End the culture of handouts: Mbeki

Mbeki was addressing a Workers' Indaba in Midrand today

The government had to reduce South Africans' dependence on grants, President Thabo Mbeki told community development workers at an indaba in Midrand today.

"... 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 had access to, among other things, grants and identity documents, was 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 included encouraging small business and co-operatives. "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. - Sapa