The government has to reduce South Africans’ dependence on grants, President Thabo Mbeki told community development workers at an indaba in Midrand on Friday.
”We have to cultivate that sentiment among our people to say, ‘I too have a responsibility to do something about my own development.’
”Sure, the government is going to come, the government is going to give all the support that you people [community development workers] give all the time.
”But we must cultivate in the understanding of our people that we too must ask ourselves the question, ‘What am I doing to help myself out of this situation?’,” he said.
Mbeki said that making sure people have access to, among other things, grants and identity documents is important in addressing poverty.
”We must make sure that at least there is some cushion for the poor so that they don’t fall even lower than they are now. That we must do. But we must also see it is important we do certain things that would reduce the dependence of the people on grants,” he said.
This includes encouraging small business and cooperatives.
”All of these things, so that people don’t think it is sufficient merely to hold out their hands and receive a handout, but to understand that all of us, as South Africans, have a shared responsibility to attend to the development of the country,” said Mbeki.
Energising people to participate in development is a critical element in the formation of South African society, he said.
In the past, on seeing only cars and pedestrians in the country’s streets, Nigerians had described South Africa as ”abnormal”.
”They say once you put two Nigerians together, then you have a market. They’re selling something to each other. But in South Africa, you don’t see anything in the street. ‘Don’t they do business among themselves? What do they do? Anything? Ah, they’re waiting for government to give. They are waiting for government to deliver. We don’t do that in Nigeria.”’
Mbeki bemoaned as a ”tragedy” the annual return of billions in underspending to the Treasury.
In many instances, the government has the resources to assist the people to develop themselves, but lacks the machinery to deliver these resources to the people and to account for them, he said, explaining that this is a reason behind the ”very bad phenomenon”.
”It’s not right,” he said, adding that the task of development has to be taken on. — Sapa