27 February 2012
Members of households with no income, students seeking bursaries, job-seekers looking to be re-skilled … Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has called on South Africans who need help from the government to come forward so they can be assisted.
“We are keen to help those who need help,” Motlanthe said during a visit to government War on Poverty projects in Krugersdorp, Gauteng province on Friday.
Motlanthe encouraged those who needed assistance to seek help at their local municipal offices.
“When people are assisted, they must make a meaningful contribution to the economy,” he added, emphasising that the government was willing to help by re-skilling individuals who had the potential to steer their households out of poverty – calling such individuals “change agents”.
The government’s War on Poverty campaign, launched in August 2008, targets the most deprived communities in the country, seeking to reach people with limited or no access to any of the services or programmes offered by the government.
Motlanthe was visiting one of these projects, in the form of a food bank set up by the Gauteng provincial government to provide relief to households in distress. The food bank currently supplies food and other essentials to around 60 000 individuals.
Motlanthe also visited a small-scale farm in Dunkod which produces herbs and a range of vegetables and supplies to various retailers. The Gauteng government handed over a pack house to the farm as part of government’s programme to assist emerging and small-scale farmers.
Motlanthe noted that one of the best ways to win the war on poverty was for people to start growing their own vegetables.
Motlanthe was accompanied on his Krugersdorp visit by Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, MECs and senior provincial government officials.
Other dignitaries included Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti, and Deputy Human Settlements Minister Zou Kota-Frederics.
Source: BuaNews
