Premier Phumulo Masualle,

Minister Gugile Nkwinti and Deputy Ministers present,

MEC Qoboshiyane and all MECs, Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors,

Our esteemed Traditional Leaders,

Abalimi noMphakathi wonke,

Molweni!

Siyathemba niyaphila lapha eMbizana.

It gives me great pleasure to be part of this celebration in the Eastern Cape Province, the home the legends.

Today we mark great strides made by government in improving the lives of the people by bringing industrialisation to the rural areas.

We are happy to meet in Mbizana, the hometown of the longest serving ANC President, the late uTata Oliver Reginald Tambo.

As you know, we have declared this year as The Year of Oliver Reginald Tambo: Unity in Action Together Moving South Africa Forward and it is therefore befitting that we launch a Rural Enterprise Development (RED) hub here today. We are celebrating the life of OR Tambo who worked for a better life for all including the people of Mbizana and surroundings.

At the beginning of this week, we lost one of the big stalwarts of our movement, Isithwalandwe Comrade Ahmed Kathrada.

May his revolutionary soul rest in peace! His spirit will always be with us.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have committed ourselves to developing our rural areas. We want all our rural areas to have economic activities so that our people can have jobs and also be able to make a living from the land and from small businesses in rural areas.

It cannot be that we must all go to the cities to earn a living.

We are therefore much pleased with the creation of this RED Hub, as one of government’s efforts to stimulate growth through agriculture and agro-processing.

This development will alleviate poverty and address low levels of development in the District.

We are aware that agriculture is the third highest contributor to the Alfred Nzo District’s economy.

There is an urgent need for major new private sector investments to create jobs and improve livelihoods in the area.

The establishment of the RED Hub will thus stimulate local economic development as well as the investment drive to expand beyond agriculture and traditional subsistence farming.

Farmers will also move from subsistence to commercial farming.

Our people must make a living from the land, and must also not go hungry when they can produce food from the land. We are thus happy with the partnerships between the local municipality and other stakeholders to embark on massive grain production with the aim of addressing high level of poverty in the area.

Government has also entered into a partnership with the Grain Farmers Development Association to plant maize in the Matatiele local municipality. Government has contributed an amount of six million eight hundred and eighty thousand rand as production inputs.

Fourteen farmers who own the land will also be assisted with soil correction and crop insurance.

We also appreciate the public private partnerships to help small holder farmers. GrainSA, through the Jobs Fund, has also been assisting communal farmers in the district.

Government has also supported about twenty three thousand households with production inputs to promote household food security over the term.

Furthermore, three thousand smallholder producers were supported with infrastructure, agricultural advice and inputs to increase sustainable food production in support of agrarian transformation.

Most importantly, the national Government has spent one hundred million rand on the Ilima/Letsema national conditional grand projects aimed at eradicating poverty and stimulating the economy.

In addition, the provincial government has spent over 500 million rand on agricultural infrastructure development projects, thus contributing to increased agricultural production.

The projects included dams revitalisation and irrigation scheme development, stock water enhancement, livestock handling and dipping facilities, hydroponics infrastructure and fencing of arable land.

It is clear that the ANC government is funding agriculture and is investing in food security and economic development in rural areas.

The creation of the RED Hubs which we are celebrating today, is another effort to stimulate primary and agro-processing as well as the marketing of products from the rural areas.

It is an important intervention indeed.

In addition to this RED Hub, the province has other three RED hubs; in Mqanduli in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality, Ncora at Intsika Yethu Municipality and Lady Frere in Emalahleni Municipality.

The total amount invested by government in the RED Hubs over the past three years is one hundred and ninety million rand.

Of the four existing RED Hubs, this Hub we are launching today leads the pack in terms of investment as government has invested fifty three million rand for the state-of-the-art structure.

It is with great pleasure to note that the communities where the RED Hubs have been established, have responded actively to the clarion call that government has been making over time for our people to establish cooperatives.

A case in point is the fourteen primary co-operatives that have been formed, which in turn formed a secondary co-operative which is a structure that owns this RED Hub.

As we are celebrating this milestone, I am also very pleased that the province’s Rural Development and Agrarian Reform has dedicated this year to Radical Economic Transformation and Youth Empowerment.

This is in line with our drive for radical socio-economic transformation. Initiatives like this need young people who still have energy and fresh minds.

This is important as sixty percent of the population of the Eastern Cape is under 35 years of age.

In addition to the planned programmes of youth development, we welcome the fact that the provincial government has set aside 20 million rand to develop young people that are already in the agriculture sector.

We hope that more young people will be provided with poultry and piggery structures to create vibrant enterprises for them.

We are really happy with the efforts of the provincial government to deal with unemployment in the province and reverse the inequalities of the past through such investments and projects.

Through such efforts, the Eastern Cape should no longer be a labour sending province but should become a green hub that creates its own jobs through rural development initiatives like these.

We urge the whole of government to support local farmers by increasing public procurement of agricultural products from our own primary producers.

Let us buy from our farmers especially our smallholder farmers so that they can grow and develop.

Honourable Premier I have noted that on the Eastern Cape Province citrus is the second largest fruit crop after grapes in terms of production volumes.

The province is therefore the powerhouse of the southern African citrus industry and accounts for 28% of citrus production in South Africa.

The province also boasts the most progressive and successful black citrus growers in the country, with over a third of South Africa’s exports, and home to 50% of South African lemons.

The province also produced last year’s National Female Entrepreneur of the year overall winner, Ms Venecia Janse from Koukamma Municipality.

Ms Janse was supported by government through its interventions to develop commercial farmers from previously disadvantaged communities, especially women who produce deciduous fruit.

This empowerment of female farmers is very important.

I am really happy with this project!

We congratulate the farmers, the traditional leaders and our communities for allowing government and its partners to bring about this radical economic transformation in their communities.

I would like to ask each and everyone in this community to look after this mega economic hub which aims to stimulate local economic development.

Together, we can grow our local agricultural economies to greater heights.

Working together we will make this project yield desired results and push hunger and poverty away.

I thank you.

Source: The Presidency Republic of South Africa