Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members and all others who are present here today, I greet you.
Minister, the plight of our rural communities requires constant attention if we are to move forward as a country. In her book, Call Me Woman, the late Mam Ellen Kuzwayo describes in a moving manner the devastating impact the dispossession of land has had on the black community, which includes the disintegration of the black family unit and the creation of impoverished households.
The formation of the migrant labour system, the inadequate education system designed especially for black people under the previous regime, the so- called influx control, diseases, underresourced health facilities and other factors designed specifically to oppress black people will for many decades haunt our country.
That people in the rural areas - the overwhelming majority of whom are black - continue to live on the periphery of South Africa and the global world, is a factor we cannot afford to ignore or pay scant attention to if we are serious about removing the shackles of apartheid which, despite the denial attitudes of many, continue to keep our people in a prison of sheer poverty and underdevelopment.
To our rural poor, industrialisation and technological advances have come to represent their further marginalisation. The world, Africa and South Africa in particular, have entered an exciting phase of further developing the world around us. It is therefore key that our rural communities are also taken along on this journey.
While the country's rural population represents a third of the country's total population, it accounts for about half of the poor in this country. Furthermore, rural households represent a large majority of unelectrified households. Many businesses in rural areas are also forced to make do with the lack of electricity. In those rural communities with electricity, the costs of living and doing business are further worsened by rising costs of electricity and other energy resources, including fuel.
As a member of this House whose constituency is in one of the many underdeveloped and underresourced rural parts of this country, I am inspired by our ANC government's continued commitment to the development of our rural communities. I was particularly encouraged by the President's report in his state of the nation address earlier this year that he had requested Eskom to investigate options in regard to reducing prices over the next few years, with the objective of benefiting the poor and supporting economic growth and job creation. It would further benefit our nation, especially poor rural women, if efforts were to be made to lower the costs of fuel.
I am also encouraged by the Energy department's continued commitment to extracting our poor people from the doldrums through free basic electricity, free basic alternative energy, solar home systems, integrated energy centre programmes and partnering with private and public sector entities for increased service delivery.
I should point out, however, that in a few studies conducted on the free basic electricity programme it was found that the quantity of free basic electricity provided to qualifying households was not enough to make a significant contribution to the creation of jobs through, for instance, the establishment of home-run electricity-dependent small businesses. A further problem identified is that, since qualifying households are accountable for the costs of any electricity used above the free quantity, which appears to be insufficient to meet most households' basic needs, many households resort to illegal connections, thereby risking lives and placing further strain on the country's electricity supply and reserves. The recommendation is that the current quantity be increased at least threefold to allow qualifying households the opportunity to conduct electricity-dependent businesses from home if they so desire.
It should be mentioned that the indications are that some municipalities provide at least twice the approved quantity of free basic electricity. Obviously, those who receive only the approved quantity are disadvantaged by the inequalities.
The increase will also have other positive spin-offs, such as the eradication of unsafe energy sources for things such as cooking and heating. It has also been found that schoolchildren with adequate access to electricity spend more time at home on their studies than children with insufficient access to electricity. With regard to the solar home system programme, the studies conducted found that many of the beneficiaries considered the system inferior technology, reserved only for the poor, as the system has a limited range of applications compared to grid electricity.
The negative perception of the beneficiaries of free basic alternative energy sources will have to be addressed through education, especially since the challenges of climate change and the increasing demand for energy dictate that more reliance must be placed on renewable energy sources.
Given the rising demand for energy, the efforts of both Eskom and the department in educating the nation on the safe use of electricity and energy saving measures have been commendable. Education on these matters should be intensified in the rural areas where the literacy rates are significantly low.
Local government represents the final supply chain in the provision of free basic electricity and free basic alternative energy to qualifying households. Indications are that most municipalities in the rural areas are underresourced, and thus unable to properly spend the funds allocated for the free basic services.
Accordingly, there need to be greater synergies between this department, the department that deals with provincial and local government, and the municipalities concerned, as well as the South African Local Government Association, Salga, to ensure the optimisation of the department's programmes aimed at the eradication of energy poverty.
Despite the drawbacks, there should not be a loss of focus on the significant improvements made by our government and the department, in both its previous and current forms, in just 18 years. When the ANC-led ... [Interjections.] The ANC supports this Budget. Thank you. [Time expired.]