Hon Chairperson, hon and distinguished Minister, hon and distinguished comrades and other hon members, it is Resolution 62/136 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, passed in December 2007, that established 15 October as the day of rural women to be observed the world over. This idea was born out of the resolutions of the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. It is also appropriate that the International Day of Rural Women is observed on the eve of World Food Day, thereby recognising the important contribution of rural women who, in all developing countries, contribute to rural economies and livelihoods as active participants in a wide range of farming activities such as crop production and livestock care.
In sub-Saharan Africa approximately 60% of women are engaged in or are employed in agriculture. Women add to livelihoods in rural areas and carry out the vital functions of caring for children, the sick and the aged. It is also an undisputed fact that rural women remain the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in so far as access to social services and participation in economic activities are concerned. Rural women, however, remain the most vulnerable to poverty, disease and abuse. They bear the full brunt of epidemics, food crises, climate change, natural disasters, and economic meltdowns. Access to health and educational facilities and to gainful economic activity is riddled with never-ending obstacles for rural women, yet the struggle of rural women in the fight against apartheid is well documented in our history.
As a predominantly rural province, 56% of Limpopo's population consists of women. Provincial government has put in place active plans and programmes together with the necessary implementation and monitoring mechanisms aimed at empowering and improving the lives of women, particularly in our rural areas. Programmes are implemented by the various line departments in collaboration, where appropriate and necessary, with national and local government support and participation. The Office on the Status of Women based in the office of the premier and the relevant oversight committees of the provincial legislature monitor the programmes and their implementation.
A provincial war room on poverty co-ordinated by the office of the premier has been established to oversee poverty alleviation programmes. All the programmes are located in areas where poverty levels are high, and the participation of rural women in particular in the programme is an imperative. This is evident all over the province where rural women, with government's assistance, have organised themselves in programmes for, inter alia, crop growing, beadmaking, and participating in the services required by schools in the school nutrition programmes.
The pilot programme at Muyeshe village, identified and supported by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, is a glowing example of how, through rigorous and co-ordinated participation at all levels of various government departments as well as with the private sector, we can begin to breathe life and hope into an otherwise depressed community. Vegetable tunnels, brick-making, water provisioning, skills development projects, road building, maintenance and the building of schools and health facilities are all being undertaken with women playing a pivotal role in these activities. A similar project on a similar scale and, it is hoped, with similar vigour, is being undertaken at Ga-Kgatla village in Limpopo.
Female farmers' programmes running under the structure of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, Ward, have been constituted in all five districts of our province. An annual female farmer awards programme by the department of agriculture helps women empowerment and job creation. With regard to the supply chain, in the five districts, offices have been set up to assist, in particular, rural women in the tendering process, and workshops are held on a regular basis.
With regard to tourism, we have the Marula Festival, which is predominantly run by women. Women pick the marula fruit and display their skills in making marula juice, the marula liquor, butter, lotions and soap. The festival takes place near the Kruger National Park. This is also a time when women have the opportunity to expose their products to numerous tourists.
Abet programmes are in place to ensure that rural women, particularly, have access to simple literacy and numeracy programmes. Over 4 000 women are documented as having gone through this programme in the rural areas.
The programmes to allow women to have access to health services within the rural areas are well under way. The provisioning of clinics, and the acceleration of health service areas for pregnant women and elderly women within the rural areas are well documented. Extra ARV centres in the province have been created to deal with HIV and Aids. In the Expanded Public Works Programmes women must form part of the drive to create jobs. The infrastructure programmes within the rural areas demand that women in our rural areas be given priority in jobs where skills are not as highly sought.
As a country born out of struggle and a painful past, we, under the revolutionary leadership of the ANC government, lead the world in espousing the rights of women in all their forms. We must continue to do so. We must put the issue of women high on our sociopolitical and economic agenda. We must continue to use days like these to popularise the cause of rural women and to actively implement programmes, innovating and bringing in fresh ideas and programmes as we move forward. Women, and in particular the rural women, need to and have to assume their rightful place and pivotal position in all societies of the world. In South Africa, it must continue to be very much part of our developmental agenda. I thank you, hon Chairperson.