Madam Deputy Speaker, poverty, inequality and joblessness are the consequences of centuries of underdevelopment and exploitation consciously perpetrated on the majority of the population ... [Interjections.]
Order! Can you hear?
I should get a loudhailer, Madam Deputy Speaker!
Poverty, inequality and joblessness are the consequences of centuries of underdevelopment and exploitation consciously perpetrated against the majority of the population, which had a most destructive and enduring impact on rural South Africa. Recognising this challenge, President Jacob Zuma was in the dusty Muyexe village in Limpopo this week, to launch a programme aimed at radically transforming rural areas.
The programme is aimed at achieving social cohesion and development in the rural parts of our country. Muyexe is one of the poorest villages in our country. It has no basic services like water, electricity and roads and there is no housing development. For many villagers such as 52-year-old Dick Magezi Mabasa, small-scale livestock farming is the only means of survival.
The initiative is based on three key pillars: co-ordinated and integrated broad-based agrarian transformation; an improved land reform programme; and the strategic ... [Interjections.] [Time expired.]