Mthatha - Government will explore every possible measure to ensure that poor people across the country are able to get assistance from the state, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has vowed.
Speaking at Lubala village near Mthatha on Saturday, Motlanthe said for as long as there were people still trapped in abject poverty, the country's hard won democracy was under threat.
Government launched the War on Poverty campaign in the village in 2008 and Motlanthe's visit aimed at assessing progress made by the provincial government to meet the needs of the affected communities.
Since the start of the war on poverty campaign, formerly headed by the then Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, government has implemented a number of programmes designed to eradicate poverty.
Lubala, which had about 93 households in 2008, was chosen as a pilot site for household based integrated service delivery for the eradication of poverty. A survey conducted by Social Development pointed to high rate of unemployment, non-availability of quality drinking water, lack of primary health care services and high illiteracy rate as among the challenges facing this small Eastern Cape community.
After speaking to locals, BuaNews also established that most families were child headed as a result of the high mortality rate in the area and parents migrating to cities to look for work. The majority of people also depended on social grants to survive and some lacked the necessary documents to access these grants.
Motlanthe, who undertook door to door visits before addressing more than 2000 people gathered in an open field, urged the provincial government to move with speed in ensuring that all government services were accessible to all people from where they live.
He warned officials to guard against corruption which he said was contributing to the poverty experienced in most parts of the province.
"We must make sure that we give projects to the right people and that monitoring takes place on a regular basis," he said.
Several community members, mostly young people, on Saturday used the Home Affairs Department mobile office to apply for IDs. Some of them, like 29-year-old Sonwabo Matyila, had never owned an ID before due to lack of information on how to go about applying for the document. There is only one primary school in the area and no high school and scholar transport was only introduced recently.
"I hope now that I will have an ID, I can now be able to go places and look for a job," Matyila said, adding that he and his younger sister had been struggling to access child support grant for some time now.
Motlanthe said rural people needed to be part of the economic transformation taking place in the country and that government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that poverty is tackled.
Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet said given the economic situation in villages like Lubala across the province, significant working age people migrate to cities in search of work. This led to the destruction of family union leading to children having to take care of one another. Kieviet blamed lack of coordination and integration of government services and said an improvement was needed in this area.
It appeared that the results of the profiling survey done in 2008 were not always used to ensure targeted interventions as only 30 percent of the households surveyed received all the services needed.
According to a progress report handed over to Motlanthe, the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development have assisted the families with seedlings, while fencing has been done in more than 19 households.
There is also a training programme for farmers to assist them to initiate projects. The Department of Water Affairs has also undertaken to provide water and sanitation to Lubala Primary School, while water tanks are provided to 15 households.
To improve the level of education skills among the community members, about 15 young people have been trained in areas such as First Aid, chain saw operator, health and safety, personal finance and accounting.
But Kieviet said, despite identified challenges, the local community has indicated that they have benefited in many respects from the projects started in 2008.
"It is hoped that the lessons learnt from this exercise will be implemented to ensure sustainable and high quality service delivery." The province intends to integrate lessons learnt on Lubala projects with lessons learnt from a similar initiative at the nearby Mhlontlo village.
