences to the respective families.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
TOP PRIZE AT ESKOM EXPO AWARDED TO S’NENHLANHLA DLAMINI (Draft Resolution) Mr J M MTHETHWA: House Chairperson, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes and welcome with delight that KwaZulu-Natal school pupil S’nenhlanhla Dlamini has won the 2016 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair with an innovative energy-saving device and bagged a scholarship to study in Germany; (2) further notes that this Ongoye Secondary School pupil was awarded her prize at an awards ceremony in Boksburg on Friday night after she won the three-day science fair, where girls outnumbered boys at 5 393 to 3 564; (3) also notes that the fields of science, mathematics, and technology are key to our development as a country; 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 12 of 157 (4) applauds such initiatives by Eskom in collaboration with other stakeholders; and (5) congratulates S’nenhlanhla and wishes her well in her future.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
YOUNG AUTHOR KARABO NKOLI CELEBRATED (Draft Resolution) Ms L L ZWANE: House Chairperson, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes with appreciation that 14-year-old Grade 8 pupil Karabo Nkoli from Sasolburg has already surpassed his peers by becoming one of the country’s youngest authors; (2) further notes that his nonfiction book titled Whispers of Life is aimed at teenagers and seeks to motivate and inspire the youth of the country to become leaders and succeed at their life goals; (3) also notes that Nkoli who was born in Sasolburg in the Free State holds former President Nelson Mandela in high regard, 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 13 of 157 as the late ANC stalwart has had an immensely positive influence on him and his life; and (4) applauds Karabo on his courage to write books and encourages him to do more.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
ROLE PLAYED BY PUBLIC PROTECTOR TO ENSURE EXECUTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY (Draft Resolution) Ms R NT’SEKHE (Gauteng): House Chairperson, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) acknowledges the immense role that Adv Thuli Madonsela has played in the Office of the Public Protector and that this has been a powerful instrument for executive accountability; (2) further acknowledges that Adv Madonsela had no fear in pursuing and exposing the rot of the ANC administration and the extent of the state capture that has taken place; and (3) recognises that Adv Madonsela’s pursuit and achievement of justice is a beacon of hope to the people of our country.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 14 of 157 The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
BIRTHDAY OF ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND TUTU (Draft Resolution) Mr G MICHALAKIS: House Chairperson, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes that Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu celebrated his 85th birthday on 7 October; (2) conveys appreciation to the Archbishop for his continued contribution to our democracy and nation-building and his role as the conscience of our nation; and (3) wishes the Archbishop peace, health, and joy on his 85th birthday.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 15 of 157 Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
WATER SUPPLY CHALLENGES AT MALUTI-A-PHOFUNG (Draft Resolution) Mr M M CHABANGU: Chairperson, on behalf of the EFF, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes that the people of Maluti-A-Phofung have not had water for the past 11 months; (2) further notes that the water brought to them by JoJo tanks benefit the ANC people only; (3) also notes that the toilets in Maluti-A-Phofung are stinking despite the fact the area has the biggest dam in South Africa, the Sterkfontein Dam, which consistently supplies the Gauteng province with water, wherever that is; (4) recognises that the area has two flowing rivers, the Namahadi and Kgoptjane, that can serve as a solution to the problem if the municipality thinks wisely; and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 16 of 157 (5) calls upon the municipality to deal with the problem that affects the poor people directly because Maluti-A-Phofung was earmarked as a node by the former President.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
DESTRUCTION CAUSED IN HAITI BY HURRICANE (Draft Resolution) Mr J P PARKIES: Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes with profound sadness that a powerful and destructive hurricane slammed into Haiti last week, leaving around 1 000 dead and 1,4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance; 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 17 of 157 (2) further notes that the Haitian authorities had to start burying the dead in mass graves in different parts of the country because the bodies were starting to decompose; (3) also notes that there was great concern about cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food, and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters; and (4) conveys its heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the government and people of the Republic of Haiti on the occasion of this tragedy.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
MANGAUNG CULTURAL FESTIVAL (Draft Resolution) Ms M L MOSHODI: Hon Chair, I move without notice: That the Council- (1) notes the success of the annual Mangaung Cultural Festival, popularly called Macufe, which is hosted by the provincial 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 18 of 157 government of the Free State in partnership with the private sector; (2) further notes that this festival runs for the whole week, providing a diverse range of cultural products and entertainment, and attracts people from across South Africa and Lesotho; (3) believes that the development of our culture is critical for nation-building and social cohesion and acts as a catalyst for cultural tourism; and (4) applauds the provincial government of the Free State and the private sponsors of the festival for coming up with this innovative programme.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
APPOINTMENT OF NEW PUBLIC PROTECTOR (Draft Resolution) Ms Z V NCITHA: Chair, on behalf of the ANC, I move without notice: That the Council- 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 19 of 157 (1) notes that the President has appointed Adv Busisiwe Joyce Mkhwebane as the new Public Protector for a period of seven years, with effect from 15 October 2016; (2) further notes that Adv Mkhwebane was selected from over 60 candidates nominated by South Africans; (3) also notes that her candidacy was endorsed by an overwhelming majority, with only the DA opposing her nomination and accusing her of being a spy; (4) congratulates Adv Mkhwebane on her new responsibility and hopes that she will serve the country with distinction; and (5) conveys its appreciation to outgoing Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela for serving the people of South Africa with pride and dignity over the past seven years and wishes her well in her future endeavours.
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Is there any objection to the motion?

HON MEMBERS: Yes!

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): There being an objection, the motion without notice becomes a notice of motion on the Order Paper.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 20 of 157 PASSING AWAY OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT MR B A NESI (Draft Resolution) Ms T WANA: Chairperson, on behalf of the ANC, I move without notice: That the Council– (1) notes with a deep and profound sense of sadness the passing on of the late honourable Bonisile Nesi, also affectionately known as Nobou, after a short period of illness; (2) further notes the late honourable Nesi joined the Council in 2009 and served in it until 2014, representing the people and government of the Eastern Cape in the Eastern Cape legislature where he served as a member of the provincial legislature; (3) acknowledges his contribution to the NCOP as a member of the Select Committees on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Security, Constitutional Development, and Petitions; (4) further acknowledges his membership from a young age of uMkhonto weSizwe through to the Congress of SA Students, Cosas, the SA Students Congress, Sasco, the ANC Youth League, and the ANC; 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 21 of 157 (5) also acknowledges his participation in the struggle for the liberation of this country from apartheid and to advance a better life for his people, which saw him jailed for a period of two-and-a-half years; (6) recognises that, at the time of his passing, the late honourable Nesi was an ANC regional executive committee member of the Sarah Baartman region and a member of Parliament in the National Assembly, serving on the Portfolio Committees on Home Affairs and Defence and Military Veterans; and (7) conveys its heartfelt condolences to his family, his wife Thobeka, and children for the irreplaceable loss of their loved one and prays that God bless them and give them strength to take on the things that Nobou represented and stood for, which are South Africa and its people.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
FIREFIGHTER COMPETITION HOSTED IN GEORGE (Draft Resolution) Mr J J LONDT: Chair, on behalf of the DA, I move without notice: 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 22 of 157 That this Council- (1) notes that the fifth annual “Toughest Firefighter Alive” competition was recently successfully held in George; (2) conveys its appreciation to the thousands of men and women who put their lives at risk on a daily basis to protect our citizens’ lives, property, and the environment; (3) congratulates the overall winner of the men’s category, Emile Conrad from the Eden District Municipality; and (4) further congratulates the winner of the female category, Precious Mpungose from eThekwini and the winners of the relay competition — the Eden District Municipality team consisting of Emile Conrad, Luciano James, Branwill Abrahams, and Hein Leslie.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon members let me take this opportunity to welcome the special delegates, MECs from different provinces, and Deputy Ministers in our midst.

We now come to the debate on the motion in the Order Paper in the name of the hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana.

I take this opportunity to invite the hon Mpambo- Sibhukwana.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 23 of 157 DEBATE ON THE DETERIORATING STATE OF BASIC EDUCATION AND VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BASIC EDUCATION OF LEARNERS IN THE EASTERN CAPE, KWAZULU-NATAL AND LIMPOPO PROVINCES, IN THE LIGHT OF THE DECLINE IN THE 2015 MATRIC END YEAR RESULTS Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Hon House Chairperson, the late South African icon, Nelson Mandela, famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” He further said that it can free you from bondage and the bondage of the mind.
For years, political figures and the likes of Mandela fought for democracy and equality in our country.

It has now been nearly 21 years that we have experienced a new and democratic South Africa.

[Interjections.]

House Chair, may I have your protection?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon members, let’s avoid anything that will compromise the decorum of the House.

Hon Mpambo- Sibhukwana, you are protected.

You can continue.
You can continue.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: It is a well-known fact that education plays a vital role in shaping tomorrow’s leaders.
Not only can we utilise the educational skills to become an improved nation by acquiring the skills necessary to be productive members of a civilised society, but we can also use education to increase the knowledge to actively achieve and meet challenges that we face daily that can produce changes that are productive in attaining business innovations, political innovations, and economic objectives.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 24 of 157 Our country has a long and complicated history of education where, during apartheid, South Africa’s educational system was significantly unjust.

Racist educational policies were implemented to limit the educational potential of black South Africans as well as keep them within the boundaries of the working class whilst white South Africans had the benefit of learning under an education system that promoted critical thinking and assisted them in advancing their careers.
Now, during the postapartheid era, we have the Constitution that protects us — the founding document of our democracy that dictates and protects our rights to education as per the Bill of Rights.

According to the Bill of Rights in our Constitution, all South Africans have the basic right to education, including Adult Basic Education and Training, Abet, and to access to further education.
This therefore means that the state has an obligation, through reasonable measures, to progressively make this education available and accessible to all.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investment in education in the world.

At 70% of the gross domestic product, GDP, and 20% of the total state expenditure, the government spends more on education than on any other sector.

So, why do we then find that there are gross inequalities still prevalent in our society today?
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 25 of 157 Earlier this year, it was reported that Dalibunga Junior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape had broken ceilings as well as no access to piped water.

Another high school within the same province also had poor infrastructure of broken windows and no ceilings in classrooms.

This is not good for learners and doesn’t create an environment conducive for learning.
The conditions in these schools were so bad that a significant portion of the academic year was spent with learners attending classes under trees.

This cannot be seen after years of democracy and be called equality.

Just last month, a video of a teacher beating a high school learner in KwaZulu-Natal went viral.

Poor governance and poor financial management are not new issues and are definitely not exclusive to these provinces.
However, we have to admit that there is a trend in the quality of education in provinces that are mostly black, rural, and poor.

These are the vulnerable members of our society.

These children also have the potential to become positive contributors to our society and economy.

We have to ensure that their rights are protected and not marginalised and overshadowed by the rights of students in more urban areas.
When delving deeper into this problem, it was found that the main cause of the issue was the infrastructure budget cut of 12% after the department underspent.

We, as the DA, hold the belief that a conducive learning environment is essential for students, and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 26 of 157 qualified teachers as well as other material resources are needed in order for students to truly flourish in their academic years.

Very often, people talk of South Africa’s education system as being in crisis.
As mentioned before, I wish to state that we know that the issue is not the money.

We, as the DA, believe that once the key issues pertaining to education are properly highlighted, plans for improving conditions in schools and in the lives of students would be easier to construct.
We have to admit that there are discrepancies that exist between the learning and living conditions of the “average” white student and the “average” black student, which includes black, coloured, and Indian students, BCI students.

BCI students are not only vulnerable to dropping out of school but are vulnerable to taking the decision not to further their education by going to tertiary institutions.
The reason that this is the case is that students from these race groups usually come from disadvantaged backgrounds where they have limited economic resources and have parents with lower levels of education.

The location of the school and the distance between the school and the home act as a barrier to children attaining their desired education.
The learner-to-educator ratio is a further indicator that it is important to consider, as educators play a fundamental role in determining educational outcomes, and it helps us assess the quality 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 27 of 157 of schooling that is offered to students.

Students who learn in overcrowded classes are susceptible to not attending school regularly or completely dropping out as they are not given the personal attention that could help them succeed in class.
We believe that more schools are needed to accommodate the educational needs of our children.

We also believe that better quality teaching is necessary in all learning environments.

Finally, I wish to say that, when we visited Limpopo, at Vhudzani Secondary School, the first school we visited, we were welcomed by monkeys because there is no fence around the school.

That also compromises the safety of the learners in that school.
Ironically, when we were at one of the schools in KwaZulu-Natal, led by principal Mchunu, the infrastructure of that school, built in the last 20 years, has gone down and is dilapidated, and that is a cause for concern for conducive learning.

I thank you.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Let me remind those that will be coming to the podium for the first time that we do have a clock on the screen.

So, make it simple for me.


Ms L L ZWANE: Chairperson, hon MECs from provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal, hon members of the House, and guests, broken toilets, shoddy infrastructure, widespread use of corporal punishment, and lack of student safety were some of the issues highlighted in the social audit of Western Cape schools released by Equal Education.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 28 of 157 The report was drawn from 244 schools, and Nishal Robb goes on to say, “They have a certain strategy for dealing with people who ask questions and dealing with protestors.” They have got a way of dealing with protesters and actually shutting people out when they bring problems pertaining to education.

He goes on to say: I think we’ve got a big fight ahead of us.
Our last meeting with the MEC actually ended in us walking out, because her office was absolutely condescending and arrogant.

Therefore, hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana, I want to say to you that we reject your motion as being very disingenuous.

You cannot use outliers to formulate generalisations.

The cases that you are quoting are isolated - they are outliers - and therefore I would recommend that you go to school ...

[Applause.]

... and study quantitative research methodology.


That is going to teach you that you cannot use outliers.

You must use all the variables before you come to a conclusion.

[Applause.]

We were with you at eMqamathi and Ndabezitha, where we found that there was education taking place, notwithstanding the challenges.

We agreed that there are challenges.

There were faction fights in some of the schools in KwaZulu-Natal in the uMzinyathi district that caused the course of education not to go as smoothly.
There is a shortage of science teachers and mathematics educators, but the department has actually given bursaries through Fundza Lushaka to 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 29 of 157 ensure that we increase the number of mathematics and science teachers.

[Interjections.]

There was a problem of a shortage of textbooks, but the schools have been made to submit textbook recovery plans.

The same applied to the Eastern Cape.

There were challenges there.


There were schools that were in a state of disrepair, but this very government, led by the ANC ... Alright.

Thank you.

[Time expired.]

[Applause.]

Dr Y C VAWDA: Chair, allow me to first and foremost acknowledge the presence of our supreme forces, irrespective of whatever our perceptions might be.

I greet all of you with As-salaamu-alai-kum.

[Peace be with you.]

An HON MEMBER: Four minutes is gone.


Dr Y C VAWDA: The EFF has always been clear about the problems facing basic education in South Africa.

We have for a long time criticised the fixation with just the National Senior Certificate pass rates and focus more broadly on the education system in its entirety.

Matric results do not account for the large number of pupils that drop out of school between Grade 1 and matric.
Of 100 pupils that start school, only 50 will make it to Grade 12, 40 will pass, and only 12 will qualify for university.

This is clear 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 30 of 157 evidence of the nongovernance on the part of the ANC 22 years into the new South Africa.

Teaching and learning in the Eastern Cape have all but collapsed.

Nearly 2 000 schools will lie dormant on the department’s school infrastructure priority list.
Hundreds of thousands of learners continue to learn in mud structures, overcrowded classrooms, and in schools without safe toilets, electricity, or water, to name a few of the department’s egregious violations of the National Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure, 22 years of the ANC’s nongovernance.
Some of the key factors identified were long identified by the EFF, and these are issues such as the inability to fill funded critical vacant posts in schools, the phenomenon of small schools that are difficult to resource, the continued neglect of Grades 7, 8, and 9 with huge implications for the further education and training, FET, phase and matriculation results.
These are issues we have been raising forever here, and the ANC is content with hearing the same problems over and over again, without solving them.

Despite these challenges, we are alarmed that the Eastern Cape provincial education department underspent R530 million of its education infrastructure grant in the 2015-16 financial year, which resulted in the National Treasury reallocating the money to other provinces.
This has been ongoing in the Eastern Cape for far too 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 31 of 157 long.

If these engagements do not result in tangible outcomes to improve failures such as the Eastern Cape, then we are spiralling downwards.

This is the reason the Eastern Cape has been the worst performing province for many years.

However, no action has ever been taken against anyone.

No one has ever been held accountable for the sorry state of affairs in that province.
Mr C HATTINGH: Hon Chair, I think most of us were actually shocked once again by the hon Zwane’s Western Cape obsession, which, in fact, today reminded me once again of the decadent Emperor of Rome, Nero, who allegedly played the fiddle while Rome was burning.

The country’s education system is burning, hon Zwane, and you come here and focus on the Western Cape that, together with Gauteng, are the best performing provinces in the country.
Recently, and I think the hon Zwane may have slept late on a few days of the oversight visit, the Select Committee on Social Services witnessed shocking and appalling conditions to which learners are being exposed on a daily basis namely, lack of water, lack of sanitation facilities, open pit toilets without doors, shortage of educators, vacant posts, and educators acting in vacant positions, in some cases, for years.
Similar situations were experienced during an oversight visit to the Eastern Cape where it was found that, in some schools, the learners had to stand or sit on the floor in the classrooms due to the absence of desks and chairs while in an adjacent school furniture was stacked to the ceiling in locked 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 32 of 157 classrooms and not being used.

This is the state of education where there is a lack of management and lack of involvement.
In Vuwani, Limpopo, where more than 30 schools suffered from arson due to demarcation protests and unrests, the culture of learning appears to be unscathed with learners, through the hard work of committed educators, still performing well even after lengthy periods of school closures, but this, unfortunately, is not the general trend in three of our provinces which are predominantly rural, namely, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape.
While provinces like Gauteng, the Western Cape, and the North West – which also happens to be predominantly rural – are making progress year after year, a strong downward trend has now been firmly established in those three provinces.

In this decline, as emphasised by the matric results, thousands of learners are being deprived of proper education and, because of that, deprived of the opportunity to access tertiary education and training with the subsequent devastating effects on their future.
The deterioration of the quality of education is most visible when the matric results of these provinces are looked at.

Limpopo achieved 65,9% in 2015, 7% down from 72,9% in 2014; the Eastern Cape achieved 56,8% in 2015, down from 65,4% in 2014, a decline of 8,6%; and KwaZulu-Natal achieved 60,7% in 2015, a 16,7% decline from 77,4% in 2013.

Now obviously this is also affected by ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 33 of 157 The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Hattingh, your time has expired.
Mr C HATTINGH: Before I was interrupted, jobs for cash are playing a role here.

Thank you, hon Chair.

[Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon members, when I advise all of you about time, I am mindful that some of you have got three minutes, and some have 10 minutes.

So, to those that have three minutes, be extra careful with the time there.
Mr M MAKHUPULA (Eastern Cape): Hon Chairperson of the session and hon members, it is indeed a great opportunity for me to stand in front of you and share some of the developments and efforts that we are making in the province.

The first thing to acknowledge is that I take into account the context of the academic year, 2015, that was punctuated by an 8,6% decline in the matric results, from 65,4% to 56,8%.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

Representing a significant departure from the average historical learner performance profile in the province, Umalusi, the national certification authority in South Africa, equally observed that the national adjustments to learner marks were quite unprecedented in 2015, not only for the Eastern Cape but also for the country as a whole.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 34 of 157 Notwithstanding the drop, our learners and teachers made commendable strides in the National Top Learner Achiever Award and the National Teaching Awards.

For the Quintile 1 category, nationally, the top learner in the country came from the Eastern Cape, Mmangaliso Dobe from Toli Senior Secondary School.

The first position in special schools, nationally, came from the Eastern Cape, Efata School for the Blind and Deaf in Mthatha.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

The second position in physics, nationally, went Kukhokuhle Tsengwa from St Johns College.

[Applause.]

I must also indicate that the second position in combined mathematics and physics, nationally, came from St Johns College, the same child, Kukhokuhle Tsengwa.

[Applause.]

Whilst we acknowledge the challenges, you cannot wish away the fact that there are also pockets of excellence in the province.
On top of that, with regard to the teaching awards, the excellence in secondary schools, the excellence in special needs and inclusive education and teaching, the excellence in Grade R teaching, and the second position in the Kader Asmal Excellence Award, throughout the country, were all taken by the Eastern Cape.

[Applause.]

[Interjections.]


Despite the challenges, let us also highlight that in terms of access, it is important that hon members take note that of the 1,762 million children in the Eastern Cape from Grade R to Grade 12 that have access to public education, 1,599 million children are attending no-fee schools.

They are paying nothing.

[Interjections.]

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 35 of 157 That is the point that I think many of the members should take note of.
At times, you do not only measure the height of a person without looking at the ground on which the person is standing.

You must also measure the depth of the position from which the person is standing.

[Interjections.]

It is very important.

You might say somebody is short, but, in actual fact, the person is standing in a hole.

On post-provisioning ...

[Interjections.]

... we must say that for 2017, the staff establishment, based on the national post- provisioning norm, was concluded ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Order, members!

Hon members, you can do whatever, but you cannot drown out the speaker at the podium.

[Interjections.]

Mr M MAKHUPULA (Eastern Cape): On 22 September, I declared a post basket for 2017, based on national post-provisioning norms, PPN.

I am happy to announce that this basket has taken into account pressing demands of professionalising Grade R practitioners and providing a good pool of therapists.
For the first time in the Eastern Cape, we will be measuring our children in terms of screening, identification, advocacy, and support.

One area that we are still dealing with is inefficiencies.

The reality of the situation is that a province such as the Eastern Cape and I daresay Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal are provinces that were 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 36 of 157 largely deliberately not developed for centuries.
The reality of the matter is that economic challenges are actually a harsh reality in the country.

It is a reality that people are migrating from the rural areas and the remote areas to urban metropolitan areas.

When our people are moving from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town or to Johannesburg, it has nothing to do with education or politics.

[Interjections.]

It has to do with the economic conditions.


I must indicate that this thing of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape is new; it is just 26 years old.

We used to have a Cape Province with a capital city called Cape Town.

This Cape Town was developed by our forefathers and foremothers.

Their energy was spent here.

Today, it is what it is not because of the people of the Western Cape, but because of the people of South Africa.
Therefore, when people talk about refugees and that children who move from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape are refugees, they must not be short sighted.

People must take into account that the Western Cape is what it is because of the contribution of South Africa.

As I move towards our strategies for the matric countdown, in the first place, we have registered 94 000 learners in the Eastern Cape.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 37 of 157 Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, I would like to know if the MEC would take a question on our oversight a few weeks ago in the Eastern Cape.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): No, you can’t do that.

I must first ascertain.

You can’t just ask the question.

Hon MEC, are you willing to take a question?

Mr M MAKHUPULA (Eastern Cape): Hon Chair, because of time, I will not.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

I must indicate that this year, we have registered 94 000 full-time learners and 20 000 plus part-time candidates.

Of the 924 schools that have matriculants in the Eastern Cape, we have targeted 560 of these schools where the majority of the learners are from poor backgrounds.

We are paying attention to these schools.

You can’t make a difference if you don’t spend time with the majority.

Let me speak on cleaning the system while dealing with inefficiencies.
The ghost issues are probably going to emerge.

From this year, in April in the Eastern Cape, there were more than 560 000 learners that had a challenge around identity documents, IDs.

Some did not have IDs, and others had invalid IDs.

However, after the vigorous campaign that we had, I am glad to indicate that, by September, only 72 000 of them do not have IDs.

We have reduced the numbers radically and drastically.
The interesting part is that, as the numbers of those who do not have IDs are reduced, invalid IDs 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 38 of 157 are emerging.

We have a child who is doing Grade 4 with an ID that starts with 1964.

These are some of the challenges that we are dealing with.

[Interjections.]

So, we are beginning to deal ... Mr J W W JULIUS: Hon Chair, I wonder whether, at this time, the MEC is prepared to take a question.
Mr M MAKHUPULA (Eastern Cape): If I have a minute at the end, I might listen to the question, but let me cover the main points first.

The reality of the matter is that Grade 12 is the exit class.

If you want to pay attention to correcting education, you have to attend to the primary level as well.

That is where we must spend our time.

As the Eastern Cape, we have dedicated our time to the level of mathematics and language competency so that we are able to make a difference.
The last thing I want to speak about is expanding our services platforms.

From next year, we will be focusing ... We have started to prepare grounds for technical and vocational education services.

We do believe that, at the moment, while we still have these challenges at an academic level, especially at tertiary institutions, the reality of the matter is that we have to capacitate our learners at artisanship level so that they make a difference in the lives of our children.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 39 of 157 We have also expanded to maritime schools.

We have started maritime education with two schools at George Randell High School in East London and Ngwenyathi High School, which is in a rural area.

We have also increased our telematics centres in the province.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

I wish to tell the hon member Mpambo-Sibhukwana that when you speak about Dalibunga Junior Secondary School, please also ask Dalibunga what they have done with the money that was allocated to them for norms and standards, for school funding that deals with fencing and broken windows.
So, while I accept that the school might have broken windows, we also have a right as public representatives to ask what the school has done with the money allocated to them, rather than grandstanding here in Parliament.

The right questions must be asked to the principal of the school.

Lastly, let me say that the uneven development in South Africa is a historical challenge that we cannot run away from.
In South Africa, unfortunately, with its historical development, some areas have been identified as production zones, like the mineral areas.

Gauteng ...

Thank you very much.

[Time expired.]

[Applause.]

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson and hon members, I am very humbled to be standing in front of you being mandated by the ANC, representing the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 40 of 157 I must from the outset be clear and say that the department of education in KwaZulu-Natal province has more than 6 052 schools.

We are made out of more than 2,7 million learners with more than 90 000 teachers and a total of 107 000 employees.

You can understand when we talk about such a department that it is a massive department.

So, you must understand when you talk about KwaZulu- Natal what you are talking about.
We have made significant strides in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, while acknowledging the persistent challenges in respect of achieving equity and redress.

That is primarily because of the legacy.

We inherited a collapsed system.

Today, we talk of the investment of more than R2,4 billion in infrastructure.

It is because of this government that is focused and aware that it needs to ensure that it invests in rural areas, in particular.
We are not talking about the government that never cared about our people; we are talking about the government that cares about the people, even from the very deep rural areas.

When it comes to the National School Nutrition Programme, NSNP, there are more than 2,2 million learners in our province that are benefiting from the programme.

This number constitutes about 88,9% of our learners in the public schools.
This is a very serious achievement by the ANC-led government, and we must stand up and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 41 of 157 acknowledge such an achievement.

[Interjections.]

You must listen to us so that you can learn.

The success of this intervention is noted in the improved attendance record of learners coming largely from impoverished areas.

We have seen an improved performance, and we are making progress.

None of our learners from Quintiles 1 to 3 pays school fees.
Orphans, foster children, and children of parents receiving poverty-linked social grants are exempted from paying school fees.

So, when we are talking about school fees, this ANC-led government is already implementing free education.

We are very clear on what we are doing.

Considerable progress has been made towards enriching universal coverage by enrolling almost 98% of learners between the ages of five and 15, when we talk about the compulsory school age.
The department boasts of the implementation of literacy and numeracy in the improvement plan for the 2015-16 financial year, and we have specially designed charts, flash cards, and sentence strips that were provided to targeted schools in the effort to nurture reading.

We are focusing on it because we have realised that comprehension has been identified as one of the elements that impacts on our learners’ performance.

That’s why we are focusing on it.


We have also supplied learning and teaching support material, LTSM, packs and textbooks to a number of schools.

As we speak right now, we are almost complete in terms of the distribution.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 42 of 157 Hon Chair, we must indicate that there is empirical evidence that suggests the dropout rate in Grades 10 to 12 is much higher than in the lower grades in the education system and that the boy learners are more likely to drop out than girl learners.
[Interjections.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon MEC, sorry.

Hon Mokwele, why are you standing?

Ms T J MOKWELE: Hon Chair, on a point of privilege: I just want to know whether we have a new Chairperson because I see the hon Deputy Minister is sitting where the Chairperson of the Council sits.

Maybe you forgot to introduce to us the new Chairperson.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Mokwele, there is nothing wrong with that seating arrangement.

You are welcome, hon Deputy Minister.


You may continue, hon MEC.

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, I must report that this month, as we are speaking, we are introducing a sanitary towel programme in our rural schools to assist our girl learners.

[Applause.]

These are programmes that we are going to continue implementing.

We are very clear about it.

We have also intensified ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon MEC, hold on.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 43 of 157 Ms B A ENGELBRECHT: Hon Chairperson, I am standing on Rule 33, whether you can ask the MEC to elaborate on the free tertiary education.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Engelbrecht, you are quite aware of the Rules.

Will you take your seat?

Continue, hon MEC.

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): We have also intensified our efforts in a number of ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Hattingh?
Mr C HATTINGH: In terms of our Rules which you have applied in the past, the hon MEC must sit down if you take a point of order.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): The point of order is sustained.

You are correct, hon Hattingh.

I will do that.

[Laughter.]

You may continue, hon MEC.

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): It means we are moving forward!

We have also intensified our efforts in increasing the number of girl learners pursuing mathematics, science, and technology at FET level and beyond.
More female learners in our province have enrolled ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 44 of 157 The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon MEC, sorry.

Please take your seat.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chair, firstly, I just wanted to check whether the MEC knows the Rules.

Secondly, is he willing to take a question?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon MEC, are you ready to take a question?

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): Not now.

I am moving forward.

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): No, he is not ready.
Continue, MEC.

Mr M DLUNGWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): You see, Chair, it can be seen when people realise that you are talking facts.

Our efforts are bearing fruit because KwaZulu-Natal is now the country’s capital of mathematics.

We command the biggest percentage of learners doing core mathematics in the country compared to those who take mathematics literacy in the province.

We have 59% core mathematics, as opposed to 41% mathematics literacy.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

Hon Chair, we want to ensure that our education system creates a supply of quality science and technology human resources for the South African economy.

It is public knowledge that our province did not do very well in the past two years.

We have introduced a number 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 45 of 157 of initiatives aimed at improving our results for this year.
Noticeably, beyond the focus we have on Grade 12, we have made sure that we create a solid foundation through the provision of material, equipment, and apparatus other grades need for a better learning and teaching experience.

Our focus is on improving the whole system, not only the Grade 12 system.

However, in this year’s intervention, we have ensured that we focus on the school functionality monitoring.
We have ensured that we strengthen partnerships with nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, to improve learner attainment.

We have provided extra support to progress learners.

We have also been running just-in-time workshop programmes for teachers in the six subjects that were failed most in the previous year.

We are monitoring curriculum coverage to ensure that all of our learners, when they go to write, have covered their curriculum.
We have quarterly common assessments we had in March, June, and also in September.

We have capacitated, and we continue to capacitate, our school management teams.

We are also ensuring the supply of effective revision material so that our learners can be in a position to succeed.

We are conducting supplementary tuition in winter, and we also have spring classes which are meant for revision.

We are running Saturday classes and also embarking on learner camps.
We have invited 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 46 of 157 1 200 learners to our flyer bootcamp.

We are indeed trying our best.

We have launched our final push programme.

Remember, we launched 100-day, 50-day, and 30-day programmes, and on Thursday we are going to be launching our 10-day programme.

We have partnered with newspapers, running a programme in newspaper supplements, and we are also running slots on radio for revision in all 11 subjects that are done by the majority of our learners.
We have now introduced the Friday meetings where the MEC meets with the majority of the senior managers to deal directly and primarily with the examination-related issues from September until the end of the writing of examinations.

We have intensified our campaign aimed at restoring the moral fibre of teachers to see learners as their children and desist from unsavoury relationships with them.

We want to assure you that we are working so hard to ensure that the system works and produces the best learners.
Thank you so much.

[Applause.]

Mr M I KGETJEPE (Limpopo): Chairperson, members of the National Council of Provinces, my colleagues from the provinces, Ministers here present, and the Deputy Minister, we are honoured to take part in this debate.

I must indicate that we are doing our all to ensure that we provide basic education to the schools in our province.
The components that 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 47 of 157 we are fighting on to ensure that we maintain quality basic education in the Limpopo province involve, amongst others, provision of Learner Teacher Support Materials, LTSM, habitable school infrastructure, scholar transport, teacher provisioning and development, school safety, and governance.

A couple of years ago, Limpopo was synonymous with the nondelivery of LTSM.

Standing here today, we are much encouraged by the current state of affairs.
We are working very hard to protect it and are doing everything in our power to ensure that every learner has a textbook for every subject.

We have, for instance, ensured that at the beginning of the 2016 academic year, all the LTSM was available so that teaching and learning happen from the first day of school.

Shortages do happen because of learner migration and inaccurate information received, such as the submission lists from schools that do not comply with the directive from the department.
These are the things that we are progressively addressing to ensure that we get to 100%.

Our relationship with the SA Post Office with regard to the management of our warehouse and the delivery of LTSM ensures that we are able to deliver these books on time.

We are working very hard in this regard so that come the beginning of the year 2017, we are also able to have LTSM at schools by the first day of school.
Of course, when it comes to LTSM supply, the retrieval of LTSM is very 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 48 of 157 important, and we are working very hard with the school managers to ensure that we achieve and have it.

We are not only concentrating on the mainstream schools.

We also concentrate on supplying LTSM to special schools in our province.

We are committed to ensuring that curriculum delivery in these schools also take place.
In this regard, we have procured and delivered appropriate specialised assistive devices and related LTSM in 32 public special schools in our province to the tune of R12,8 million.

This includes laptops, data projectors, BrailleNote Apex, Eye-Pal Solo, ClassClicker interactive classroom bundles, Matrix Maker, eBeam whiteboards, Tablets, simulation devices, printers, Talking Albums, interactive whiteboards, and other related materials.
We have all these tools and learner support material, but it’s always important to focus on it.

We can almost supply the material, but it is also critical to ensure our educators are able to use the equipment.

For that matter, we are working with the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority, ETDP-Seta, to train 134 educators in Braille, 218 in Sign Language, and 100 educators in augmentative and alternative communication.

[Applause.]
[Applause.]

We are continuing to improve teacher development to ensure that we are delivering education, especially for learners with special education needs.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 49 of 157 For this category of schools, we also need personnel to be able to ensure that we deliver better quality education.

We have filled 179 support staff posts in special schools, and another 131 professional and support staff posts will be filled in this academic year by February 2017.
These posts include house mothers and fathers to look after our learners, accounting clerks to manage the finances of the schools, drivers, and cleaners, and the kind of professionals like social workers and professional nurses who are very critical for the functioning of special schools.

[Applause.]

Another important component of basic education is the provision of safe infrastructure, habitable and conducive to teaching and learning.
We are one of the provinces in this country that has in the past two years spent its entire infrastructure budget in its quest to eradicate all inappropriate school infrastructure.

In this previous financial year, we completed 141 school projects from classrooms to nutrition centres.

[Applause.]

The first two quarters of this year, we have completed 154 projects, and we aim to accelerate our delivery in the remaining months of the financial year.
We must point out that there are still serious infrastructure backlogs in the province, and that is why hon members, when they do oversight, will talk about this and that school.

Limpopo has more than 3 900 schools.

So, one school is one too much.


The rebuilding of Vuwani schools alone needs an amount of more than R400 million, 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 50 of 157 while we still have a backlog as per our assessment with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, with regard to norms and standards on building new school infrastructure.

We also have 120 storm-damaged schools across the province.
This damage occurred at the end of 2015 November and the beginning of 2016, and our estimated cost to repair is R1,2 billion.

We are almost in the season for rain and storms, and we might incur further damages.

The department of education has made great strides in ensuring that needy learners who walk long distances to schools are provided with scholar transport.

Our province is largely rural and marked by scattered and dispersed rural settlements.
The learner transport programme has tremendously expanded since 2006-07 where we were transporting 10 000 learners to the tune of R21 million.

Currently, hon Chair, we are transporting 31 703 learners in 372 schools to the tune of R145 million.

[Applause.]

One of the issues that has been raised in this august House, which hon members have been asking us about, is the continued improvement in the management of finances in the department in the province.
Members of this House are familiar with the fact that Limpopo was put under section 100 of the Constitution administration and that we have now progressively improved to ensure that we comply with the Public Finance Management Act.
Of course, we are working with the 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 51 of 157 provincial Treasury in terms of section 18 of the Public Finance Management Act to ensure that we continue to improve the financial management, and we are working with the Office of the Auditor- General to ensure that come 2017, we get a proper audit outcome.
Besides the solid partnership with the SAPS, our intervention has focused on addressing elements of physical infrastructure related to proper fencing, burglar proofing, and strengthening of partnership with the relevant stakeholders, especially because school safety issues are also a challenge in the province.

The success of these efforts, of course, relies largely on parents and communities to work with the schools to ensure that our children are safe and realise their full potential.
It is therefore important for parents and communities to participate actively in addressing and promoting school safety as they are well positioned to see to it that children are safe where they are.

Of course, one of the programmes that we are engaging in is the National School Nutrition Programme.

We are feeding 1,6 million children every school day in the province.

We are addressing the challenges relating to our efficiencies and effectiveness.
Especially when disruption of education takes place, this programme is affected as it happened in the area of Vuwani.

Then, the percentage of schools in our province benefiting from the no-fees schools is 95%.

We are working very hard with limited 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 52 of 157 resources to ensure that we are able to deliver education to the poorest of the poor in our province.

Thank you, Chairperson.

[Applause.]


The DEPUTY MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Hon Chairperson, I think my homegirl was complaining about the seat because she wanted me to sit next to her and not so far away from her.

However, thank you very much for the invitation that has been extended to me, and, certainly, it’s always a pleasure to be in this esteemed House.

I recognise the Deputy Minister my colleague over here and MECs for education of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and the Eastern Cape.
Thank you so much for making the effort to be here and for participating in this very, very important debate.

The issue of quality education in terms of the debate really applies to these three provinces, but I think it’s good to recognise that education is a concurrent competency, and that, as a national department, we have a responsibility to support our provincial counterparts and that we work collaboratively, and that the department is given an opportunity to articulate its position.
My colleagues have quite correctly raised the issue of nutrition, so it will be very useful to inform this House that countrywide we feed 9,7 million children on each school day, and that’s quite remarkable on its own.

[Applause.]

We take note of the fact that the Eastern Cape, for example, has some 5 400 schools unlike Limpopo which has 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 53 of 157 3 900 schools.
However, the reality in the system of education within the Eastern Cape is that of that 5 400 schools, there are more than 1 000 schools that have fewer than 135 learners, which means that immediate steps had to be taken and indeed have been taken with regard to the mergers, rationalisation, and closures of these schools.
Arising from the processes that we put in place after the challenge in the High Court in the Western Cape, what the national department has done is to provide all provinces with a guideline, particularly with regard to consultative procedure when schools are merged or closed so that we are not found wanting in terms of the processes that have to be followed.
The Department of Basic Education can celebrate the fact that it works very closely with all nine provinces, that it works with all district directors across the country.

For the past 10 years, we have been meeting with district directors every quarter — that is the Minister, Deputy Minister, director-general, senior management of the Department of Basic Education, and district directors from all across the country.
The value of that is really to create a system of education that would benefit every child within the system.

It’s important that we do so, but it also allows for a community of professional practice where district directors are able to share and exchange best practice and ideas and begin to better understand the teaching and learning environment and learn from each other.

This has proved to be invaluable.


11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 54 of 157 Beyond that, what we do as a national department is to ensure that when we meet 50% of the agenda is developed by the district directors and the other 50% by the Department of Basic Education so that they have an opportunity to raise matters that affect them.
So, if for example I would stand here and I would learn from the district directors that in the Eastern Cape they had serious problems with regard to capacity, they can now say to you that they have sufficient quantity surveyors, architects, and engineers to assist them with the infrastructure development programme, and the Department of Basic Education is supporting them.
What we can share with you is that in the Eastern Cape alone ... and you know we tend to ... 22 years ... Dr Vawda was saying that in 22 years, we haven’t done much.

I think we have done significantly much.


We have created a single and a uniform system of education, we have dealt with the issue of equity, we have ensured that eight out of 10 children in our country attend no-fee schools, and we have ensured that those who are in fee-paying schools are exempted by law from paying fees if they are poor and indigent.

[Applause.]

That is remarkable.

Free education is a reality.


We have ensured, for example, that we distribute more than 55 million workbooks to our children, black and white, Quintile 1 and Quintile 5 schools, because at the heart of what we do is the best interest of a child.

It does not matter whether a poor child is 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 55 of 157 in the Western Cape or in Gauteng.

That is our child, and that is our responsibility.


To give you an example, a good illustration would be the phenomenon of mud schools, something that was not peculiar to the Eastern Cape.

Previously, it resided in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Free State, the Eastern Cape, and parts of the Western Cape.

We have eliminated that phenomenon in all provinces except for the Eastern Cape given its huge ... it’s a huge ... the largest learner population came from the Eastern Cape.
It’s now been overtaken by Gauteng.

[Interjections.]

However, interestingly, and I want you to listen to this, we have built more than 103 schools, replacing these mud schools.

These are state-of-the-art schools with laboratories and libraries, where kitchen utensils are provided, with kitchen preparation areas, and Grade R classes.

That’s quite remarkable.

However, which province is the second biggest beneficiary of your Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, Asidi, programme?
It’s the Western Cape.

It has already received 22 state- of-the-art schools.

They are in Atlantis.

They are in Heideveld.

They are in the poorest area where this particular government was unable to provide to them in time.

We could not neglect or marginalise those children.

They are our children, and indeed we have provided that infrastructure.

That is a responsibility we have to all provinces, irrespective of party-political affiliations, and we will continue to act in that particular way.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 56 of 157 When we hear — and it’s important that we have debates of this nature — the MEC speak about the access to education that he provided in the Eastern Cape, what we could take pride in, given the reality, and this is what Dr Vawda had correctly pointed out – that education is a continuum.

It’s not about your Grade 12 examination results, but it starts off from your preschool to your school and beyond.
Insofar as that is concerned, I think the Eastern Cape has done remarkably well, with 98% of Grade R learners in school.

That is quite remarkable.

More than 95% of the learners in the Eastern Cape attend no-fee schools, and more than 96% of learners in Limpopo attend no-fee schools.

So, that is quite remarkable.

Strides are being made, changes are taking place, and challenges are there.
However, the question then is – and I don’t think any of the speakers, including the hon member who started the debate, had reflected on what we do about the outcomes for Grade 12.

Perhaps, we should reflect on that, not in a negative way but in a positive way, by saying what we’ve heard is that there were interventions that had been made and continue to be made.

For example, in KwaZulu-Natal alone, the national Department of Basic Education has had more than 10 strategic meetings.
It sends its senior officials to assist the department.

The department – the MEC – has correctly pointed out what steps he has taken to ensure that they enhance the opportunity and intensify the campaign to improve learner outcomes.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 57 of 157 As a national department, we receive a quarterly report from each of these three provinces regarding identified schools.
So, for example, in the Eastern Cape, we have identified 580 schools, in Limpopo we have identified two districts in particular, including the Waterberg area, and, in KwaZulu-Natal, we have identified 360 schools.

They would tell us quarterly that this is the outcome for the first term; this is the outcome for the second term for Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, and Grade 12.

It’s not only Grade 12.


So, then, we are able to intervene, support, and monitor what is happening out there because we recognise that it’s something that we cannot celebrate.

The decline in performance is something that we have to correct and remediate.

It is that honesty that results in us collaborating with each other and saying, well, we have to do more.
Limpopo itself — and it’s a good example to use Limpopo — can boast about two schools, Mbilwi and Dendron, in the very area of Vuwani where we have had the problems.

Every single year for the past 10 years, those schools have produced more than 50 distinctions in mathematics, more than 50 distinctions in science, and at least 10 learners in each year ...

[Applause.]

... that have achieved 100% in mathematics and 100% in science.

That is from Limpopo.


We have these pockets of excellence not only in Limpopo, but we have them in KwaZulu-Natal.

If you take your Pinetown district in KwaZulu-Natal, for example, it compares favourably to any other district in the country.

The question is what you do to identify 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 58 of 157 areas of weakness.

This is what has been happening.


In KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, we have worked with the National Education Collaboration Trust to ensure that we, the Department of Basic Education together with the private sector, provide support to those areas.

I would like to thank the hon MECs for their commitment and passion to do work.

In Limpopo, for example, with regard to the Vuwani matter, we sent a dedicated team there, but we didn’t do it alone.
We had the MEC for education and the acting head of department to assist there.

One of the phenomena that we have to address ... KwaZulu-Natal has done very well in filling acting position posts but not so in Limpopo or the Eastern Cape.

Those vacant posts must be filled sooner rather than later because the lack of a permanent appointment results in inefficiency in the system for which you pay a price in the long run.
I am not at all suggesting that our system of education is where it should be, but I can say, as I have said before, that we are moving away from mediocrity and achieving excellence.

Just think for a moment that at the end of this year, there will be more than 700 000 learners that will be sitting for their matric exams.

This is something that we couldn’t even think about 20 years ago.

It means that slowly but surely, we are turning the wheel 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 59 of 157 around.
Ninety-two per cent of all children in this country have received at least one year of preschool learning.

It’s critical.

We speak about workbooks, 55 million of which have been distributed.

What about those that are disabled?

Blind children are now able to receive books from Grade 1 to Grade 4 — and we are busy with Grades 5 and 6 — which are interactive in Braille.

It means that we are sensitive.


If indeed we are the caring and humane society that we wish to create as the ruling party, as the ANC, then we have to pay particular attention to inclusive education for the needs of the poorest of the poor.

At the heart of the matter – and I don’t say this with any contempt – is to say that I don’t like the term black, coloured and Indian, BCI.

I don’t like the term BCI because it goes against the tenets of the national democratic revolution.
The national democratic revolution was basically about changing and creating transformation in the lives of blacks in general and Africans in particular.

So, when you talk about black, you talk about African, Indian, and coloured.

When you talk about African, it’s African.

So, when we talk about BCI, we seem to say that blacks are only African.
The national democratic revolution is not only about the Africans; it’s also about coloureds, Indians, and, in time, as a result of our commitment to creating an equal society, surely, we cannot neglect those whites who are on the periphery of society.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 60 of 157 It means that our commitment to quality education has to be a collective one, and, in order to achieve that, we have to elevate it to a societal issue.

There is hope, and there is belief.

Are we doing things right?


Let’s see what is happening.

We’ve got this #FeesMustFall.

We have some university students, not all of them — it would be an overhasty generalisation — who are misbehaving.

What did the Congress of SA Students, Cosas, do?

It marched to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

It didn’t disrupt a single school.

Not one stone was thrown, and they demanded that the private sector contribute R1 billion towards university fees.
That comes from schoolchildren – leadership in schools – and I do believe that they are indeed leading the way for a better future.

It is not about rampant, disorganised, unco-ordinated demands but really an understanding of the landscape of our country and to say that socioeconomic transformation cannot be carried out by government alone.

It requires an entire society.

It requires the private sector to do it.


I do believe that, in this House, you have this opportunity as political parties to work together towards a common goal, and the goal that we should basically subscribe to in the context of this debate is to say, let us recognise, accept, and affirm that there had been a decline in the quality of education in the performance of our learners in Grade 12 last year.
Let us work together towards enhancing the opportunities of those learners because inherent in each of those learners ...

I can assure you.

I can swear in the name 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 61 of 157 of God because I do visit these schools.

I go to our rural schools as does the Minister.

Year after year, you can see the improvement in literacy and numeracy, and they have the inherent ability to perform as well as anybody else.
Given all the resources, given better opportunity, I do believe we will not only run, but we will fly.

[Applause.]

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: One minute 54 seconds.

Can I be compensated, please?

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Can you continue?

I will take care of the rest.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Thank you.

Chairperson, I’m very glad that the previous speaker, the Deputy Minister, acknowledged that there is a decline in education in the Eastern Cape.

He said it out of his mouth.


I allude to the invitation that I must give strategies on how to rectify the wrong.

To address systemic issues a number of interventions are necessary.
These include, firstly, ensuring that teachers are accountable for their performance, are appropriately selected and not cadre deployed, and are trained and supported; secondly, where subject expertise is more difficult to cultivate and retain, using roving teachers who are not employed by the specific school but who move between schools in a certain district during the academic year will 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 62 of 157 alleviate the employment opportunities; and thirdly, also ensuring the highest possibility of quality of learning at schools by performance-related incentives for school management based on excellence in education outcomes as measured through national assessments or improvement in education outcomes over time.
Let me put it straight to the hon Kgetjepe of Limpopo.

Schools must receive textbooks timeously.

It must be delivered timeously.

One of the things we heard was that there is still late delivery of textbooks.

Fourthly, we should also recognise the importance of technology as a powerful enabler of opportunities in education and that e-learning has the potential to close the gap between the well-resourced and poorly resourced schools.

Take this as a model from the Western Cape.


Finally, there should be access to utilities, sanitation — especially in Vhudzani where the ablution services are in an appalling state and compromise the dignity of our learners — libraries, laboratories, workshops, and basic information technology and communication equipment.

We all believe in quality education and for all individuals regardless of race, class, and gender.
If we can implement positive change and increase access and quality of education at grassroots 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 63 of 157 level, the general dissatisfaction with education could be significantly reduced.

Let me put it straight to you, hon Makhupula.

The teachers ...

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr A J Nyambi): Hon Mpambo–Sibhukwana, I have added a minute more to your time.

Conclude.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Can I thank everybody?

Yes.
Yes.

Hon Makhupula, you need to retrieve the money that was paid to ghost teachers by Portia Sizani and give it to the right people – the learners.

Let me take this opportunity to say thank you for every effort that was made in shaping and restructuring education and also say to the hon Surty that nutrition is given, but the kitchens are not provided.

I thank you.

Debate concluded.


DEBATE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN: THE ROAD TO 2030: RURAL WOMEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF AGENDA 2030 The DEPUTY MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM (Mr M Skwatsha): Hon Chairperson, thanks to the just-departed Deputy Minister for giving us political education about South Africa.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 64 of 157 Hon Chair, hon members of this House, esteemed delegates, and invited guests, it is always a pleasure to interact with members of this House, and therefore I am delighted to represent the department in this important debate – the importance of women.

Although we are discussing a very important subject about women, it is quite disgusting that a woman is disturbing a debate about women.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

On every occasion, when I step into this august House, memories of the late former Chief Whip, a comrade and friend ... ... uMaMncotshe, uMsunu ... [... MaMncotshe, Msunu ...] ... the hon Nosipho Ntwanambi, force themselves to the fore.

When I entered here, it seemed I would see her sitting somewhere.

Our theme today is, “The road to 2030: Rural women at the forefront of Agenda 2030” – not Fransman!

[Laughter.]
[Laughter.]

I hope that more delegates present here today will agree with me when I say there are just not enough days set aside to recognise the contribution of women in general as we advance towards a national democratic society.

This holds particularly true for our rural women because rural women, more than any sector of women, face daunting challenges.
Thank you, leadership of the NCOP, for forcing us to remember our rural women – the most downtrodden even amongst women ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 65 of 157 ... abona bantu benza kutyiwe emakhaya ngokuba balande amanzi baphinde bathwale iinkuni.

[... the main people who prepare food at home by fetching water from the rivers and collecting wood.]

The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008.
This new international day, established by the UN General Assembly in its Resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognises: The critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

This is in line with the government’s Nine-Point Plan on revitalising agriculture and the agro-processing value chain.
As our country celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings, rural women also need to be considered for their efforts and contribution in fighting for the emancipation and wellbeing of their communities.

In its mission to support the government’s overall transformation agenda, our department, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, is committed to national, regional, and international initiatives aimed at developing and empowering women.
This is done in order to ensure the empowerment of women in rural areas, not only in their individual capacity but also as agents of change irrespective of where they 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 66 of 157 come from.

Capacitating women in rural areas will enable them to participate in the overall economic productivity, given their large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.
Our department has since initiated and supported activities that put rural women at the front, through consultation and involvement, in its developmental programmes and projects.

The mainstreaming of women’s issues into departmental programmes and projects that are aimed at improving their socioeconomic development, especially in those remote areas of the country, has since been the core business of the department.
The National Development Plan, NDP, which is the long-term plan of the Republic, states that rural communities require greater social, economic, and political opportunities to overcome poverty.

To achieve this, the department has introduced the Rural Economy Transformation Model as the system under which rural development and land reform must be undertaken.

The model focuses on four key areas: land, cropping, livestock, and community.
Under the key focus areas that have been stated, there are various programmes and projects that are being undertaken by the department to advance the developmental agenda of women.

They include the National Rural Youth Service Corps, Narysec, programme for young women, the Recapitalisation and Development Programme, proactive acquisition of strategic land.
For instance, if we look at the 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 67 of 157 strategic land acquisition, from 1994, the previous Department of Land Affairs implemented a land distribution programme that enabled eligible individuals and groups to obtain a settlement land acquisition to a maximum of R16 000 per household for the purchase of land directly from a willing seller, including the state, in terms of the Provision of Land and Assistance Act, Act 126 of 1993 – that is quite disappointing.
This grant enabled beneficiaries to practise mixed land use in that it could be used for both agriculture and housing.

In 2009, the department conducted a series of consultations with land reform beneficiaries.

This resulted in the department bringing the use of grants to a close and shifting the focus towards the acquisition of strategically located agricultural land.
This land would then be made available to beneficiaries that included, amongst others, farm workers, Narysec participants, women, and unemployed agricultural graduates.

Under this programme, government has acquired land for redistribution under leasehold.

From 1994 to date, government has acquired 5 281 farms, and 66 721 women have been beneficiaries of this land delivery programme.

Bendicinga ukuba siza kuqhwaba.

[Kwaqhwatywa.]

[I thought we would applaud.

[Applause.]]


Nine-hundred-and-two farms were acquired in KwaZulu-Natal alone, benefiting 21 760 women; 878 farms in the Free State, benefiting 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 68 of 157 2 293; and 868 farms in the Eastern Cape, benefiting 3 851 women – just on that project.

[Applause.]

On the Recapitalisation and Development Programme, in 2009, the department undertook an evaluation of the implementation of our programmes since their inception.
It identified that many land reform projects were not successful and thus in distress or lying fallow.

The Recapitalisation and Development Programme was therefore introduced in order to address these challenges by targeting properties acquired since 1994 through restitution and redistribution programmes, including privately owned.

There are approximately 1 496 farms under the programme since 2009.
This constitutes more than a million hectares, amounting to a total amount spent of R4 billion, which secured approximately 651 strategic partnerships to provide technical, financial, and infrastructure support to farmers.

The support varies from production inputs and infrastructure to machinery and implements.
In line with the National Development Plan’s “potential of creating one million jobs in the agricultural sector”, this spending translated into the creation of approximately 7 731 jobs - of which more than 3 000 are for women, as well as training of 2 937 farmers - of which more than 1 000 are women.

On the Narysec programme, the challenges faced in South Africa by the youth necessitated the reconsideration of this programme.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 69 of 157 Unemployment especially requires urgent intervention in our country.

The lack of skills is often the underlying cause of this challenge.

Due to the challenges of unemployment and the shortage of skills, the National Rural Youth Service Corps, commonly known as the Narysec, has become an important instrument in developing rural youth.
Since March 2015, the Narysec youth has been recruited from the different provinces where the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is establishing Agri-parks.

Each year, three intakes take place, namely in March, August, and September.

After recruitment, the youth reports to the Narysec Thaba ‘Nchu College.

They first go through an orientation programme, as well as various life skills and career guidance programmes.
Thereafter, they undergo a very stringent youth leadership development programme, preparing them to be better people as they leave that programme, ready to face and build a South African nation.

Once they have completed the leadership training, they need to perform community service and also undergo a learnership programme.

The skills these young people are trained in will enable them to face the challenges as indicated.
Since its inception in 2010, the Narysec programme had a significant focus on empowering female youth in particular.

At present, the programme has 3 930 female youth, compared to 2 776 male youth.

The number of female youth to have graduated with a completed qualification from Narysec is 2 469, while 1 312 female youth are 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 70 of 157 awaiting graduation.

The following two Narysec youth are examples of what young women have achieved.
Dorcas Makwe was enrolled into the Narysec programme in 2010.

She completed her training programme and exited Narysec during March 2015.

She has registered a co-operative namely the Rea Iketsetsa Agricultural and Trading Co-operative, and she is currently growing vegetables utilising hydroponic tunnels.

She was also nominated as one of the successful participants and was provided an opportunity to visit China as part of a two-week study tour.
Beauty Hlongwane was enrolled into the Narysec programme during 2012, and she exited the programme during 2016.

She formed a co- operative named Itsoseng Sechaba, specialising in livestock farming and vegetable gardening.

Currently, she is being mentored by Karan Beef and has participated in a pilot project where vegetables from her project are being provided to hotels.

Hayi, siyaqhuba!

[No, we are moving forward!]

[Applause.]


The enterprise and industrial development policy that has been drafted within the mandate of the department aims to support the growth of sustainable enterprises within the departmental programmes and ensuring alignment also with other governmental support.

The department is working closely with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Social Development in this regard.
The policy places particular emphasis on addressing the needs of 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 71 of 157 survivalist, micro, small, medium, and large enterprises.

The department focuses on the development enterprises - from small businesses to registered co-operatives - in the rural spaces, and most of the enterprises supported are managed and owned by women.
In 2015-16, the department supported 216 enterprises in the agricultural value chains, mainly in the poultry, red meat, wool industry, and horticulture value chains, as well as nonagricultural arts and craft and textile value chains.

In the first quarter of 2016-17, 25 enterprises have been supported.

Ongoing skills development is facilitated.

In the last financial year, an impact in terms of skills development was made in the cotton, grains, wool, livestock, and arts and craft programmes.
The department has also assisted enterprises with market linkages.

Eight agreements in this regard were signed in the last financial year.

At the end of the last financial year and in the first quarter of this one, 27 rural people, representing mostly women on arts and craft and sewing co-operatives, were assisted to exhibit at the Rand Easter Show, and 10 rural people represented nine co-operatives at Decorex, where they have been selling products as well as getting orders.
For example, the ceramic co-operative has managed to receive orders to an amount of R80 000 during the Decorex exhibition.

One of the co-operatives was given 5 000 ostrich eggs to bead.

This also contributes to job creation and skills development 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 72 of 157 in rural areas.

A further 16 people representing 26 co-operatives will be assisted to exhibit in August.
One of the flagship programmes of the department, the Rural Enterprise Industrial Development programme, is the support given to rural women in the arts and craft design sector.

In 2010, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform supported the training of rural women in craft production in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga, initially on six sites and later seven sites when Utrecht was added in 2012.
The support included training, mentoring, and supply of craft materials, travel and accommodation costs, sponsoring of stalls at shows, and so forth.

In conclusion, in order to ensure that Vision 2030 is realised for the developmental agenda of rural women, government will strive to ensure that rural communities have better opportunities to participate fully in the economic, social, and political life of the country.
We therefore would like to ensure that there is better integration of the country’s rural areas, achieved through successful land reform, infrastructure development, job creation, and poverty alleviation.

I thank you, sir.

[Applause.]


Ms T MOTARA: House Chairperson, hon Deputy Minster, special delegates, and hon members of the NCOP, the subject matter for today’s debate gives us an opportunity to remember the construction 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 73 of 157 of Bantustans and the consequence of rural poverty in South Africa today.
As we reflect on the plight of rural women in relation to the National Development Plan, NDP, we must remember that apartheid laws most impacted women more severely, especially the Black Areas Land Regulations of 1969.

These regulations provided that land may be allocated only to the male of the family.

In addition, the Black Administration Act, Act 38 of 1927 and customary law regarded women as minors who could not own property or conclude contracts in their own right.
In addition, customary law denied women the capacity to be allocated land in their personal capacity.

Their tenure was linked to their status in relation to other male members of the family as wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters.

Therefore, the challenges faced by rural women today are manifesting themselves precisely because of this inherited legacy of oppression.
As a precursor, the plight of rural women must therefore be located within the broader context of our developmental state, a state that still contends with the challenges of inherited poverty, a state that recognises its citizens as the apex priority of its developmental agenda.

Hon members, it is precisely due to the remaining effects of this painful past that the NDP has placed rural women at the forefront of its development agenda.
The NDP is not only South Africa’s 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 74 of 157 blueprint for growth and development.

The plan radically challenges the status quo of economic stagnation.

It radically challenges social apathy and generational poverty, including all factors that inhibit growth and development in South Africa.
If we look at the NDP within this broader context, it is clear that this plan is a radical social contract for transformation, capturing the hopes and dreams of ordinary South Africans across the board.

The plan makes bold socioeconomic commitments to uproot abject poverty, unemployment, and economic exclusion.

If effectively galvanised, the NDP can become the most viable mechanism for transforming South Africa into a cohesive and economically inclusive society.
After being approved by Cabinet in 2012, the plan was also endorsed across all the key sectors and spheres of influence in the country.

This new growth path has therefore been affirmed as the most feasible and the most appropriate development tool for this phase of our transition.

It therefore follows that the NDP must be recognised as South Africa’s comprehensive strategic plan for broad-based development, having convincingly mobilised the country around a clear vision for radical transformation.
The NDP regards a successful land reform programme as a precursor to the development of an inclusive rural economy.

It seeks to achieve this through increased direct and indirect jobs in the agriculture, agro-processing, and related sectors.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 75 of 157 It also calls for the activation of rural economies through improved infrastructure, services to small and micro farmers and investments in tourism.
It also further calls for the review of land tenure and the creation of land tenure security for communal farmers, especially women, in order to create jobs in agriculture and related sectors by 2030.

Furthermore, the NDP dictates that gender should not be an obstacle to accessing land.

This is also in line with the regional protocol on gender and development.

The NDP also proposes a land reform model which, in summary, seeks to speed up the process of access to and ownership of land by black people.
Parliament recognises these policy priorities as critical imperatives and has begun to align itself at a macro level to the overarching vision of the NDP.

After conferring extensively at the beginning of the Fifth Parliament, a unanimous decision was taken to oversee the implementation of the NDP as the central theme for the Fifth Parliament.
As government’s operational strategy that is more medium term, the plan prioritises rural development, land reform, and food security as part and parcel of its key focus areas.

These are some of the key medium-term priorities that the NCOP must continue to prioritise, as committed in its strategic plan.

In order to catalyse implementation, a radical shift is now necessary to meaningfully align the NDP to the role of the NCOP in advancing its 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 76 of 157 implementation.
As conferred by the Constitution, the NCOP represents provinces so as to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government.

It does this mainly by participating in the national legislative process and by providing a forum for public consideration of the issues affecting provinces.

In order for the NCOP to be more effective, it must locate its role within the broader context of its capability to effect far- reaching and resilient policy changes.
Furthermore, the impact of such resilient policy changes must be continually monitored and the impact regularly evaluated, in order to ensure that we stay on course to achieve the goals set out in the plan.

In further crystallising the role of the NCOP to advance the NDP agenda, it is necessary that we deepen our focus into the role of committees and how they are positioned to accelerate implementation.
In line with the Constitution, parliamentary committees are central to exercising oversight by means of, amongst others, actively involving the public and public representatives with a clear focus on transparent government and accelerated transformation.

Through the strategic utilisation of the oversight and accountability functions conferred on them, committees must begin to effect radical social transformation.
This is the kind of transformation that communities must be able to recognise and experience at local level.

This is the kind of transformation that 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 77 of 157 must eradicate abject poverty and create opportunities.

Furthermore, as the engine rooms of Parliament’s institutional drive, the NCOP committees must position themselves to give radical, political and administrative impetus to the NDP.
In addition, Parliament’s strategic plan has already committed itself to effecting changes to the programme of Parliament so as to allow for greater effectiveness of processes, especially the requirements of oversight and public involvement.

Within this broader context, we must begin to see committees being more innovative in exercising their oversight functions.
They must be equally decisive and radical in their approach, while taking precautions to centre their approach on the precepts of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations.

Hon Chairperson, there is also an increasing recognition that the legislature, through a sound understanding of South Africa’s fiscal policy and economic development, has an important role to play in overseeing the implementation of the NDP.
In recognising that the objectives of the NDP can only be realised through adequate budgetary and resource allocation, it must follow that the NCOP’s NDP oversight drive be anchored within government’s fiscal framework.

This oversight drive must be target based with clear measures and markers so as to allow for seamless monitoring by 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 78 of 157 committees.
This target-based process will enable both the executive and the legislative sector to work on a commonly accepted road map for the country’s development.

There are however some remaining challenges.

The implementation of legislation has been weak due to a lack of enforcement mechanisms, especially in land tenure.

For example, despite the Extension of Security of Tenure Act’s protective provisions, in practice, women’s security of tenure is subject to the presence of a male partner.
As a result, in some cases, women get evicted when their partners are evicted following retrenchment or dismissal or when they die.

Although the department has encouraged participation of women in land reform projects, there has been no concerted effort to mainstream women’s issues in land reform projects.
The existence of patriarchal tendencies and the continued recognition of customary law and traditional authority in land administration tend to disadvantage women and undermine women’s access to land and property.

Women in rural areas can still lose rights and access to land after divorce or the death of their husbands.
It is now incumbent on us as this leadership collective to continue to engage in the battle of ideas so as to unlock an effective oversight process to activate rural economies and deal with the remaining challenges.

For as long as the material conditions of rural women have not been significantly changed, the cause to 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 79 of 157 advance the national democratic revolution in this respect remains valid.
For as long as women in rural areas are unable to transition into a better quality of life, the cause of the national democratic revolution must remain undeterred.

I thank you.

Ms B A ENGELBRECHT: Hon Chair, according to the World Bank, in 2014, our rural population stood at almost 20 million people.

This is 40% of our South African population, and 78% of them are women.

This equates to 15,2 million rural women.


These are the women living in rural communities who have multiple roles in their communities as farmers, mothers, homemakers, and caregivers and who are often exposed to extreme poverty and have traditionally been regarded as people who belong at home.

They are lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of economic growth and potential.

These are the women that have been left behind.


Society and culture define women’s social role primarily as the caregivers and caretakers and in relation to their reproductive function.

In contrast, men are regarded as the breadwinners and are defined by their productive role.

These women are left behind to raise families when many of their husbands go to look for work in urban areas.
These women are isolated and left behind when it comes to economic opportunities and social services such as health, sanitation, and education.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 80 of 157 A women’s position in society is determined both by her access to paid employment and the status accorded to her reproductive and domestic role.

Large proportions of rural households are female headed and are dependent on women’s ability to access opportunities and provide for the household.
They face immense challenges such as poor quality and limited access to education, lack of access to water for both household use and agricultural development, low literacy and low skills levels and the lack of technical know-how as compared to women in urban areas, poor access to infrastructure and services where roads are inaccessible, hampering their economic opportunities, and municipal services such as electricity and adequate sanitation are mostly absent, increasing exposure to risks related to natural disasters, environmental changes, and increasing occupational and health risks.
These things all impact on rural women’s ability to participate and contribute economically.

In largely rural provinces such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga, hunger and food insecurity are also very real threats and severely constrain human and economic potential.

The provinces with the highest percentages of rural areas are Limpopo at 78%, KwaZulu-Natal at 66%, and the Eastern Cape at 63%.

In the Eastern Cape, 845 000 households do not have access to toilets.
A total of 1,1 million households in KwaZulu-Natal and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 81 of 157 1,2 million households in Limpopo are without toilets.

This affects women’s privacy and their dignity.

In the Eastern Cape 442 000, households do not have access to piped water.

In KwaZulu-Natal 418 000 and in Limpopo 321 000 households are without piped water.

In the Eastern Cape, 206 000 households are without any access to electricity, 324 000 households in KwaZulu-Natal, and 101 000 in Limpopo.
This makes life hard, exceptionally hard, for these women.

With the many roles and responsibilities within social structures goes the prevailing belief that women’s contributions to the sustainability of the family are much less valuable than that of men.

This is why rural women are not only poorer in society as a whole but also in their own families, and this explains why their level, and kind, of poverty is experienced differently and more intensely than that of men.
Women invariably have unequal rights in family structures, as well as unequal access to family resources, such as land and livestock.

Geisler Hansen puts it like this: As long as men control productive resources – land, labour, tools, credit, and housing – women’s prospects are likely to differ from men’s, the more so under conditions of economic pressure.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 82 of 157 Rural areas account for 80% of land yet are home to around 40% of the population.
Therefore, rural development is critical to reduce poverty and to improve the general wellbeing of our rural people.

For the rural women left behind, the existing socioeconomic rights, as guaranteed in the Constitution, remain inaccessible, resulting in the perpetuation and increase of poverty.

For them, the constitutional guarantees of equality and nondiscrimination remain theoretical rights that make no difference to their struggle for survival.
The Constitution of South Africa guarantees the delivery of socioeconomic rights.

These include access to adequate housing, the right of access to health care, sufficient food and water, and social security.

This places a constitutional obligation on government to take action to ensure such access for our rural women.

Our rural women have been condemned to a world without freedom.

They have been sentenced to a world without fairness, and they have been sentenced to a world without opportunity.
It is our responsibility to change that.

We, as the guardians of this Constitution, must realise that their future is in our hands.

I thank you.

Ms M MOKOTLA (Free State): Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Deputy Ministers present here today, MECs from different provinces, hon 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 83 of 157 members and the House at large, I greet you.
Hon Chairperson, I believe that it is proper today to first pay tribute to the greatest man that ever lived and was born in October, a man who surrendered his very being to the people, a man whose ideals of freedom, human dignity, and a nonracial respect for all people can never perish.

I salute Comrade Oliver Tambo.

[Applause.]


In 2015, during the celebration of International Day of Rural Women, the secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon had this to say: To do better for the rural women over the next 15 years, we must build on the lessons learned during the MDG implementation.

Extreme poverty is largely a rural phenomenon.


We must build resilient social protection systems, labor and product markets, governance institutions and civil society organizations so that rural women can both contribute to and benefit from sustainable development.

Hon Chairperson, the African Development Bank Gender Equality Index measures gender equality across three separate dimensions, namely equality in economic opportunities, equality in human development, and equality in law and institutions.
In all these three dimensions, women bear the brunt of being marginalised, even though they spend more time than men caring for the wellbeing of their families and communities in terms of education, health, and nutrition.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 84 of 157 All African countries recognise the principle of nondiscrimination in their constitutions and all except the two have signed the international convention prohibiting discrimination against women.
The Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is a guarantee of the rights of women to social and political equality.

Despite all these, women are still being treated as second-class citizens not just in Africa but all over the world.

The second Sustainable Development Goal says, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.

For this goal to be successfully implemented, the following must first be realised.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls must be realised.

Rural women’s ownership of land must be accelerated as it is crucial to build resilience to climate change and economic constraints.

It facilitates their access to credit and microfinance services.

They must enjoy equal access to quality education, economic resources, and political participation.

More resources must be made available for the poor.

There should be rural infrastructure development enhancement and access to services.
Discrimination by institutions against rural women and intellectual and property rights must be dealt with effectively to level the playing field.

However, in South Africa, since the dawn of democracy, we have made strides in as far as the rights of women are protected, and the following laws bear witness to that.

The Domestic Violence Act, 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 85 of 157 Act 116 of 1998, protects rural women and women who live under customary law, even people who are cohabiting.
This is a crucial piece of legislation, since studies indicate that female victims of domestic violence incur a greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/Aids.

The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act that came into force in 2000 recognises all customary marriages that were valid under customary law, but, in this instance, both parties are equal, and the wife has an equal share in the assets and even the debts.
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, Act 92 of 1996, recognises women’s reproductive health rights and prevents the sometimes-fatal consequences of illegal abortions.

The Maintenance Act, Act 99 of 1998, gives the courts the power to automatically deduct maintenance from a person’s salary or to seize property belonging to nonpaying persons.
In conclusion, allow me to say what International Labour Organisation director-general Guy Ryder said: Let’s work together to achieve genuine gender equality and women’s empowerment in the world of work.

Decent work for women brings decent lives for all.
Finally, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reaffirms the universal consensus on the crucial importance of gender equality and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 86 of 157 its contribution to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs – more jobs and quality jobs for women, universal social protection, and measures to recognise, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care and household work which are indispensable to delivering on the new transformative sustainable development agenda which aims to reduce poverty, which is Goal 1, and inequality, which is Goal 10, to achieve gender equality and to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, which is Goal 8.
I thank you.

[Applause.]

Mr M KHAWULA: Hon Chairperson and hon Deputy Minister, of the total population of 51,7 million that South Africa comprises, according to the latest Census report, the majority of her citizens are females at 51,3% and males at 48,7%.

In this report, Statistics SA stipulates that discriminatory practices by gender in South Africa are high.

These discriminatory practices are by social norms, by persistent stereotypes, inequitable access to opportunities, to resources and to power.
These also include high levels of gender– based violence.

Whilst women in general are affected by these practices, rural women are affected the most and suffer the most.

Where the rate of unemployment is high in communities, the rate of unemployed women is higher than that of men.

In the same vein, the rate of unemployed rural women is much higher than that of their urban counterparts.
The report further states that women with 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 87 of 157 tertiary education earn around 82% of what their male counterparts earn.

Women who reside in rural areas and who are between the economically active ages of 15 and 64 comprise 59,3% of that bracket.

For women in rural areas, access to clean water still remains a problem.

Access to quality education for their children still remains a challenge.
Some end up having to transport their children, using unsafe, unreliable modes of transport, to nearby towns and cities for quality education.

Access to electricity remains a challenge.

Good roads and infrastructure still remain a far-fetched pipedream in many rural areas.

Access to good health facilities still remains a challenge in some areas.

Usually, government offices that provide the much-needed services to communities are located in urban areas.
Rural people have to board buses and taxis in order to get to these offices.

These and other challenges constitute the plight of rural women.

When infrastructure development projects are brought to the rural communities, the service providers are urban citizens.

The skilled personnel are urban people.

The well-paying, permanent jobs are occupied by urban people.

The leftover, paying-peanuts, temporary unskilled labour is then allocated to rural people and rural women.
Goal 5 of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development states, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

At this rate, 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 88 of 157 South Africa will be nowhere near achieving this goal by 2030 under the current regime.

Instead, there will be shifting of goalposts and finger-pointing.

What will rescue this goal is if South Africans vote properly in 2019 and put in place a focused government that cares for the people, like they did in the local government elections of 2016.
Put the IFP in power, and you will see proper delivery.

Another elephant in the room regarding progress in South Africa is corruption that goes unpunished, nepotism, favouritism - Hlaudi at the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, is a case in point – cadre deployment that totally kills progress, for example, SA Airways, SAA, and performance failure that goes unpunished.

Instead, those who fail get moved from one executive position to another.
Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 of the African Union is much related to the ideals of Agenda 2063.

It says that, by 2063, Africa will be people-centred and caring and will have full gender equality in all spheres of life.

It goes on to declare that rural women will have access to productive assets, including land, credit inputs, and financial services.

Access to some of these opportunities was achieved even before 1994 in KwaZulu-Natal under the leadership of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
However, post 1994, we are now talking about adequate distribution of resources in order to benefit rural women and rural 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 89 of 157 communities.

Moving to the cities and towns in order for them to access service is not empowerment for rural communities.

I thank you, Chairperson.

[Time expired.]

The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Ms M C DIKGALE): Hon Chairperson, hon members, special delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the month of October is a very special month for rural women.
Ke kgwedi ya mathomo ya selemo ya go lema.

Ke kgwedi yeo dipula di thomago go na.

Ke kgwedi ya lethabo go batho le go diphoofolo, gagolo diphala.

Ke nako ya go tswala ga diphala, ebile di kgaramiša diphalana.

Ke ka lebaka leo kgwedi ye e bitšwago Diphalane ka leleme la gešo.

Ge e šetše e retwa go thwe: (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)

[This is the first summer month.

It is the beginning of the ploughing season.

It starts to rain in October.


It’s a happy month to the people and the animals, especially the impalas, since it is the breeding season for the impalas.

That is the reason why this month is called Diphalane in my language.

We praise it like this (praise song): Ke Diphalane tša madikaphalana ... Ke Diphalane tša matšema Matšema a rerwa sentsokela.]
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 90 of 157 The notion of Letsema is an African community-centred concept where community members assist one another in time of need, voluntarily and for no fee.

For example, whenever one member needed a shelter, the community would form the Letsema to build that member a house.

The same would happen during harvesting time where some members were unable to go to the farms to harvest.

The Letsema would harvest for the whole community and share the products among themselves.
At the forefront of the matšema, which is the plural form of “Letsema”, is rural women.

It is therefore not a mere coincidence, but rather symbolic as well, that this week the United Nations marks three observances that reflect women’s key role in development - beginning with International Day of Rural Women on 15 October, World Food Day on 16 October, and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October.
These interconnected issues are more relevant than ever before, as the new Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development has just been adopted by world leaders as the new global road map.

Gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment are cross-cutting throughout the 2030 Agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The goals are intrinsically linked to the lives of women and girls globally, including that of rural women who are vital to its success.
These particular goals are the goals to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, the goal to end hunger, achieve food security 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 91 of 157 and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, as well as the goal to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.

These goals are necessary to have because rural women still face difficulties when trying to access productive and economic resources, such as land.
They often have limited or no decision- making and protection from violence.

They also play an increasingly important role as farm workers but are the most exploited.

As primary caregivers, some still walk long distances to hew and fetch wood for energy purposes as they cannot afford electricity.

There are many more examples, but to continue listing them will be — as we say it in my language — “go kwa mpa mokhora” [time consuming].
This is why in her message for the 2015 International Day of Rural Women the United Nations Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka had this to say: Agenda 2030 envisages a ‘world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed’.

We must take every opportunity to ensure that rural women do not lag behind, but rather lead the way.
It is therefore important and imperative for us to ask ourselves what we are doing to realise this vision of the Agenda 2030.

Luckily, in South Africa our government has put in place measures to 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 92 of 157 deal with these challenges.

One of them is our own Vision 2030 - the National Development Plan – which proposes a range of measures to advance women’s empowerment.
It proposes, amongst others, that the transformation of the economy should involve active participation and empowerment of women and that the role of women as leaders in all sectors of society should be actively supported.

Our government, the ANC-led government, has moved swiftly to implement this vision.

For example, the government has formally adopted Letsema, or Ilima/Letsema, as one of its socioeconomic growth strategies to assist our people towards their own development.
Participants in Letsema therefore become members, the extended family, as the Letsema or Ilima is made up of family, friends, and neighbours as well as volunteers.

There is no better time than now to encourage programmes such as Letsema.

This is because the world is currently faced with serious food security challenges, and climate change is exacerbating the situation every year.

Rural people are the most affected by this.


It does not require rocket science to know that to alleviate this food crisis, we need to increase food production.

Therefore, our people should be encouraged to develop a culture of producing food for themselves, including producing vegetables in their backyards, and this is where matšema will be helpful.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 93 of 157 In the South African context, the Ilima/Letsema Programme therefore consists of two dimensions.
The first dimension seeks to maintain and increase the ability of South Africa to meet its household and national food requirements.

This involves meeting these needs from domestic agricultural resources, importing food items that cannot be produced efficiently, and exporting commodities with comparative advantage.
The second dimension aims to eradicate the widespread inequalities and grinding poverty among the majority of households that is manifested by inadequate and unstable food supplies, lack of purchasing power, weak institutional support networks, poor nutrition and inadequate safety nets, weak food emergency management systems, and unemployment.
In addition to this Letsema programme, the government also has the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, which is focused on enabling rural people to take control of their lives, with support from government.

The programme aims to effectively deal with rural poverty through the optimal use and management of natural resources through an integrated, broad-based agrarian transformation and the strategic investment in economic and social infrastructure that will benefit rural communities.
As part of this Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, the government announced in 2014, through the Ministry of Rural 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 94 of 157 Development and Land Reform, the introduction of the 50/50 policy framework as part of efforts to ensure that farm workers benefit from owning shares in the farms on which they work as well as providing them with security of tenure.
This was followed by the announcement early last year by President Zuma during the state of the nation address that 50 pilot projects testing the 50/50 policy would be rolled out around the country.

One of the first pilot projects that will see workers and farm owners become co-owners of a farming enterprise as part of government’s 50/50 land policy was officially launched in KwaZulu-Natal in August this year.

This land model is a win-win for the farmers and the government.
It aims to secure tenure for farm workers while seeking to transform land ownership patterns in the country and empowering workers to acquire shares in farming enterprises.

However, despite positive steps like this, much more needs to be done.

Parliament in particular must, through its oversight role, ensure that policies like this one are implemented.
I am saying this because there have been many progressive policies and programmes by government that are deliberately being made to fail by people who are opposed to transformation.

In most instances, this is based on pure greed and selfishness.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 95 of 157 There are also other programmes such as the LandCare Programme, Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, Casp, and so on, that are geared towards achievement of food security, improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture as well as the goal to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.
It is therefore imperative for us to support these programmes because statistics and empirical evidence such as those contained in the United Nations Women Annual Report of 2015 show that when more women work economies grow.

An increase in female labour force participation or a reduction in the gap between women’s and men’s labour force participation result in faster economic growth.
Evidence from a range of countries shows that increasing the share of household income controlled by women, either through their own earnings or cash transfers, changes spending in ways that benefit children.

Increasing women and girls’ education contributes to higher economic growth.
Increased educational attainment accounts for about 50% of the economic growth in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries over the past 50 years, of which over half is due to girls having had access to higher levels of education and achieving greater equality in the number of years spent in education between men and women.

However, for the majority of women, significant gains in education have not translated into better labour market outcomes.
A study using data from 219 countries from 1970 to 2009 found that for every additional year of education for women of reproductive age, child mortality decreased by 9,5%.

It is therefore incumbent upon us ...

Thank you, Chairperson.

[Time expired.]

[Applause.]

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 96 of 157 Ms R MOGOTLANE (Limpopo): Hon Chairperson of the NCOP, Deputy Ministers and MECs present, special delegates, and compatriots, receive heartfelt greetings.
Rural women are the key agents of achieving the transformational economic, environmental, and social changes required for sustainable development.

However, limited access to credit, health care, and education are among the many challenges they face, which are further aggravated by the global food and economic crises and climate change.
Empowering them is the key not only to the wellbeing of individuals, families, and rural communities but also to overall economic productivity, given women’s largest presence in the agricultural workforce countrywide.

I wish to open this address by calling on our people to accept the maxim that says there is dignity in gender equality.

All forms of work give dignity to the worker.

Therefore, unemployment, poverty, and inequality rob people of human dignity.
In the light of the foregoing and pursuant of the South African Constitution, the underlying spirit and purpose of which is to give dignity to South Africans, it’s our responsibility as the representatives of people to implore the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to continue in its effort to actualise this constitutional mandate.
It is within this prism that I would like to speak on three topics of women’s empowerment in key areas of service delivery: access to land, the status of women in the labour market, and poverty and inequality.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 97 of 157 Let us discuss land ownership for women in Limpopo.

Land has been recognised as a primary source of wealth, social status, and power throughout history.

It builds the foundation to create shelter, grow food, and harbour economic activities.
It also provides the most significant opportunities in rural areas and is a gradually depleting scarce resource in urban areas.

Access to the right to land is often the condition for other rights such as access to water, other natural resources, and basic services such as sanitation and electricity.

The right that society allows the landholders directly affects the willingness and ability of individuals and businesses to make long- term investments in arable land and housing.
In emerging economies, sustainable development is contingent on the establishment of inclusive access to property rights in land and the security of such rights, thus making access to land and the benefits that come with it more inclusive for women and possibly the one way to overcome economic and social disadvantages.

Margaret Mitchell wrote: The land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because is the only thing that lasts.
Turning to the land programme in South Africa, in 1992, the ANC initiated its land policy document which was the first of its kind in South Africa to call for a special process to ensure women’s 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 98 of 157 equal access to land and participation in policy formulation and decision-making.

Moreover, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, inclusively acknowledged women’s land rights.

Women face specific disabilities in obtaining land.
The land redistribution programme must therefore target women.

Institutions, practices, and laws that discriminate against women’s access to land must be reviewed and brought in line with national policy.

In particular, tenure and matrimonial laws must be revised appropriately.

With regard to the labour market, labour market information for gender analysis is exactly what the term implies - any information about the intangible arena where the supply and demand of labour interact.
This includes information about how people work or search for work, on the system of education and training, on the school-to- work transition, how enterprises engage workers, and the return to labour.

The list is endless.

Inevitably, there are blockages that prevent a perfect union of labour supply and demand.
Discrimination, for example, prevents a perfect match, as does imperfect infrastructure that prevents a person from getting to where the jobs are or imperfect information such that a person does not know where to look for work.

In looking at the gender dimensions of labour force utilisation, the values and movements of the indicators will be analysed to address the following questions: What is the capacity of the economy to 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 99 of 157 utilise female labour in comparison to male labour?
What is the historical picture of female labour force participation, and where do we see the biggest changes over time?

What are the main factors that drive change in female labour?

What is the correlation between the female labour force and the level of development in the country?

What are the patterns of labour forces over the lifespan of a woman, and what is the influence of childbearing?

What is the overall effect when youth and adult employment trends move in opposite directions?
Now, recent evidence of poverty amongst rural women shows the past 25 years have seen significant progress in reducing poverty.

While in 1990 nearly half of the world’s people lived on less than R1,25 a day, this figure dropped to 14% in 2015.

However, poverty reduction remains an immense challenge to government around the country, with approximately 25 million still living in poverty.
Therefore, although gender differences in worldwide poverty rates appear small when ignoring resources allocation within the household, this may not reflect the reality of the extent of gender inequality when it comes to poverty.

There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

These words were said by Gandhi.

Margaret Thatcher once wrote, “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman”.
In this day and age, most women show punctuality in what they’re doing, taking into 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 100 of 157 consideration the role played by women deployed in different sectors of government.

As I conclude, the gender gap is growing.

It is less based on numbers alone.

The gap between the number of economically active men and women has slowly been decreasing and evolved into one based more on inequality in the quality of employment.
The women who choose to enter the labour market are generally highly educated but still face a difficult time in finding work.

For those who do attain work, they are generally segregated in poorly paid, insecure, home based, informal employment, partly as a result of lingering discrimination among employers and partly in response to the female need to combine family responsibilities with paid employment.

As a result, the earning potential of women continues to be well below that of men.
It is worth reiterating that the goals of equity and inclusive economic growth cannot be achieved without ensuring women’s full participation in the economy.

Thank you.

[Applause.]


Ms L HLONGWA-MADLALA (KwaZulu-Natal): Hon Chairperson, hon members and distinguished guests, we are privileged to participate in this Debate on International Day of Rural Women, titled “The road to 2030: Rural women at the forefront of Agenda 2030” when we have just celebrated the 80th birthday of Mama Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela- Mandela, a leader, comrade, mother, struggle icon, and a beacon of hope for our society.
We want to take this opportunity and declare God’s blessings over her life.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 101 of 157 Hon Chairperson, we stand on the shoulders of the giants who have laid a strong foundation for our struggle, and we dare not forget them.
As we look into the aspirations of Agenda 2030, we remember Lillian Ngoyi, a struggle icon, Wangari Muta Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist, Miriam Makeba, affectionately known as Mama Africa, a musician and a political activist, Yaa Asantewaa, queen mother of Ejisu tribe in Ghana, Mkabayi kaJama, regent princess of the Zulus, as well as Queen Manthatisi, to mention just a few.
All these women fought battles in their different corners in different epochs, but their struggles were about the liberation of Africa, in total, and women, in particular.

History indicates that the liberation of women in South Africa is a long journey in which African women have been leaders and not just beneficiaries.
It is against this historical background that gender equality occupies a central status in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in Operation Sukuma Sakhe, which is our service delivery model.

It is a model that encourages participation of all sectors of the community, thus providing a renewed determination in creating a future of equal rights, opportunity, and progress for all.
Rural women, the majority of whom depend on natural resources and agriculture for their livelihoods, make up over a quarter of the total world population.

In developing countries, rural women represent approximately 43% of the agricultural labour force.

They 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 102 of 157 produce, process, and prepare much of the food available thereby giving them primary responsibility for food security.
Bearing in mind that 76% of the extremely poor live in rural areas, ensuring rural women’s access to productive agricultural resources contributes to decreasing world hunger and poverty and makes rural women critical for the success of the new Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030.

The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008.
This new international day, established by the UN General Assembly in its Resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognises the following: The critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

This is the eighth year we are observing the International Rural Women’s Day.
A study commissioned by the government of KwaZulu-Natal revealed that the province has the highest gender-based poverty incidence and the second highest level of rural poverty in South Africa.

In other words, the face of poverty in our province is that of rural women.
As part of the provincial strategy for agrarian transformation, the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and rural development has 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 103 of 157 taken a number of bold steps to invest in our women farmers, including restructuring and devolving the functions of the department to local districts.

The department has also sent specialists to support small-scale farmers to produce for the market better.
Earlier this year, the MEC of agriculture and rural development reported on a successful programme of a goat expo and goat-meat cooking competition.

The majority of our poverty-stricken women in rural areas are goat farmers, and the expo formed part of the launch of the KwaZulu-Natal Goat Master Plan, with the aim of helping more than 7 000 women goat farmers move from subsistence to commercial goat production, aiming ultimately at exporting goat meat to the Middle East where it is considered a delicacy.
South Africa’s National Development Plan: Vision 2030 seeks to create a united, prosperous, nonracial, nonsexist, and democratic society.

This will be achieved by focusing on creating equal opportunities and, specifically, nullifying factors such as gender and ethnicity, by so doing righting the wrongs of the past and ensuring true equality before the law.
The NDP envisages an economy and developmental society that serve the needs of all South Africans, rich and poor, black and white, skilled and unskilled, those with capital and those without, urban and rural, men and women.

The agreed-upon key actions include 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 104 of 157 broadening opportunities through economic inclusion and specific redress measures.
However, it should be noted that because the NDP is the vehicle that will address poverty, unemployment, and inequality in South Africa, it therefore becomes imperative that the strategies of implementation become explicit about the approaches that will be used.

That will ensure the inclusion of the previously marginalised, such as women, and thereby achieving gender equality.

It is widely accepted that mainstreaming is essential for securing human rights and social justice for women as well as men.
It is also increasingly recognised that incorporating gender perspectives in different areas of development ensures the effective achievement of other social and economic goals.

In order to fully appreciate the need for mainstreaming gender in policies of development, one first needs to understand why this is an issue to begin with.

Gender is an issue because of the fundamental differences and inequalities between men and women.
In South Africa, as in other Southern African Development Community, SADC, countries, men and women are distributed differently across manufacturing sectors, between formal and informal sectors, within agriculture, and among occupations.

Women are also more likely than men to be in low-paid jobs and nonstandard work and more likely to have less access than men to productive assets such as education, skills, property, and credit.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 105 of 157 These patterns mean that economic trends and economic policies are likely to have different implications for women and men.

For example, trade liberalisation has had an uneven impact by sector, with consequences for both gender equality and economic growth, and this has only recently become the subject of investigation.
During the International Women’s Day, 8 March 2012, a strong emphasis was placed on empowering rural women with the aim of bringing an end to poverty worldwide.

The then Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities had this to say: Rural women, who constitute one fourth of the world’s population, continue to face more difficulty than men in accessing public services, social protection, employment, and markets, due to cultural norms, security issues, and lack of identification documents.
Women are disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of climate change due to their social roles.

Ours today is to educate our rural women that roles are changing because of the increasing need for them to participate in the mainstream economy, climate change and environmental sector discussions, agriculture, tourism, blue economy, aviation, etc.
Both the Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063 are highly dependent on women’s emancipation, and, as such, even our budgets must express our commitments in this regard.

Our Agenda 2030 will remain in the pipeline if we do not mobilise resources for the redress.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 106 of 157 Political parties must enforce 50% gender parity for us to be a stronger voice that calls for transformation.

We have a huge role to educate our women to know about what government has made available for them.
Though our struggle is far from being over, we have made strides in this area as the province, and we just need to consolidate and further co-ordinate interventions to allow our rural women to finally see the discussions from Beijing to the NDP 2030.

Education arguably underpins much of women’s full engagement in the economy, as is the case for men, and is therefore central to the achievement of gender equality.
It provides access to more remunerative areas of the labour market through improved skills and productivity levels and may have similar impacts for the self- employed, but it also enables women to engage more meaningfully in society and make better-informed decisions.

At a broader level, education is seen as key to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty.

Data on enrolment indicates that females account for an increasing proportion at higher levels of education.
We must keep our girls in schools, help them to be an Aids-free generation, and reduce the pregnancy rate at age cohort 15 to 24.

Hon Chairperson, I close by quoting UN secretary-general Ban Ki- moon: 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 107 of 157 The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have gender equality and women’s empowerment at their core, and include a target to double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women.
Indeed, rural women are critical to the success of almost all of the 17 SDGs.

I thank you.

[Applause.]

Ms M MASEKO (Western Cape): Chairperson hon Thandi Modise, Deputy Minister, delegates, and members, I salute you.

Today, we debate on International Day of Rural Women under the theme, “The road to 2030”.

Every year, we celebrate the United Nations International Day of Rural Women on 15 October.
On this day, we recognise rural women’s important role in enhancing agricultural and rural development worldwide.

With that in mind, it is fitting that we celebrate the women that continue to make a vital contribution to our food security, while also playing a pivotal role in creating the type of society that we all want to see.

As women, we need to define ourselves.

We have to really find a way of celebrating women.


Women are an integral part of a society that is in a struggle trying to define what kind of society it is truly going to be, as opposed to what is committed on paper.

The question is: What causes this 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 108 of 157 disjuncture between our commitments versus the reality of what is actually happening?

The modern society has begun to recognise the individual identity of women.
She has her aspirations, abilities, and qualities, and we agree that she must have the opportunities to develop her faculties and to express them according to her own choice.

It is imperative to recognise that this can only be achieved if men in our society accept women as equals and create a space where women can grow and stand on an equal footing as their male counterparts.

This needs to happen in all sectors of society.


We need to have a deliberate programme of action that empowers the girl-child without taking away from the boy-child.

We need to implement strategies that will focus on the development of women from an early age with an understanding that being pro girl-child is not being anti boy-child.
While South Africa has made great strides towards gender equality and the empowerment of women, women and children continue to suffer discrimination in our communities, in the workplace, and in our homes.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable society.

We have the best legal framework in South Africa.

The rights of women and children are embedded in our wonderful Constitution.
Great strides have been made in providing women and girls with equal 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 109 of 157 access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political decision-making processes, much to the benefit of society and humanity at large.

We envisage a world where all women and girls have equal opportunities and rights by 2030.

That is why we are here today.


I am glad that today we are focusing on the rural women in our society because too often we focus on urban communities with all the infrastructure and opportunities.

Often, we build proper schools in the urban areas and short-change the girl-child in the rural areas.

Realising the importance of rural women in agriculture is an important aspect of gender relations.
In many instances, some consider the role of women in agriculture as merely a help and not an important economic contribution to agricultural production and food security.

Rural women are a significant and sizeable proportion of humankind.

They are farmers and agri-workers, horticulturalists and market sellers, businesswomen and community leaders.

Rural women are the backbone of sustainable livelihoods and provide food security for their families, country, and the world.
The work done by women in rural areas is crucial not only for the progress of the rural households and local economies but also for the national economy through rural women’s participation in agricultural value chains.

Yet, rural women suffer disproportionally 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 110 of 157 from poverty and face multiple forms of discrimination, violence, and insecurity.
Of great concern is that efforts under the MDGs have produced very little improvements in this situation of rural women, and again it goes back to the implementation of the policies that we have.

Again, the National Development Plan, NDP, also addresses the issues of the women, and it goes back to the issue of implementation of the policies that we have.

This indicates just how much work needs to be done to improve the lives of women in rural areas and in the greater society.
Clearly, the empowerment of women will have a positive impact on economic growth while also reducing hunger and poverty.

Through women’s increased earning potential and labour force participation, productivity, and earnings, we might achieve the development and the goal of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty.

The Western Cape government has initiatives to empower youth and rural women in agriculture.
The Western Cape department of agriculture is committed in developing women in the agricultural sector.

Its goal is to move more women from subsistence farming through smallholder farming to the point where they are able to export their goods and grow the economy even further.
Western Cape minister of agriculture Alan Winde has on many occasions encouraged young people, and he usually likes to say that we have to make 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 111 of 157 agriculture sexier to attract younger women to bring food generation.

Young people interested in working in our dynamic agri- sector need to apply to study at the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute and can also get involved in the agricultural markets.
Awareness campaigns in community newspapers across the province have been run to boost the number of young applicants and female applicants, in particular.

This indicates the commitment to empowering rural women as well as growing the sector.

Through Project Khulisa, we have set ourselves the goal of adding up to a further 100 000 jobs to the agri-processing sector, and we hope to see that a large portion of that will be women from the rural communities.
The agricultural sector is the backbone of provinces’ rural economies, and 45% of the country’s exports come from the Western Cape.

We are confident that growing the size of the agri- processing sector stands to deliver a significant boost to rural employment.

Some commitments made by MEC Winde include R9 billion to youth-related projects.

We are growing an economy that delivers opportunities for all.
The departments of economic development and tourism and agriculture will invest R63,2 million and R58,7 million respectively in skills programmes for our young people.

As part of our plan to boost the number of graduates available to the agriculture sector, we have set 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 112 of 157 the target of ensuring that 1 500 young people will benefit from our higher education and training programmes over the next three years.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award programme is a joint effort between the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the provincial departments of agriculture, and the private sector.

Recently, as part of its women’s month campaign, the Western Cape government hosted the female entrepreneur award in Paarl.
In it, they showcased and rewarded the efforts and contribution of women in job creation, economic growth, and poverty alleviation.

Lindelwa Mabuya and Caroline de Villiers are two Western Cape women who went on to win top honours at the National Female Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Initiatives of this nature are essential to ensuring that more rural women are encouraged to participate in agricultural activities.
In conclusion, globally we have a landscape that has shifted and in which women’s equality has shifted from being a matter of debate to one of implementation.

I love our country, and what I love more about South African women is that they are proud of who they are.

They are nation-builders, and they nurture the nation from their bosom.

They are grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, and, above all, they are women.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 113 of 157 Taking a leaf from the DA-led Western Cape government, rural women should be respected, applauded, and supported to gain entry into agri-business and be empowered to grow that business to the next level, not to compete with men but to show that women can produce, sustain, and alleviate poverty in the rural areas.

With the opportunities created by the government and support from other stakeholders, women in rural areas are destined for greater things.

I thank you.
I thank you.

Ms L L ZWANE: Chairperson of the NCOP, hon members, Deputy Minister Skwatsha, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, and hon members ... ... ngiyalibonga leli thuba engilitholayo lokuthi nami ngenze umnikelo kule nkulumo-mpikiswano.

Uma ngiqala ngiyivula le nkulumo ngiyafisa ukuba ngidlule ekutheni kufuneka sikhumbule njengabantu besifazane ukuthi sila esikhona nje kungenxa yegalelo lomama abalwela lo mzabalazo, abahamba phambi kwethu.
Ngabe asenzi ubulungiswa uma singabakhumbuli omama oLilian Ngoyi, Charlotte Maxeke, Albertina Sisulu, Adelaide Tambo, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Ntwanambi owayesebenzela kule Ndlu ehloniphekile, Bertha Mkhize, Madikizela-Mandela, umama uMxenge kanye nabanye abaningi ababanegalelo lokuthi sibe la esikhona namhlanje.

Namhlanje thina esikule ndawo sibizwa ngamaLungu ePhalamende ngoba yibona abahlahle indlela yokuthi sibe la.

Ngakho-ke kufanele ukuba sibabonge ngegalelo labo.

[Ihlombe.]
[Ihlombe.]

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 114 of 157 Kuleli thuba ngeke ngiyeke ukubonga umama wami, uNdlunkulu kaMayeni, Mavundla, naye wazalwa ngo-Okthoba nguye owaba negalelo lokuthi ngibe la, lala ngoxolo mama.
Emhlanganweni omkhulu wamazwe ahlanganyele njengo njengokusho kukaSekela Ngqongqoshe Skwatsha ngenkathi elana, uthe umhlangano uthathe isinqumo esibizwa ngokuthi isiNqumo 62/136 ngomhlaka-18 Disemba 2007 ukuthi umhlaba wonke uhlanganyele ekutheni umhlaka-15 Okthoba ukhunjulwe njengosuku oluthakasela imisebenzi emihle eyenziwa omama bethu ...

[Ubuwelewele.]

(Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)

[... thank you for this opportunity that I’m afforded so that I can also contribute to this debate.
In opening this debate, I wish to start by saying that we must remember as women that we are where we are because of the contribution of the women who fought for this liberation and who walked before us.
We wouldn’t be doing justice if we didn’t remember Lilian Ngoyi, Charlotte Maxeke, Albertina Sisulu, Adelaide Tambo, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Ntwanambi, who worked in this august House, Bertha Mkhize, Ms Madikizela-Mandela, Ms Mxenge, and many more who made a contribution in order for us to be where we are today.

Today, we who are in this place are now called Members of Parliament because they are the ones who paved the way for us to get here.
Therefore, it is befitting that we thank them for their contribution.

[Applause.]

At this given opportunity, I would like to thank my own mother, Queen Mayeni, Mavundla who was also born in October, who is the one 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 115 of 157 who made it possible for me to be here.

Rest in peace, Mother.


In the UN General Assembly, as was stated by Deputy Minister Skwatsha when he was here, he said that the General Assembly made a resolution called Resolution 62/136 on 18 December 2007 that the whole world must unite and that 15 October be declared as the day to appreciate the good work done by our mothers ...

[Interjections.]]

Mr F ESSACK: Chairperson, I apologise, but I am struggling with the interpreting.

I just wanted to bring that to your notice.


The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please attend to it.

Can I get an indication of whether it has been attended to?

Hon Zwane.

Ms L L ZWANE: Chairperson ... ... bengisathi umhlangano wathatha isinqumo sokuthi sibakhumbule abantu besifazane, siliphakamise igalelo labo lokuthi benze lo mhlaba esihlala kuwo ube umhlaba ongcono.

Kuyenziwa-ke lokhu unyaka nonyaka.

Siyabonga ukuthi le Ndlu yakho ehloniphekile mama uModise, yenza okufanele ukuthi sikwenze namhlanje.
Siyabonga futhi ukuthi engqungqutheleni kaKhongolose yama-53 kwathathwa isinqumo sokuthi nakuba kubonakala ukuthi kuningi okwenziwe ukuthuthukisa abantu besifazane kwaze kwavulwa ngisho nomnyango obhekelene nokuthuthukiswa kwabesifazane laphaya eHhovisi likaMongameli kodwa ngaphezu kwalokho kwathiwa akwenziwe izinhlelo umnyango nomnyango kahulumeni ubenezinhlelo okuyizona eziqikelela ukuthi abesifazane 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 116 of 157 bayathuthukiswa.
Siyambonga futhi uhulumeni oholwa nguKhongolose ngokuthi ama-90% ezindawo la eNingizimu Afrika sezinogesi.

Abantu besifazane abasayi ehlathini ezindaweni eziningi ukuyotheza izinkuni.

(Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)

[...

I was saying that the General Assembly took a resolution that we must remember women and that we must recognise their contribution, that they made this place we live in a better place.

This takes place every year.


We are grateful that your august House, hon Modise, is doing what it is supposed to do.

We are grateful again that at the ANC’s 53rd conference a resolution was taken that, although it is evident that there is a lot that was done to empower women to the extent that a Department for Women in the Presidency was established, but over and above that, it was resolved that each and every government department should have programmes that ensure that the women are empowered.
We also thank the ANC-led government that 90% of places in South Africa have electricity.

Women in most places no longer go to forests to fetch firewood.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zwane, may I ask you, and I know that it is very unfair, but may I ask you to continue in English because we have a problem with interpreting?

Ms L L ZWANE: Alright.

Thank you, Chairperson.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 117 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I am very sorry to do this.

Please continue.
Please continue.

Ms L L ZWANE: The ANC-led government has made sure that electricity is provided in a number of places to the extent that, as we speak, 90% coverage has been achieved.

Ugu District Municipality in particular has almost achieved 100% coverage in areas like KwaFodo, eMathuleni, KwaHlongwa, KwaMthimude, KwaNzimakwe, KwaXolo, KwaMachi, KwaNdalane, KwaMavunda, Ensimbini ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zwane, please take your seat.

Hon Khawula, why are you standing up?


Mr M KHAWULA: Chairperson, it is just a point of order.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: If it is not a point of order, then why are you standing up?

Mr M KHAWULA: I am standing because it is a point of order.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Alright.

Let us hear the point of order, sir.

Mr M KHAWULA: My sister, the hon mkhaya wami [homegirl], is misleading the House.

I stay in KwaHlongwa, and there is no 100% coverage of electricity in KwaHlongwa.
I am a resident there, and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 118 of 157 she knows it.

That is why she is saying it.

She is provoking me; I stay in KwaHlongwa, and people do not have electricity there.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zwane, you are in debate, and you are taking it into consideration that you have been challenged on that particular issue.

Please continue.

Ms L L ZWANE: Chairperson, uGabhisa is a teacher, and he must understand the difference between almost and 100%.

I did not say 100%.
I did not say 100%.

I said almost 100%.

[Interjections.]

In areas of KwaNdalane, kwaMavundla, Ensimbini, Oshabeni ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Zwane, you’ve got umkhaya wakho [your homeboy] very excited.

[Laughter.]

The hon Khawula is on another point of order.

Please take your seat.

Mr M KHAWULA: Hon Chairperson, another point of order: Maybe this is very deliberate, but I am not a teacher.

I am a Member of Parliament.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, sir.


Hon Zwane, maybe he was a teacher in his previous life, but now he is an hon member of the House.

Please continue.

Ms L L ZWANE: I do not understand why Gabhisa would be ashamed of his certificates.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 119 of 157 Uhulumeni kaKhongolose uphinde futhi wenza ukuthi kube khona imitholampilo.

[The ANC-led government has also ensured that there are clinics.]

We have clinics.
We have clinics.

In KwaZulu-Natal alone, I remember that when the MEC was debating here, he did say that they were going to roll out 111 clinics in this financial year.

That means that women now do not travel long distances when in labour in order to give birth at a clinic or that one hospital in an area that they had to go to.

Now they can easily reach clinics and get medication and assistance and be able to deliver their babies timeously.

On the issue of roads, roads have been improved.


That makes it easy for women to reach workplaces, economic hubs, and be able to reach areas they need to reach timeously without delays and comfortably so.

The Department of Trade and Industry also has made sure to make arrangements whereby they promote women entrepreneurs.

They provided funds, grants, incentives, loans, and mentorship programmes, and they are inviting women.
This is the information that we need to cascade because the reason why in many instances women are not developing is that they do not have information.

The Department of Trade and Industry is inviting women that are keen on starting small businesses to come forward and make their 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 120 of 157 applications, but they need them to have experience and knowledge in those fields and also have markets that are secured so that they can have places where they can deliver their produce.
They are also inviting applications from women that want to embark on agricultural projects because we know that women are very industrious, and they want to ensure that there is food security for their families and to also sell.

There is a fund that is called Isivande Women’s Fund, which is assisting in terms of ensuring that women are able to access what they need to access.
The new Sustainable Development Goals have gender equality and women’s empowerment at their core and include the target to double agricultural productivity and incomes of small- scale food producers, in particular women.

Rural women are critical to the success of almost all of these 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Rural women make up a quarter of the total world population, and they constitute 43% of the agricultural labour force.

They produce, process, and prepare much of the food available.
Therefore, they deserve to be supported financially and supported through the mentorship programmes.

When it comes to the issue of co-operatives, we really do encourage women to embark on co-operatives.

To cite just a couple of examples, when you drive to the North Coast in KwaZulu-Natal, you will find that along the way there are big co-operatives of women that are involved in crafts and co-operatives of women involved in selling 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 121 of 157 fruit and vegetables.
Those co-operatives are very effective because, if they work together as co-operatives, it becomes easy for them to access funding from the banks if they have a market.

We have recently been to Thohoyandou in Limpopo.

There is a big market there of women, and you could actually see that they are trained in how they put their produce and how they market it.

We bought their produce to support them, and we bought a lot of fruit at a minimal amount.
We appreciate the fact that the ruling party has made space also for women not only in business but in decision- making bodies, for instance, in the councils.
We are just from a period during which councils were elected, and I want to extend our happiness and gratitude as women that a number of those, even though we have not yet really reached 50/50 representation, but we are pleased to note that even at the level of office bearers in municipalities, there is an increasing number of women that are taking up positions of leadership because we have the brains to lead the country.
We as Members of this Parliament have passed several pieces of legislation that are seeking to protect women against all forms of discrimination or abuse.

That abuse is largely found in rural areas because, in those areas, women do not know much about their rights yet, and it is our duty as Members of Parliament to ensure that we cascade this information to them and explain what these pieces of 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 122 of 157 legislation are.
We explain how they seek to protect them against abuse as well as the abuse of their own children.

There is a section of the preamble to the National Development Plan where it says that we are traders, and women are traders as well.

We are initiators, and women are initiators.

We are workers.

We are creating companies, and we are indeed creating companies and setting up stalls to develop as small businesses.

We are studious.

We are cerebral.


We are capable and intelligent as women, and we know exactly what we want.

Whether we are educated or not, we have an element of intelligence that is God given.

We can guide processes notwithstanding depravation of information and drawing from our own experience.

Therefore, I am inviting women in this House to celebrate with rural women out there.

Viva, rural women, viva!

[Applause.]

HON MEMBERS: Viva!


Dr Y C VAWDA: Hon Chairperson, allow me once more to acknowledge the presence of our supreme forces irrespective of whatever our perceptions might be.

Once again, I greet all of you with As- salaamu-alai-kum.

[Peace be with you.]

In September of 2015, the United Nations recommitted itself and all nations of the world to a new future based on principles, on the development of humanity in her entirety.
The New Sustainable 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 123 of 157 Development Goals constituting Agenda 2030 commits all signatories to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat inequalities within and amongst countries; to build peaceful, just, and inclusive societies; to protect human rights and promote gender equality; to promote the empowerment of women and girls; and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources.
The new vision is guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including full respect for international law.

It is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international human rights treaties, the Millennium Declaration, and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.

It is informed by other instruments such as the Declaration on the Right to Development.
These are laudable commitments and require commitment from our own country to improve the lot of our citizens, particularly rural citizens and rural women more specifically.

At this stage, South Africa is poorly placed to effectively realise the new Sustainable Development Goals.

South African women are still as marginalised today as they have ever been, this 22 years into the new South Africa, 22 years of nongovernance from the ANC.
Women who are often the primary caregivers in the family face challenges which include inadequate access to the most basic of rights, such as shelter, protection, water, food, and health care.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 124 of 157 This forces many rural women in poverty to, firstly, remain in abusive relationships so as to ensure that they, and often their children, have a home.

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Vawda, please take your seat.

Hon Wana, is that a point of order?


Ms T WANA: Chairperson, I would like to ask whether the speaker man can take a question.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: The hon member is a member, and I don’t think we must qualify his gender.

Hon Vawda, are you prepared to take a question?

Dr Y C VAWDA: We might be boring the listeners, so let us leave it for another time, Madam Chair.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No, ma’am.

He is not.
He is not.

Dr Y C VAWDA: Secondly, women are forced into relationships that lead to them contracting HIV/Aids, because not only do they not have access to condoms, but because some of them do not even know about this deadly virus, and others have no right to ask their partners to use protection.
Thirdly, they often expose themselves and their families to the risks that go with cooking from a hazardous power source, be it an illegal electricity connection or the substances 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 125 of 157 which are caused by more primitive sources of energy.

Fourthly, they often expose themselves to the dangers of collecting wood and fetching water from places far from their homes.

Fifthly, women die whilst in the throes of childbirth due to a lack of access to adequate health care.
Sixthly, they lose their hearts, as they watch their children die of preventable diseases and also due to a lack of access to adequate health care.

Lastly, they remain unable to access services available to them, such as social grants, protection orders, and even policing services, simply because they do not know that such services are available to them.

Twenty-two years into the new South Africa, this is 22 years of nongovernance from the ANC.
This is a lived reality of rural women in this country who remain landless, jobless, and very often homeless.

They are more limited by outdated cultural practices requiring of them not to own property unless married to a man, preventing them from doing certain jobs, preventing girl-children from progressing beyond certain levels of education.

We as a country must tackle these problems.


We must stop paying lip service to the development of rural areas, and we must be resolute in stopping the abuse of women by the state, by traditional leaders, and by society in general.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 126 of 157 The EFF believes that the liberation of women in general, not just rural women, lies at the centre of our quest for true, long-lasting freedom.

I have heard earlier accolades given to women in the recent history of the last 100 or 200 years.
The truth is that women have contributed to the history of mankind from time immemorial.

After all, when God placed Adam on the face of the earth, it was Eve who accompanied him.

Let us not forget that it was Hagar and Sarah who backed up, who were the support to Abraham, and we all know what contribution he made to the conscientious history of mankind.

What about us here?

Who can forget the wife of the pharaoh who nurtured Moses when he came floating in the basket down the Nile?
Who can forget Mother Mary who gave us the blessed birth of Jesus, revered by over half of this planet’s population?

This debate surely requires no further argument.

I salute the women.

Thank you, Ma’am.

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Chairperson of the NCOP, I would like to acknowledge the Deputy Minister, members of the NCOP, the permanent delegates, and colleagues from the provinces.
The Deputy Minister has set the scene and raised a lot of important and relevant issues in the debate, followed by other members, especially from the ANC.

The message has been consistent, clear, and concise about our successes and the good work we have done since 1994.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 127 of 157 There is a member, the hon Engelbrecht, I think, who gave us what I will call “useful” statistics.
Statistics is very important, hon Engelbrecht, but I think sometimes it’s important that these statistics must be used with content and in context.

The hon member states the problems in the different parts of our country and the areas she has mentioned.

However, the hon member, I think, deliberately omitted to mention that it’s not by accident that those same areas, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – the rural areas of our country – still find themselves in the situation that they are in.
It’s not by sheer accident of history.

It was deliberate because the racist, white, apartheid regime deliberately made sure that our people are condemned to poverty.

[Interjections.]

The hon member deliberately omits this important fact because she doesn’t want to accept that these problems span over more than three decades.

These are problems that started in 1652.

These are problems that did not start in 1994.


These are problems that were not created by the ANC, but the opposition is always desperate to tell lies about the ANC and create an impression of something that we are not.

That’s one of the issues I want to deal with here.

We, as the ANC, are working very hard, hon Engelbrecht.

Firstly, I hope you will acknowledge that we don’t live in conditions of our own making.

That is why change is constant.


We must always work very hard to ensure that we change the conditions of our people.

Like I have said, we don’t operate in conditions of our own making.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 128 of 157 When we face whatever challenges that we face, we must be able not to just highlight the problem.

That, I think, is the distinction between the DA and the ANC, the distinction between the IFP ... in fact, you are all in coalition, so you are one thing.

[Laughter.]
[Laughter.]

The difference between you and us is that we are not demagogues.

We are revolutionaries.

We want to ensure that we change the lives of our people for the better.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I would like to know if the hon MEC would take a question if he feels so strongly about these matters.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, will you take a question?

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): You don’t have to give me conditions.

I will take your question.


Let me finish with my points and finish my time.

Then I will take your question.

Let me finish with my points.

I don’t have a problem with taking your question.

Mr C HATTINGH: Chairperson, I don’t know whether the member is acquainted with the Rules here, but he should not address a member directly.

He should address you.

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, sir.

Hon MEC, address him through me.

Please continue.


11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 129 of 157 Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Alright, I will, Chair.

Member Khawula, I can’t be told by you to listen.

You must behave.

[Interjections.]

I am not your child.

[Interjections.]

You must behave.

Mr C HATTINGH: Hon Chair ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, please take your seats.

Hon Maile, address the House through the Chair.

Mr C HATTINGH: Chairperson, on a point of order ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What is the point of order, hon Hattingh?

Mr C HATTINGH: Hon ... hon ... hon Chair ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Order!

I need to hear the member on the floor.

Hon Hattingh?

Mr C HATTINGH: Chair, I think visiting members should actually get a Rule book.

He should not be pointing fingers at me.

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, please don’t point your finger at the hon Hattingh.
11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 130 of 157 Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): No, I won’t, because I can see he is a crybaby.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Please take your seat.

Please take your seat.

Hon Smit?

[Interjections.]

Hon Smit?

Order, members!

[Interjections.]

Order!

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I don’t listen to racists!

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Hon Smit?


Mr C F B SMIT: Hon Chairperson, could you please remind the hon member, for the second time in a row, that he is not supposed to address the members directly?

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you very much, hon Smit.

[Laughter.]

The hon member has heard because I have said it.

Please take your seat, sir.

Please take your seat, ma’am.

Please take your seat.

Hon Khawula?

Mr M KHAWULA: Hon Chairperson, on a point of privilege ...
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No.

I do not allow points of privilege.

The hon member knows that very well.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 131 of 157 Mr M KHAWULA: On a point of order, Chairperson: When the hon MEC is instructing whoever it is on the left to behave, he says “Khawula”.

Now, to the person who is listening, it sounds as if there is a Khawula who is misbehaving, but then, he cuts short what he was going to say and now that person on the left is Khawula.

Can you correct this?

[Laughter.]


The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, we only have one hon member in this House who is called Khawula, and it is that member.

[Laughter.]

Hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana?

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Chairperson, may I, through you, please ask the hon member at the podium to withdraw his comment to the hon Hattingh?

He said: Stop being racist.

He’s a racist.

[Interjections.]

He said so.

He said so.

Can you ask him to withdraw, please, hon Chair?

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members!

Order!

Hon Maile, did you say to the hon Hattingh that he is a racist?

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I don’t remember because I think he was busy pointing at me.

[Interjections.]

HON MEMBERS: You did say it!

Answer the question!

An HON MEMBER: You’re a liar!

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 132 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Hon Maile, did you say the hon Hattingh was a racist?
Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I said he behaves like a racist, not that he is a racist ... [Interjections] ... and those are two different things.

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, I will look at the Hansard, and I will rule.

Please continue, MEC.

Hon Julius, you are repeating yourself.

What is the new point of order?

[Interjections.]

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): This one ...

[Interjections.]

... Nx!

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, please take your seat.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

Hon ... wena.

You have the floor, sir.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Chairperson, I think you also need to include in that the hon Makue just made a comment that the hon member at the podium is speaking the truth.

He is a racist.

He has just made that comment.

I heard it, and that is why I am standing up.

An HON MEMBER: I am sitting here, and I didn’t hear it.

Mr J W W JULIUS: Well, you can ask him.


The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 133 of 157 Mr J W W JULIUS: Whether he is honest or not, I don’t know.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members ... Alright.

Hon Makue, did you say that he is, in fact, a racist?

Mr E MAKUE: I said he behaves like one, Chairperson – and he does behave like one.
The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon members, I have undertaken to go into the Hansard to deal with the matter which the hon Mpambo- Sibhukwana referred to, regarding the hon Hattingh.

Hon Julius, you raised a point, and now you are making a noise.

I am addressing you.

You don’t have to look at that hon member.

On the point that you are raising, I want to see the two of you in my office to clear it up.

Hon Maile, please continue.


Mr C HATTINGH: Hon Chairperson, the hon member said that I am behaving like a racist.

Now, is that acceptable in this House?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: The hon member did not say you are a racist.

He says you are behaving like a racist.

Mr C HATTINGH: Hon ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 134 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: No, no, no, hon Hattingh.

Take your seat.

I am addressing you.

Hon members ... Order, Deputy Minister!


You see, hon Hattingh ... Hon members, please desist from throwing stones if you can’t take them.

In debates, you will say things that are permissible which border on maliciousness, on insults, on denting the integrity of one another.

We are always cautioning you to watch your language.
The reason, hon Hattingh, I said I would see the two members in my office is precisely because as they put the matter, the matter, in terms of our Rules, does not make it unparliamentary.

Therefore, I cannot rule.

I have cautioned this House over and over, and that is, in fact, what I intend to do about those two members.

Can we now please continue?

Hon Maile?

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Thank you very much, Chairperson.

Member Khawula, I was actually coming to you when I got distracted.
Today, I think you have confirmed the view that I have always held.

The IFP is just a politically bankrupt organisation, old-fashioned, moribund, without ideas.

Unlike the DA, which is neoliberal, clearly representing the interests of white monopoly capital, you represent nothing.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

That is why you want to claim today that, if the people of KwaZulu-Natal were to give you power, you would do something better – and you know it’s not possible because you were given an opportunity to run that province ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 135 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Don’t drown out the speaker!

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): ... and the province was run dismally during the IFP days until we, the ANC, took over.
I think you have heard the facts from the MEC for education and the hon member there, who was speaking on behalf of the ANC.

You also go further to raise the issue of cadre deployment.

This same issue of cadre deployment ...

I can tell you now, your coalition partners who are now governing Johannesburg and Tshwane have lined up their cadres to take over as municipal managers.

I wonder if you are going to vote with them because you seem to be anti cadre deployment.
In fact, let me tell you, if, as the ANC, we were implementing cadre deployment, we wouldn’t have some of these problems we are having because a cadre ... Ms B A ENGELBRECHT: Madam Chair, I am standing on a point of relevance: We are debating rural women, and it’s becoming a political dialogue which absolutely stinks!

[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, ma’am.

It is a debate, and I’m allowing it to continue.

Please take your seat.

[Interjections.]

Yes.

Hon members, order!


[Interjections.]

Order, members!

Can you please sit down, hon Khawula?

[Interjections.]

Hon members, order!

Order!

Order!

It is a point during a debate.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 136 of 157 Moenie klippe gooi as jy nie kan duik nie!

[Applous.]

[Tussenwerpsels.]

[Do not throw stones if you cannot duck!

[Applause.]

[Interjections.]]

Please, hon members.


You do not want us to police every debate because in every debate, we will allow - and we have allowed – people to zigzag out of the main thrust of the debate.

I am not going to start today to put you into straitjackets and tell you only to speak about women in the rural areas because in the history of this House since 2014, we have not done so.

Please continue, hon Maile.

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Thank you, Chairperson.


Hon Khawula, a cadre is somebody who is armed with political theory, who has integrity and skills, and who is educated and qualified.

That is why the ANC must do it because is it not systematically dealing with this issue of cadre deployment - and we must do it unapologetically because we are governing.

We have been given a responsibility.

[Applause.]

By the way, Hlaudi is not our cadre.


You must stop saying he is our cadre because he is not a member of the ANC.

[Interjections.]

Mr C F B SMIT: Hon Chairperson, on a point of order: The hon MEC keeps on doing the same thing over and over ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: What is it?

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 137 of 157 Mr C F B SMIT: ... pointing a finger directly at members.

That is a threat, alright?

That’s a threat.

That is the first point.

[Interjections.]


The second point is that he is also addressing the point ...

[Interjections.]

...

Yes, the ...

I am showing what he is doing!

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members!

Address me.

[Interjections.]

You said the second point ... Order, members!

I cannot hear that member.

Mr C F B SMIT: The second point of order is: He is addressing the member directly, once again.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Alright.

May I make my ruling?

[Interjections.]


Hon members, order!

Hon Mohapi, stop.

Hon members, I did watch the MEC.

Perhaps his gesticulation is all over the place.

However, hon Maile, please control the fact that when you gesticulate with your fingers, you point at hon members.

Secondly, I do take the point, which I have made with the hon MEC, to address the House through the Chairperson.

Hon Engelbrecht, what is your point of order?


Ms B A ENGELBRECHT: Madam Chair, I rise on this point of order: The MEC is misleading this House.

[Interjections.]

He says that they are 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 138 of 157 governing, and they are not governing in Johannesburg.

[Interjections.]

So, he is misleading the House.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, ma’am.

That is not a point of order, at all, hon member.

[Interjections.]

Take your seat, ma’am.

That is not a point of order, at all.


Please continue.

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Chair, I am not crazy.

I said ...

[Interjections.]

... because you are ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, just continue with the debate.

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I am sorry, Chair.

[Laughter.]
[Laughter.]

I said, in Johannesburg, where the DA is in a coalition with the rest of all the other parties, they have lined up people to take over as municipal managers, and I wonder if the coalition partners will vote with them because they are anti cadre deployment.

So, people must listen.

[Interjections.]

Another issue I want to raise is this notion that the ANC is corrupt.

It’s false and misleading because it’s not true.


As the ANC – and I’m sure some of you who have had the privilege of reading our documents will know we have deliberately acted against corruption in many instances without any fear or favour.

[Interjections.]

So, to try and ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 139 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I also want to deal with the issue of the EFF because the EFF – where is the hon member?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, hon Maile.


There is another member on the floor.

Please take your seat.

Hon Smit?

Mr C F B SMIT: Hon Chairperson, I would like to know if the hon MEC, who behaves like an EFF member, would take a question.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Smit, is the question you are putting whether or not the hon MEC will take a question?

Do I read you correctly?

Mr C F B SMIT: Yes.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, will you take a question?
Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): I don’t take crazy questions, so ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, don’t go where you are being led.

Hon Smit, the hon MEC will not take a question.

Please continue.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 140 of 157 Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): The EFF is a confused, rude, chaotic organisation of demagogues who lie to our people for votes.

[Interjections.]

Mr M M CHABANGU: Chairperson, on a point of order: Perhaps the hon Maile is ill today.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order, members!

I can’t hear the member.

Mr M M CHABANGU: Perhaps the MEC is confused about the EFF.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Is that a point of order?

Mr M M CHABANGU: Ntlha ya tokiso ke hore a itshware hantle, a se ke a etsa dintho tseo a ntseng a di etsa.

[The point of order is that he should behave appropriately, and he must stop doing what he is doing.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, sir.

That’s not a point of order.

[Interjections.]


That is not a point of order.

Hon Maile?

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Le ka se ntire selo.

Ga go na selo se le ka se dirang.

[There is nothing you can do to me – nothing whatsoever.]

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 141 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Maile, address this House through me!

Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): Alright, Chairperson.


That is why the hon member who was speaking on behalf of the EFF earlier on has demonstrated these ideological inconsistencies I am talking about in the EFF.

He also demonstrated the dishonesty of the EFF because he has created the impression that nothing has happened since 1994 and the lives of our women have not changed, at all.

We, as the ANC, are the first to admit where the problems are.
We, as the ANC, are the first to say there is still more that needs to be done.

I am sure the hon member knows very well that we have introduced a lot of laws and policies to empower our women.

We are the only party in South Africa that has a 50/50 policy, and we are implementing it through our list process.

[Applause.]

In our government departments, we are implementing that policy.

[Time expired.]

[Applause.]


Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: Hon Chairperson, it is no secret that the injustice of the past has left the rural areas in South Africa in a dire state.

It is no secret that the rural economy of South Africa’s history of racial dispossession has left the country with skewed patterns of ownership, which exclude the majority of South Africans from the land assets and inclusion in rural economies.
The DA aims to address these issues by aiming to achieve redress in rural communities that promote economic inclusion to alleviate poverty and 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 142 of 157 support growth and prosperity in the agricultural sector.

The agricultural sector is South Africa’s second largest industry that contributes positively to the GDP.

Historically, black women have been the most oppressed individuals.

The aim of rectifying the injustices of the past include women from rural areas.
Although this may not be easy to do, it is possible.

One of the DA’s objectives is to achieve an open society for all.

The DA’s economic policies and social policies are primarily aimed at creating the circumstances for growth and job creation.

It is imperative to understand that women in rural South Africa have faced many hardships throughout their lives.

Women have had to be the breadwinners of many households.

This is a huge responsibility and is often a burden as they have had limited access.
We aim to deal specifically with unemployability issues by looking at the land reform policy, which implicitly aims to move away from meeting targets, specifically meeting individual needs.

The DA needs the land reform policy to focus on a number of core principles.

Land reform is a moral and political imperative that aims to represent an opportunity to invigorate rural communities by giving rural dwellers greater access to productive assets.
The land reform strategy must be informed not by the need to achieve quantity land targets but by the objectives to, firstly, support a thriving commercial agricultural sector that aims to protect South Africa’s food security, secondly, promote small-scale farms which can be 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 143 of 157 economically viable, and, finally, alleviate poverty and support household food security through appropriate assistance for subsistence agriculture.
The success of this land reform policy will be determined in terms of the livelihoods created to the supported and economic value created through the business initiatives that may result through this policy framework.

This, however, cannot be simply done by the various government department stakeholders.
It may be wise to get into collaboration with the private sector to assist rural women in developing the business skills that can ensure not only sustainability but a form of profitability for our economy.

There is a popular saying that says if you strike a woman, you strike a rock.
Every woman in South Africa, including rural women, needs to be well equipped, not only to make a make a positive effect in their households but to make a positive effect in their communities and, in turn, to the greater economy.

The hon Maile comes here to tell lies and claim victories.

I just want to put it straight on record that it is this ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana, please take your seat!

Please take your seat, ma’am!

[Interjections.]

Yes, sir.


11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 144 of 157 Mr L MAILE (Gauteng): For the member to say that I am telling lies when I am not a liar ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana, the hon member, may be a member of the Gauteng legislature, but he is covered by every Rule of this House.

Please withdraw calling a member a liar.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: I withdraw, Chairperson.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, ma’am.

Please continue.
Please continue.

Ms T G MPAMBO-SIBHUKWANA: It is this ignorance that needs to be eroded from his utterances.

This is the ignorance that made the ANC to lose.

They should be rather aware in 2019.

We are coming with all our values of freedom, fairness, and opportunities to South Africans.

Thank you, Chairperson.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

The hon Dlamini.

Hon Mpambo- Sibhukwana, are you threatening my members with violence?

Hon Labuschagne?

Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: On a point of order ...


The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Labuschagne, on a point of order, ma’am?

Hon Dlamini, sit down, please.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 145 of 157 Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: I just want to check, Chair: Are we all your members, or are only certain people your members?

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: All of you are my members, all members of this House.

I suppose I am also your member.

[Interjections.]

Yes, I was speaking to my member threatening my other members.
Ms L C DLAMINI: Hon Chairperson, I appreciate the opportunity to engage with issues affecting rural woman — an integral part of our society.

Biased development and empowerment of rural women are very important, considering our history.

I really appreciate this opportunity.

I heard members talking about the changes for rural women, misleading the public as if they do not know where we come from.

Bakhuluma shangatsi asati kutsi sibuya kuphi.


Uma ngingabakhumbuta nje kancane kutsi nasikhuluma ngalabasikati basemaphandleni sisho labanye betfu.

Tsine singulabanye babo laba labaphuma emaphandleni.

Ngitsi kanye lesikwati kukhuluma indzaba yasemaphandleni.

Umhlonishwa Engelbrecht usitjela ngetibalo letikhomba kutsi bantfu basemaphandleni bahlupheka kangakanani.

Intfo lokhohlwa kuyisho mhlonishwa, kusitjela kutsi labantfu basemaphandleni labahluphekako babuya kuphi.
(Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 146 of 157 [They speak as if we do not know where we come from.

If I may remind them a little bit that when we speak of rural women, we are referring to some of our own.

We are some of them – those who come from the rural areas.

We are the ones who are able to speak about rural issues.

The hon Engelbrecht is telling us about statistics that shows how rural people suffer.
You have forgotten to tell us, hon member, where those suffering rural people come from.]

Because where I come from ... in rural areas, before 1994 ... ... lesimo lesesikuso manje lesentiwa yinhlangano yeNational Party ne-DA, ngiyacolisa; ngifuna kutsi iDemocratic Party; kodvwa –ke babuya khona.

Lesimo lesesikuso manje sentiwa ngibo.

[Kuhlaba lulwimi.]

Lapho sibuya khona tsine, kungakatsatsi inhlangano yaKhongolose, bomake bebatitfuma esigangeni.

Nangabe bewute indlu yangasese bewutitfuma esigangeni.
Bebahamba bayewutfota tinkhuni, bakha nemanti emifuleni, bahlala etindlini teludzaka futsi bangakavumeleki kutsi babe netindlu tabo letitsi bona.

Ngetulu kwako konkhe loko, bebasebenta emapulazini mahhala, bangakhokhelwa lutfo.

Manje–ke, nakatsi yena kute luntjintjo usho kuwaphi emaphandle?

Usho baphi bomake?

Ngobe njengalapho ngibuya khona siyati kutsi nyalo sekunemanti laphuma etimpompini; kunagezi; kunetidlu tesibonelelo sahulumende; sebatfola imali yesibonelelo setenhlalakahle; sekunemitfolampilo.
Bomake labatetfwele nebantfwana baya emitfolampilo mahhala, ababhadali.

Usho waphi emaphandle?

Angikakuva 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 147 of 157 kahle.

Ukhuluma ngabaphi bomake?

[Tandla.]

(Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)

[... this situation we find ourselves in was created by the National Party and the DA.

Excuse me.

I wanted to say the Democratic Party, but they are from them anyway.

They are the ones who created this situation we find ourselves in.

[Interjections.]
[Interjections.]

From where we come from, before the ANC took over, women relieved themselves in the open field.

If you did not have a toilet, you would relieve yourself in the open field.

They used to go and collect firewood, drawing water from rivers and living in mud houses and were not allowed to own properties.

On top of that, they were working on farms without being paid.

So, if she says there is no change, which rural areas is she referring to?

Which women is she speaking about?


As we speak, in areas where we come from, there are water taps, electricity, and RDP houses.

They now receive social grants, and there are also clinics.

Expectant mothers and children now go to the clinic, and they do not pay.

Which rural areas are you referring to?

I do not understand you.

Which women are you talking about?

[Applause.]]


Hon Engelbrecht, I thought you would go further and say how many of those women you talk about are from farms whose owners are members of the DA.

You should start there, in your membership, and preach to them because those areas are privately owned land.

Do you expect the government to go and implement there ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 148 of 157 ... lapha basivalela khona emahheke bangasivumeli kutsi singene ngekhatsi?
[... in those areas where they lock up gates for us and they do not allow us to get in?]

Just recently, when we had the local government election, they were not allowing them to go and vote.

You say they are stuck there and do not have freedom.

Talk to your DA members.

Grandstanding becomes a problem sometimes.

Through you, Chair: I apologise for speaking directly to the member.

Mhlonishwa Khawula, bengicabanga kutsi utawusho kutsi simo asikantjintji emaphandleni.
Ngiyacabanga kutsi le kwaZulu-Natal lanikhona khona nine niyiNkatha, kunabomasipala; futsi kusemaphandleni.

Bangakhi bomake labahluphekako kulawo maphandle lawo nangabe utsi wena nitakwenta ncono nine niyiNkatha naniticatsanisa naKhongolose?

(Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)

[Hon Khawula, I thought you would say the situation has not yet changed in rural areas.

I think in KwaZulu-Natal where you are as the IFP, there are municipalities, and they are in rural areas.
How many poor women are there in those rural areas if you say you, as the IFP, you will do better compared to the ANC?]

Can you give us figures of rural women who have been upgraded or improved by the IFP?

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 149 of 157 Under the apartheid regime which was led by the National Party and their strategic partner, the Democratic Party, now combined and called the DA, 100% there were no services in rural areas.

However, you now come here and say the ANC has not done anything.
Obviously, a lot has been done by the ANC, but it will not be the same because, in urban areas, there was little bit ...

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Dlamini, please take your seat.

Hon Labuschagne?

Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: Chairperson, I rise on a point of order.

I don’t see any member of the National Party in this House.

So, the hon member is talking about the National Party, and she then refers to “they”.

Through you, Chair: Can she give us clarity on what she means?

Thank you.
Thank you.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Dlamini?

Ms L C DLAMINI: I did say that I mean the National Party and their strategic partner that pretended to be the opposition were working together and then combined to form the DA alliance.

That is what I said.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Dlamini, please take your seat.

Hon Labuschagne?
Hon Labuschagne?

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 150 of 157 Ms C LABUSCHAGNE: Hon Chair, on a point of order: The information the hon Dlamini has is a little bit selective because there are members of the National Party who are now members of the ANC.

So, are they also partners of the ANC?

Thank you.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Dlamini, for progress’ sake, what the hon Labuschagne is saying is true.

The National Party members joined all of the different parties.
For progress’ sake, can we please step off that matter?

It is a matter of historical fact.

Let us please move on.

[Interjections.]

Order, hon members.

Ms L C DLAMINI: Asiyibonge–ke kakhulu inhlangano yabomake bakaKhongolose ... [Let us give great thanks to the ANC Women’s League ...] ... for the strides it has made in fighting for rural women.

That is the only party that I know of that fought for rural women together with the mother body, the ANC.

What does that mean?


It means that, in 1994, the society that was inherited by the democratic government, the ANC, was deeply divided, with profound disparities in socioeconomic wellbeing across racial groups.

Within this context, certain groups of society, especially rural women and girls, were further excluded and marginalised beyond race.
Discrimination based on gender led to women becoming vulnerable to chronic stressors such as unemployment, poor health, and low educational status with generally poor standards of living.

The 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 151 of 157 ANC’s focus on women’s empowerment and on rural women through the realisation of civil, political, economic, and social rights was justified within the context of high levels of inequalities impacting on women, inequalities that were inherited by the new democratic government.
We did not find the playing field level.

Sitfole bangalingani.

Bentiwe ngemabomu, ngulabo lengikhulume ngabo ekucaleni.

[We found them not equal.

That was purposefully done by those I spoke of initially.]

The drivers of change were thus policy reforms and building the institutional machinery.
These reforms removed all forms of institutional discriminatory laws in the quest for a free, nonracial, nonsexist, peaceful, and democratic South Africa, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

We acknowledge as the ANC that there is still a lot to be done, but it is also important to note that there is a lot of progress that has been made.
In terms of education, the ANC-led government has introduced the no- fee schools in basic education, contributing to the development of women.

It has introduced nutrition schemes in schools, free learner support materials, compulsory education, and preschooling, relieving a lot of stress on women.
In terms of higher education, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, has allowed a number of rural 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 152 of 157 women to go to school and empower themselves by attaining qualifications, something which was not possible before.

If I can make one example, before 1994 ... ... bomake basemaphandleni labatetfwele bekudzingeka kutsi batibonele, babelekiswe ngulabanye bomake labangakakufundzeli kubelekisa.

Bantfwana labatelwe bebangahlolwa ngumuntfu.


Loko kwakubangela kutsi kufe bomake labanyentana kanye netinswane kungatiwa nekutsi babulawe yini.

(Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)

[... expectant women from the rural areas were expected to take care of themselves.

They were being helped to give birth by other women who were not qualified in midwifery.

Newborn babies were not medically examined.

That led to an increased mother and infant mortality rate, and the cause was never known.]
Of the 4,3 million houses that have been built so far, roughly 56% have been given to women in rural areas.

Esikhundleni sekutsi bomake babhuce ludzaka lwekwakha, bahlala etindlini letingasito teludzaka.

Emaphandleni sekunetindlu tangasese, kunemanti, kunagezi ... [Instead of women making mud for building, they live in brick houses.
In rural areas, there are now pit toilets, water, and electricity ...] 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 153 of 157 ... and it is important to indicate that, in 2007 already, 94% of the people of the Western Cape had access to electricity.

So, the DA just came in and scored a goal, but the buildup to the improvement of the Western Cape was started by the ANC.

I wish to say that it is not only the responsibility of government to ensure empowerment of women.
We are all responsible as women, as fathers, and as church organisations.

Everyone is responsible to ensure that there is development of rural women.

I thank you.

[Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM (Mr M Skwatsha): Hon Chairperson, as a matter of historical fact, I was very close to this situation, and I really want to correct it.

The New National Party and the Democratic Party formed the DA.

This is fact.
This is fact.

We were the largest party in this province the year they combined through Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Tony Leon to form the DA.

That is a fact.

[Applause.]

[Interjections.]

Let me proceed.

I really want to thank all political contributions that have been made here.

The truth is that the matter under discussion here today is serious.

It is about the rebuilding of a country ravaged by colonialism and apartheid.
The ANC-led government is cleaning up a mess formed by more than three centuries – not decades – of colonialism from a government that unfortunately thought it was superior because it had a lighter complexion: white.

11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 154 of 157 This is the mess we are cleaning up today.

I would have thought that hon members would really be appreciating that.
I would want to invite people – because I think one delivered a comprehensive speech here with statistics about improvements by this government – to look at that speech again.

The second thing is that we should learn from what is nice, from what is good.

We did not get an opportunity to see the IFP promoting women when it was in charge.

In fact, even before the IFP, even during the time of Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe, we did not see women being promoted.
In fact, we consciously saw women being blocked to the extent that the NFP was formed because a woman was blocked not to lead.

Mr M KHAWULA: Blocked by you.

[Laughter.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM (Mr M Skwatsha): The last thing I want to say is that we lead by example and through experience.

During the time of the National Party, I don’t remember South Africa having a female Speaker.
In fact, in the whole National Party-led Cabinet, there was only one woman as a Minister, Rina Venter, no one else.

In 1994, we had a female Speaker.

I want to say that we have invited you through contributions here to go to your parties and say that 50% must be the rule for members 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 155 of 157 that come here from the National Party or the New National Party, or the DA, or the EFF.

You now work together.


You have cemented your alliance through the two Juliuses – one sitting here and one absent here ...

[Interjections.]

... and you now are in ...

[Interjections.]

I want to end off by saying that we really should celebrate.

I was touched by the hon Mokotla quoting our former esteemed president, Oliver Tambo, who said South Africa will never be free until its women are free.
The last words I would like to quote are by the late Mozambican president who said: The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian or compassionate attitude.

The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory.

When we celebrate the women and we name them, we have a tendency of forgetting.
I just want to say to my sister ... ... baza kubetha ekhaya Sis Thandi ... [... they will take an issue with you, Sis Thandi ...] ... if you say where we come from in Herschel women have not been empowered.

You and I know there was no electricity there before 1994.

I want to say ... 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 156 of 157 The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Hon Deputy Minister, you have the hon Mpambo-Sibhukwana, not Sis Thandi.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM (Mr M Skwatsha): Alright.
Mpambo-Sibhukwana.

I want to say even the coining of the slogan “Wathint’ abafazi wathint’ imbokodo” [You strike a woman, you strike a rock] was a strike against apartheid in all its manifestations.

As we mention all these women who fought so gallantly to bring us freedom in South Africa, let us not forget that, in this country, a female member of uMkhonto weSizwe fought for freedom, was arrested, tortured, sentenced to prison to free all of us, and got released, and now, today, I want to salute her too.
She is now none other than the Chairperson of the NCOP, Comrade Thandi Modise.

Thank you.

[Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, sir.

Order, members.

Thank you very much.

HON MEMBERS: Malibongwe!

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order!

Order, hon Wana!

Members, order!

I appreciate the excitement.


I would like to appreciate all the MECs who participated in this debate and the debate before this one, all the special delegates from the various provinces for making time to come and not just spend the day but to also make these important inputs.

I also want to thank you very much for these very incisive 11 OCTOBER 2016 PAGE: 157 of 157 debates.

For anybody listening to you, hon members, you were not far apart.
It is just that, in the nature of politics, we sometimes think that it is wrong, as the House, to be together up to the end, but the points you made were all in the interest of rural women.

As women of this country, we thank you for that.

Debate concluded.

The Council adjourned at 18:18.

__________ ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS Please click on the following link to access the relevant Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports for this day.
https://www.parliament.gov.za/parliamentary-papers?sorts[date]=-1