The Eastern Cape government is hard at work.
Isabela iphulo likaMongameli elithi, "This is the year of action". [Lo ngunyaka wentshukumo.] Iinyanga zili-11 kule ye-ofisi. Kodwa ndiyakuqinisekisa, Mongameli, ukuba umsebenzi owenziweayo wona unga phezulu koweminyaka ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[We are responding to the President's declaration that "This is the year of action". It is 11 months now, but I assure you, President, that the work we have done is tantamount to several years' work ...]
... precisely because we believe that it is only when we focus on what we need to do and do it diligently, that we can change the quality of life of our people for the better.
There are challenges. The mere fact that there are budgets and plans, means that these are a response to existing challenges. We work with our communities.
With respect to education, we have left no stone unturned in dealing with the challenges of our backlogs in infrastructure. As you are well aware, we are still faced with about 400 mud schools in the area and a similar number of schools that are unsafe. As the Eastern Cape government, we've sat down and found ways and means to deal with that challenge in a manner that seeks to ensure that our children are at school during school hours and that the environment in which they are is conducive for them to learn.
Today is World TB Day. We are also working hard to mobilise communities towards ensuring that they get tested, because in rural communities umntu uthi akuba neTB kucingwe ngempundulu nezinye izinto. [when one contracts TB, the community thinks of witchcraft and other beliefs].
We are hard at work educating our communities to understand that TB is just a disease. I always make an example of myself. I had TB in 1983 and I'm still here alive and kicking, beautiful as ever. [Applause.] All you need to do is to take your treatment and to follow the doctor's instructions.
Nawe uza kufana nam. [You will also be like me.] We are mobilising our communities to ensure that we create a safe environment.
Sikwiphulo, sikuthe bhazalala siqinisekisa ukuba abantu baziphatha kakuhle ukuze bakwazi ukuzikhusela. [We are conducting a campaign, we are scattered all over ensuring that people take good care of themselves so as to protect themselves.]
This is how we brought about this freedom anyway. Communities were under brutal attack from the system. They organised themselves and fought the system, and today we are talking about freedom. We are saying we have seen that when we mobilise communities around those issues that affect them the most, they will understand the importance of working together.
Deputy President, our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals is to ensure that we have a particular focus on our rural development strategy. We are doing that to ensure that we contribute positively to the report of South Africa as a country, but also to ensure that we live up to the ideals of what we have been fighting for - the national democratic revolution.
We want to see our communities enjoying life in a nonsexist, prosperous and safe environment. In particular, we want to see our rural communities being safe. We want to see them prosper. It is against this background that we are rolling out our pilot, which we conducted at the Mhlontlo Local Municipality, which has been hailed as a very successful programme. Through this programme we are going back to agriculture in the province to ensure that we change the quality of life for the rural communities.
We are working tirelessly, hon Deputy President, to ensure that the people whose lives were affected negatively can now claim a free and democratic South Africa, and can really see the difference. We are soldiers at work - soldiers who will ensure that we realise what you spoke about, Mr President.
Uyabona ke, Mongameli [You see, President], you would recall Madiba's story. He was hailed as a hero while everybody else was saying the ANC is this very bad organisation.
Wathi UMadiba, "I-iANC ndim." Ndiyafuna ke ukubaxelele aba bantu ukuba njengokuba uMongameli wethu kunye noSekela-Mongameli benconywa, bazinkokheli zeANC le isithume ukuba sisebenze nani ukuze siphucule ubomi. Yiyo le nto ndiye ndithi masingathelekiswa ke ngabamelwane. Abamelwane mabangangeni kuba kuthiwa, "Unqweme lwentulo ludliwa babini, owesithathu ngumqakathi." Sitsho isiXhosa. Asifuni minqakathi ke apha kule micimbi yokutshintsha kwempilo yabantu. Iminqakathi iza kusenza sithethe emva naphambili kanti thina izisombululo zethu sizazi zsisekusebenzisaneni noluntu lonke simbambisene. Ngalo ndlela siyakwazi ukwenza iimeko zabo zitshintshe. Urhwaphilizo olu kumiwe ngalo apha namhlanje, asiyonto yanamhlanje. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Madiba said, "I am the ANC." I want to tell these people that as our President and Deputy President are commended, they are nothing but leaders of the ANC, which has delegated us to come and work with you to make your lives better. That is why I say we must not allow ourselves to be incited to fight with each other. Let us not allow our neighbours to sow seeds of enmity between us because three is a crowd. In isiXhosa we have a saying that goes like this, "Some matters have to be considered by a few chosen people." We do not want an oddity when we are dealing with the serious issue of changing people's lives. An oddity will lead us towards contradictions whilst we know that in order for us to arrive at lasting solutions we must work together, co-operating as a community. It is in that way that we can improve the conditions in which they live. Corruption, which is today's main topic, is not only today's evil; it has been here for a long time.]