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• The Social Development Sector has been allocated R457.5 billion over three years, starting from the 2016/17 financial year.

• Close to 17 million people, mainly older persons and children, receive social grants. 

• A total of 9 313 511 learners in 20 744 schools benefit from the National School Nutrition Programme.

The results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2015) and the Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ IV) show that the performance of South African learners is improving.

Amongst the participating countries, South Africa has shown the largest improvement of 87 points in mathematics and 90 points in science.

• The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is hard at work in response to the President Jacob Zuma's directive to decrease the loss of 36 percent of the country’s potable water by training 15 000 water agents, artisans and plumbers.

The National Development Plan (NDP) states that education plays a key role in addressing poverty and inequality. 

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) created over two million work opportunities from April 2014 to December 2016.

Over 200 municipalities across the country are implementing the Community Work Programme (CWP) covering 243 sites.

The CWP is a government initiative under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) aimed at providing an employment safety net and basic minimum income for people living in marginalised areas where, often, employment opportunities are not easily accessible. 

Communities are encouraged to lead healthy lifestyles.

More than half a million people in KwaZulu-Natal no longer travel long distances or stand in queues to collect their chronic medication.

The Central Chronic Medication Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) system, launched by the Department of Health in 2014, is proving to be fruitful in KwaZulu-Natal.

Currently about 504 000 patients are benefiting from the programme which has 558 pick-up points across the province.

The department plans to grow the collection points to 746 by the end of the 2017/18 financial year.

South Africa’s social safety net is among the largest in the world and is a lifeline to thousands of needy beneficiaries. The grant system enables children to learn on a full stomach. It enables the unemployed to gain skills and look for jobs.

As we enter Freedom Month 2017, government’s attention is focused on working with all South Africans to secure economic freedom for all.

One of the participants in Operation Phakisa for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is Maleshoane Mokhachane-Moeti, a cattle and crop farmer from Wesselsbron, Free State. Wesselsbron is in Lejweleputswa district municipality.