Madam Chairperson, I think it is rather unfortunate that hon members would want to reduce a debate of such great importance, which celebrates women, to the level of the president of the ANC Youth League, Comrade Julius Malema.
Nonetheless, hon Chair, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members, invited guests and compatriots, let me borrow wisdom from the words of Harriet Martineau when she said, and I quote:
All women should inform themselves of the condition of their sex and of their own position. It must necessarily follow that the noblest of them will, sooner or later, put forth a moral power which shall prostrate cant, and burst asunder the bonds (silken to some but cold iron to others) of feudal prejudice and usages. In the meantime is it to be understood that the principles of the Declaration of Independence bear no relation to half of the human race? If so, what is the ground of this limitation?
The 52nd national conference of the ANC sought to address these limitations by resolving that before rural development could be successful, the important role of women first had to be acknowledged. But more significant than that was the vigour for correcting the skewed ownership patterns of the agricultural sector in South Africa so that they favoured women, particularly because women had long been excluded from ownership of land. The ANC has since made a commitment that fundamental changes in the patterns of land ownership will be realised through the redistribution of 30% of agricultural land before 2014. It is as a result of such realisation that land and agrarian reform and rural development are now an integral part of a range of policies directed at fighting poverty and unemployment, and in particular addressing the plight of women in rural areas.
The ANC, in articulating its vision, argues that for a long period land reform has not been located within a broader strategy of rural development or a commitment to supporting smallholder farming on a scale that is able to improve rural livelihoods. In this respect, early initiatives did not successfully ensure that women in rural areas were integrated into the Rural Economic Development Strategy. This has led to a situation where the full potential of land ownership has not been realised in transforming social relations, combating rural poverty and promoting rural development.
Whilst there have been notable advances and inroads have been made in land and agrarian reform, there has however been a lack of popular participation in land reform, which has limited its impact and undermined the effort to accelerate redistribution. The limitations, as expressed by Harriet Martineau, and the strides we have since made, inform the topic of my speech: women as an axis for rural economic development and land reform.
Chair, ``as an axis" means that rural development and land reform must rotate around the role and participation of women in rural economic development. Women have been the hub and axis around which families in rural areas have rotated, especially with the migrant labour system and the depopulation of rural communities to the urban areas, leaving family homesteads with women at the helm, often with few or no resources.
As part of the measures to protect the rural poor and the vulnerable, in particular women as heads of households, from both high and rising food prices, a clear programme of building a smallholder agricultural sector, geared to self-sustenance and food security, is what constitutes the bulk of the ANC's preoccupation. In fact, this has always been a policy perspective of the ANC, as reflected in both the ANC's agricultural policy and the 1992 "Ready to Govern" policy document of the ANC.
The ANC has always held the view that a need exists to introduce policies designed to support the establishment of a smallholder sector that will provide access to land and agricultural resources for those historically excluded, with appropriate training and extension. It is precisely this approach, hon members, that today sees women being drawn into this programme in greater numbers.
They are moving away from the use of capital-intensive forms of agriculture with the direct aim of creating employment through labour-intensive means. Job creation mechanisms must be an option for women, because they are at the forefront of the socialisation of rural capital through the establishment of rural co-operatives.
In this regard, the ANC has emphasised that among the injustices committed by the agricultural policies of the apartheid government was the promotion of capital-intensive forms of agriculture in the presence of widespread rural unemployment, thus consciously creating rural underdevelopment, and the further impoverishment of women in particular. The alternative to capital-intensive forms of agriculture is being advanced through labour- intensive forms of agriculture and ensuring that smallholders, especially women, are supported and collective forms of ownership are encouraged.
This, of course, takes place alongside an inclusive approach to agrarian reform and development. In this regard the ANC stated in 1994 that we would prioritise investment in labour-intensive agricultural sectors, including investment in infrastructural projects such as the creation of roads and irrigation systems using labour-intensive technology.
As far as agrarian reform is concerned, the ANC seeks to support subsistence food production, expanding the role and productivity of modern smallholder farming, and maintaining a vibrant and competitive agricultural sector. Again, these policies are informed by the need to make women the axle around which the wheel of agrarian reform, land redistribution and food security turns.
To ensure that this approach is sustained, the ANC has equally resolved to achieve the creation of an overarching authority with the resources and authority to drive and co-ordinate an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
Let me briefly deal with how we move to an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change. The political imperatives of agrarian transformation are a range of fundamental issues that relate to the restructuring and, subsequently, dislodging of the current agrarian accumulation logic located in the agri-business paradigm and moving towards a more inclusive agrarian path of self-sustenance. Agrarian transformation must not be understood simply in the context of the production of agricultural products in order to gain export earnings and accumulate wealth, but should largely be about sustainable food security, ensuring tenure rights, and altering the ownership patterns of the agricultural sector. It is about placing rural people, and particularly women, at the centre of this development as the axis upon which this development will spin. As such and in essence, agrarian transformation is about poverty reduction and ensuring sustainable rural livelihoods.
Let me briefly deal with food security. There is political clarity on the side of the ANC that land, agrarian reform, food security and rural development are an integral part of a number of policies and programmes directed at fighting unemployment and poverty, to which women are most vulnerable. Through its 2009 Election Manifesto, the ANC has clearly articulated the vision for land, agrarian reform, food security and rural development. In this regard, the ANC has further argued that it is committed to ensuring that there is adequate food available to all.
In addition, the ANC has set out very clearly in its vision for food security that an Emergency Food Relief Programme on a massive scale, in the form of a food assistance project to the poorest households and communities, including through partnerships with religious and other community organisations, is vital.
Going forward, the ANC seeks to put in place an agricultural development paradigm anchored in sustainable agricultural production, food security and altering the current ownership patterns through land and agrarian reform that will benefit women and see them as the drivers of the paradigm shift. As the agrarian reform calls for fundamental changes in the patterns of land ownership, backed by comprehensive support programmes and monitoring, women must take the centre stage and demand ownership.
In conclusion, I want to state categorically that all this can happen if women emancipate themselves first from the bondages of the past and reignite the fire of 1956, which led the former president of the ANC, iNkosi Albert Luthuli, to conclude, and I quote:
Among us Africans, the weight of resistance has been greatly increased in the last few years by the emergence of our women. It may even be true, that had the women hung back, resistance would still have been faltering and uncertain ... The demonstration made a great impact, and gave strong impetus ... Furthermore, women of all races have had far less hesitation than men in making common cause about things basic to them.
I may not be in a position to say whether women are better than men, but I know that they are no worse, because, had it not been for the efforts of Mama Bertha Gxowa, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Ida Mtwana, Ruth First, Charlotte Maxeke, Ray Alexander, Winnie Mandela, and many others, I would not be standing at this podium addressing this august House. [Applause.]
I am born of the struggles they had to wage for me to enjoy the fruits of freedom and, indeed, I can safely affirm without getting into the debate of who is better than who: Wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo. [When you strike the women, you strike a rock.] I thank you. [Applause.]