On behalf of the Department of Arts, Culture Science and Technology, and indeed all the stakeholders in the House of Hemp, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our guests at the launch of this very exciting and unique initiative.
Let me start by saying that it gives me great pleasure to be present at functions of this kind - as they give me an opportunity to witness first hand how much can be achieved when the government joins hands with the private sector and the communities to tackle South Africa's challenges head on. This first outlet of House on Hemp is an important milestone in a major National Hemp initiative which is being spearheaded by a community-public-private sector partnership that brings together the synergy between and resources of government departments, research institutions, the private sector, development agencies, communities and tertiary institutions.
Furthermore, tonight's event is a very important and rewarding milestone for my own Department as this project is a direct beneficiary of our poverty alleviation programme, launched three years ago as an expression of the government's commitment to eradicate poverty throughout all communities in South Africa.
None of us can deny that poverty is a reality in this country, and, if South Africa is to grow and prosper, it needs to eradicate poverty as a matter of extreme urgency. It is for this reason that the government embarked some years ago on the strong drive to eradicate poverty in South Africa, especially in the rural areas, hit the hardest by the slowdown in economic growth and the widespread retrenchments. Since 1998/99, Cabinet has set aside funds of the national budget for projects to alleviate poverty.
To date, specific project allocations for poverty alleviation have amounted to more than R1,5 billion per annum for 2001/2 and 2002/3, and, so far, allocations of R653 million have been made for 2001/2 and R550 million in 2002/3. In granting this funding and in order to ensure that each project has the maximum impact on poverty alleviation, stringent criteria have been applied in the selection of the projects.
These criteria specify that a project should provide relief of specific instances of poverty in the poorest areas of the provinces. Furthermore, the project should assist in human development and in building capacity. It should provide jobs - and in doing so involve the community. It must impact on rural communities, and, where possible, it should have an impact on households in which single women are the main breadwinners. Finally, and the ultimate test - the project must seek to make projects sustainable in the long term.
The National Hemp initiative, without a doubt, more than exceeds all these criteria, aimed as it is at reducing poverty through stimulating profitable participation in the cultivation, processing manufacturing and marketing of South African hemp.
Tonight, we are here to celebrate the first retail and marketing outlet to be established by Hooked on Hemp SA, a black owned small business which acts as convenors of the Human Resource Development programme in the National Hemp Initiative. Ultimately, it is hoped to roll House of Hemp out to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the three provinces where hemp grows the best in South Africa.
The products you will see this evening at the House of Hemp will surprise you in their diversity, ranging as they do from men's and ladies' fashion wear through to home décor, stationery, building materials and beauty and health products. All manufactured from hemp, they are produced for House of Hemp by small scale entrepreneurs from previously disadvantaged communities, with the assistance and support of the CSIR.
As you browse through the displays, I am sure you will agree with me that these products provide a wonderful showcase to African style and elegance, to the quality of our processes and to our ability to compete globally with a truly African product. But even more than this, they bear testimony to the enterprising and entrepreneurial spirit of our rural communities and, on a lighter note, to the many benefits of that often maligned little plant.
Despite being one of the oldest and most useful plants in world history, hemp has been considered a dangerous outlaw for the better part of the past century to the extent that its cultivation was prohibited internationally in 1930.
However the late 1990s saw a renewed interest in hemp as ecological regulatory policies increasingly favoured natural and environmentally friendly products and the world once again came to appreciate how much promise hemp holds for the benefit and cultural betterment of mankind. For centuries hemp had proved itself to be one of the most useful plants ever, providing fibre for clothing, shoes, hats, bags, nets, rope, ship's sails and paper. It was a source of food and oil for humans and animals and has had many medicinal uses.
In 1999 South Africa took a bold step when it became the 27th country in the world to subsidise research into the commercialisation of industrial hemp, and South Africa now boasts a burgeoning hemp industry, with the promise of thousands of jobs, economic empowerment for our previously disadvantaged communities and the stimulation of the small business sector.
Today, many hectares of hemp stalks are cultivated on land owned by community farmers in the Eastern Cape. These farmers grow, harvest and carry out basic pre-processing before selling their stalks and seed. Also, in the Eastern Cape, a processing plant will be opened by a consortium to turn the harvested stalks into semi-processed textile, paper and building material and to sell fibre, yarn and hurds. A number of small business enterprises have also been set up to make designer paper, niche cards, artefacts, clothing and many more products from hemp, examples of which you are fortunate to see on display tonight.
I could give you many more examples of the diverse and exciting activities that are taking place in South Africa, utilising the benefits of hemp, all of which fall under National Hemp Initiative and funded by our poverty alleviation grant. For example, Sowetan artists produced a series of artefacts from hemp stalks which were taken on an Eastern Cape Roadshow, where ninety people were trained in the various aspects of artefact making. Other ventures included using hemp blocks and panels for low-cost housing and oil extraction, as biochemistry tests show internationally competitive oil content for South African hemp.
These activities will no doubt increase in scope as research advances the areas of hemp cultivation, processing, product manufacturing, product marketing and trading of locally grown industrial hemp. I am convinced that this evening is just the very beginning of what will be a highly successful initiative aimed at uplifting and empowering our poor, utilising the plant that has been referred to by many as "a small piece of God's heart"
In closing, I would like to thank you for joining us this evening at the launch of this unique initiative, and I would like to extend my thanks to Thandeka Kunene of the CSIR and her team and the people of Hooked on Hemp SA for arranging this enjoyable evening. I urge you to linger through the displays where you will not only to see an exciting range of hemp products, but also products from other Poverty Alleviation programmes which are underway.
I now have the pleasure of declaring the House of Hemp South Africa officially open.
Issued by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
