House Chairperson, let me start off by welcoming the statement from the hon member and comrade from the ANC on the matter relating to the conversion of hostels in the North West. This really confirms that South Africa is hard at work in the provision of decent human settlements for our people, who had been neglected over many years by previous regimes.
South Africa, under the leadership of the ANC government, is one of the few countries, if not the only country in the world that gives people houses for free. It is in fact in that context that even the mining sector was compelled by law and under the Mining Charter to provide decent accommodation for mineworkers. A lot of progress has been made in this regard and a full report on the assessment of the progress that was made over the past 10 years should be available by the end of March. We have indeed made significant progress in that regard, but there are still some areas that need attention.
The ANC government, together with various teams and stakeholders, as well as the team that is led by the Deputy President and Minister Jeff Radebe, are actually committed and hard at work to achieve the maximum progress in this year of the Freedom Charter, where we want to provide decent housing and human settlements to all our people. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
