Speech by the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr T W Nxesi (MP) debate on the Budget Vote of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform

7 Jun 2011

Honorable Chairperson
Honorable Ministers, Deputy-Ministers, MECs and Members
Invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction: The vision of the Freedom Charter

We meet here only days before the 56th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter by the Congress of the People on 26 June 1955. (By the way, I am referring here to the real Congress of the People!)

I therefore suggest we take this opportunity to look at what the Freedom Charter had to say about land issues. The relevant section is entitled: The land shall be shared among those who work it!

It includes the following demands:

• Restriction of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re-divided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger; (So production discipline and food security - mentioed by the Minister as guiding principles - are present in the Freedom Charter.)
• The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers; (Isn't this what the department's development programmes seek to address?)
• Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;
• All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose; (Taking these two clauses together, they are clearly directed against the geographic segregation of the time. I am trying to reassure Agri-SA that this last clause is not an invitation for wholesale squatting.

But maybe the point needs to be made, that unless we address the issue of land reform and redistribution with greater urgency, we face the real possibility of land invasions. I am sure I can rely on the support of the Democratic Alliance (DA) now that they have embraced the Freedom Charter.

People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be abolished. (We may have outlawed forced labour and farm prisons, but we still hear of cases where vulnerable farm dwellers have their cattle impounded.)

Farm evictions continue - often illegally. This is exactly why the department has drafted the Land Tenure Security Bill to close the loopholes.

Obstacles put up to prevent free political and trade union activity on the farms deny farm workers and dwellers their basic human rights. The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and DA are the first to complain when their rights are infringed, but when some amongst their constituency deny basic rights to vulnerable farm dwellers, the silence is deafening.
 
I also feel there is a responsibility for organised agriculture to educate and police their membership in this respect.

History: The land question

For the benefit of those who developed political amnesia after 1994, let us pause to remember where we come from.

Within walking distance of these Houses of Parliament lies District Six - a symbol of apartheid's inhumanity and the destruction visited upon vibrant communities in the name of racial supremacy. When District Six was declared a white group area in 1966, the heart was ripped out of the city. So says the District Six Trust, which describes Cape Town as "one of the most polarised and disintegrated cities in the Republic, if not the world."

Another local example: a community living in Tramway Road in Sea Point forced to move because they were the wrong colour, with devastating results. One of the ex-residents recalls how his father committed suicide on receiving the eviction letter. In this case restitution has been awarded in the form of an education trust to benefit the children of the descendants. And last week Minister Nkwinti presided at a sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of a new housing project in the area.

These are examples from Cape Town. There are hundreds more in the rest of the country. The point we are making is that the hurt and damage caused by apartheid is still with us - and this national democratic revolution of ours will not be complete until the land question is addressed.

So, even as we work our way through the complex minefield of restitution claims, we also have to address the call for fundamental land reform and the Freedom Charter's demand that: "The land shall be shared among those who work it!"

Minister Nkwinti has shared with us the challenges that face the land restitution programme: the complexities of dealing with competing interests and claims which often require careful research, facilitation and mediation, together with a lack of capacity and resources. With courage and integrity, the Minister has met with thousands of claimants and beneficiaries to hear their experiences and to engage them on how to take the process forward - and, in all humility to apologise for the delays in the process.

From our side, systems are now in place to fast-track claims. But the challenge of inadequate resources remains. I am particularly concerned at the implications of recent court decisions which call for compensation for old order mineral and land rights. There appears to be a tension at the heart of our constitution: whilst it recognises and seeks to promote the rights of the dispossessed, it simultaneously effectively entrenches the rights of vested and landed interests.

I was struck by the words of Honourable Stella Ndabeni in a previous debate when she quoted a learned judge to say: "Whom would the proposed Bill of Rights protect: the victims of the unjust conduct, which has been condemned as a crime against humanity by all humankind, or the beneficiaries?"

Looking forward

The opposition will say I am dwelling on the past - and I can understand why they would want to forget the past. But the truth is that the past is very much with us. Daily we battle to balance the rights of the dispossessed with those of the landowners. I believe that strategically, as a minimum, as part of a broad strategy for rural development, and together with sister departments, we need to facilitate the following:

• Secure the position of farm workers and farm dwellers against evictions and improve their lives;
• Revitalise subsistence agriculture in the former ‘reserves' (‘tribal homelands'); and
• Rapidly promote black commercial agriculture; whilst mindful that white commercial agriculture will continue to play a crucial role in ensuring food security.

So how do we achieve these goals? First it is not enough to acknowledge short-comings, you also have to learn from your mistakes.

Many of the farms transferred to black ownership failed. This should not have come as a surprise. Apartheid did two things: it dumped millions of black people in the countryside - those superfluous to the labour needs of the urban economy; but simultaneously it denied them any meaningful access to productive agricultural activity. Even basic subsistence agriculture declined. So when we gave people land after 1994 - without providing adequate follow-up training, credit and other support - we were setting people up for failure.

Going forward, all restitution and land reform projects are now accompanied by a viable business plan which includes training, mentorship, partnerships and other forms of support. All of this is guided by the three principles of land reform enunciated by Minister Nkwinti:

• De-racialisation of the rural economy for shared and sustainable growth;
• Democratic and equitable land allocation and use across gender, race and class; and,
• Strict production discipline for guaranteed national food security.

As government, then our task is two-fold: to restore the land to the people - a political and moral imperative; but at the same time to restore people to a practical knowledge of the land - an economic and developmental necessity.

This reflects a crucial shift from the approach of hand-outs and social grants - to a productive model of development which stresses empowering and skilling people to create their own employment opportunities - with the necessary support from government, of course.

Regulating land ownership by non-residents

Even as we seek to restore the land to the people, as government, we also need to guard against the danger that South African prime land - relatively cheap by international standards - will be snapped up by foreign buyers. This has negative implications including:

• Inflating land prices;
• The alienation of sensitive land with adverse security and environmental implications; and
• Undesirable land use changes as prime agricultural land is converted into game farms and golf estates. This is already happening in the Western and Eastern Capes.

These issues will be addressed in the forthcoming Green Papers and subsequent legislation. Vested interests and those in the real estate industry who reject any form of regulation which reduces their profits will not be allowed to prevail in this matter.

We need to make it very clear that these measures are in no way motivated by anti-foreigner sentiment. Government will continue to encourage foreign investment in land - where this is consistent with national interests. Let me cite the case of Australia where legislation seeks to control foreign purchase of existing real estate, whilst encouraging investment in building new housing, thus benefiting the local building industry.

Let me end by pointing to some of the positives which auger well for the future:

District Six Trust

In interacting with the District Six Trust I have been inspired by their philosophy of restorative justice and their inclusive vision for restitution. They say: "Never again will there be forced removals in our country. So we will not ask for the people and institutions who stole our land to be forcibly removed from there.  Rather, when we restore the justice that is due to the victims of apartheid in District Six, we shall hold the perpetrators of that crime accountable, not as criminals from whom we wish to extract revenge, but as partners who can contribute to making our nation whole and vibrant again."

Let me add that the Trust's vision for a restored District Six goes way beyond the previous owners - mostly so-called coloureds - to include tenants and members of the black community who were removed from District Six as early as 1901. The Trust's objective is to re-establish an inclusive and vibrant community here in the heart of Cape Town, reflecting all races and classes.

We have now put together a team including all relevant role players to take forward the District Six project - which I believe will be seminal in challenging apartheid spatial planning and providing a model for truly non-racial and pro-working class town planning. I look forward to working with the Premier of the Western Cape in this respect.

The Mpumalanga Farmer

I was greatly encouraged by a recent report of a white farmer - Mr Colin Forbes of Mpumalanga - who had donated land worth R4.5 million to empower 50 of his workers who had worked the land over four generations. The farmer recognises the farming skills of his employees, but seeks to mentor them in management skills to make the project a success.

Mr Forbes is reported to have said: ‘If white commercial farmers were not willing to be involved in empowerment initiatives to solve the land reform problem in South Africa, then they should be expropriated.'

I hasten to reassure the DA and FF+ that there are no plans for expropriation at this point.

National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC)

Let me say a word about the NARYSEC youth project. It is a cliché that the youth are the future, but unless we facilitate and provide training and opportunities, that future is bleak.

Let me remind you what the Minister of Higher Education and Training has said previously: there are 2.9 million school leavers in the age range 18 to 24 who are neither in work nor in education and training. This is why NARYSEC is such an important initiative.

I am concerned therefore at the negativity towards NARYSEC from certain quarters. Let me deal with some false perceptions. First, NARYSEC is accused of being some kind of African National Congress Youth League militia. Not true. This is a government programme open to all rural youth who meet the age and qualification criteria. The selection process is completely open and transparent.

The second accusation is that NARYSEC youth are being taught only ‘soft' skills such as discipline and patriotism. Without undermining the importance of these attributes, let me assure the House that the NARYSEC recruits will receive skills training that directly prepare them for the job market - including entrepreneurship and construction-related skills which have been identified as of greatest need in rural areas. To this end, we are working with the Further Education and Training  colleges to provide training.

In addition to this, the NARYSEC youth will play a crucial role in the broader roll-out of the CRDP (Comprehensive Rural Development Programme). Already the first intake has been trained by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) to profile households to determine actual needs of communities. The NARYSEC recruits will also perform community service under local and district municipalities.

In closing, we are two years away from the centenary of the infamous 1913 Land Act which turned Africans into exiles in their own land. It is inconceivable that after a century of struggle, and after 17 years of democracy, social relations in the countryside can continue to mirror the patterns of apartheid. The broad mission remains: to restore land, human dignity and respect to all South Africans.

I thank you.

Issued by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, June 7 2011

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