Date: 15/02/2010
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Bosman: Speech by the Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, during the Debate on the State of the Nation Address, Parliament



Mr Speaker, Honourable President, Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Honourable Members of the House.

Honourable President, many speakers have today referred to the legacy of President Mandela and the changes that were brought to our country by his release. His greatest goal was to unite all our people in a non-sexist, non-racial, democratic and prosperous South Africa. The question we must therefore ask today is whether we have managed to achieve this.

I noted with interest in your State of the Nation address, you referred to the government's rural development programme which in your view will improve rural productivity, and through this, will improve the lives of people living in rural areas.

The fact of the matter Mr President is however, that the transformation programmes, especially the land reform programme, is failing dismally! Billions of rands of public funds have been wasted in the process.

My ervaring is dat die Suid-Afrikaanse regering hom die afgelope paar jaar tot dié mate met die uitdaging van transformasie besig gehou het, dat hy sy greep verloor het op dit wat nodig is om kommersiële boere in staat te stel om mededingend en volhoubaar in ‘n globale markomgewing te produseer.

Dit was met teleurstelling Meneer die President, dat landbou weereens nie deur u as van besondere belang vir die land se ekonomiese groei en stabiliteit uitgesonder was nie. Die belangrikheid van die landbousekter as verskaffer van voedsel, asook as werkgewer, en as verdiener van buitelandse valuta word steeds nie deur die ANC as sulks erken nie. Die gesegde lui dat ‘n land wat sy landbou verwaarloos is uiteindelik tot mislukking gedoem!

Die huidige omstandighede veroorsaak alreeds dat boere en landboubesighede in ander lande van Afrika na investering - en ontwikkelingsgeleenthede soek. Landbou-beleid en faktore soos venynige uitsprake deur politici wat vertroue skaad, dien as verdere stimulus vir die migrasie van Suid-Afrikaanse landbouers na lande in Afrika.

Dit bekommer my dat boere voorwaar sodanige vertroue in die land moes verloor het om in ongunstige omstandighede in Afrika ‘n heenkome te gaan soek! Die DA sal alles in sy vermoeë doen om produsente in Suid-Afrika te hou tot voordeel van al ons mense!

Hierdie verlies aan kapasiteit op primêre produksievlak gaan verder as ‘n verlies aan kundige boere, maar ook die toenemende afhanklikheid van duurder ingevoerde voedsel en ‘n verlies aan valuta. Dit gaan ook oor die agteruitgang van landelike gemeenskappe wat die gevolg is van minder werksgeleenthede, die landbou het reeds net in die laaste kwartaal van verlede jaar 38000 werksgeleenthede verloor wat die verlies vir 2009 op 149 000 te staan bring. Die gevolg is ‘n verval in die koopkrag wat besighede in landelike dorpe laat kwyn, asook ‘n agteruitgang van landelike infrastruktuur en diensverskaffing op die terreine van skole, gesondheidsdienste, sport ensovoorts.

Mr President, The Democratic Alliance supports a united, profitable, sustainable and thriving agricultural sector in South Africa. We believe that it is critical for food security and job creation.

As a result of government's confrontational stance to commercial agriculture, we have seen a huge disinvestment in the sector. The threats to do away with the "willing buyer - willing seller" principle and to again review the Expropriation Bill, certainly also contributes to the decline in investor confidence. We cannot afford to keep repeating these mistakes.

The challenges that we now face to restore confidence and improve production are the following:

Have a clear policy framework to induce confidence and enhance investment in the sector. This will include that all land redistributed under our land reform programs, are carried out at market related prices and that there is an unequivocal adoption of the willing seller principle to establish market value of land purchased by the government. It is a prerequisite supported by our Constitution.
We must overhaul the failure of our land reform programmes by ensuring that the new land beneficiaries have adequate post settlement financial and other support. We need to identify people with an interest in farming, and have proper partnership agreements with former land owners for a period of at least five years, to ensure smooth and productive transfer.
New farm owners should have freehold title ownership to unlock the economic potential of their assets. To minimise the cost of land to Government the land can be bought at market value and sold back to beneficiaries at productive value with the Land Bank to carry the loans at reduced interest rates.
Another critical issue which has a vast impact on agriculture is the effect of natural disasters. The implementation of a Disaster Risk Management System with adequate funding is now long overdue. We simply cannot carry on with ad hoc schemes with aid reaching farmers years after it is needed - current examples of droughts, floods, and fire damages can be quoted.
There needs to be more resources allocated to infrastructure development such as roads, rail and communication in order for our products to reach their markets on time. Roads in rural areas are virtually non existent and in many cases farmers maintain gravel roads themselves. The maintenance service can be enhanced by the creation of stronger private-public partnerships.
We need to revisit our trade and tariff policy in order to align it with the policy space allowed for in the DOHA round of the WTO agreements in order to make sure that our local production remains competitive and profitable, for example, in the wheat industry.
Lastly, but not the least, the high crime rate in rural areas should as a matter of urgency be addressed. Farmers and their workers remain soft targets and murders are again escalating alarmingly. The Minister of Police's call for a gun free country is far removed from the reality. Guns are smuggled and freely available on the black-market to potential criminals. The solution to protect the rural communities must rather be found in armed guards on each and every farm to protect innocent people from being brutally murdered.

In closure, Mr President, the Democratic Alliance looks forward towards a more cooperative relationship with all the Ministers with a responsibility towards the rural communities and farmers, in order to take agriculture production, food security and rural development in our country forward.

I thank you.