Date: 04/06/2009

Source: Democratic Alliance

Title: DA: Swathe: Speech by the DA shadow minister of rural development and land reform at the State of the Nation debate in Parliament

Hon. Speaker, the Democratic Alliance supports a sustainable and equitable land reform and rural development. We view this both as a moral necessity to correct the imbalances of the past and as a fundamental condition to growing our economy to benefit all South Africans.

We also like to congratulate President for recognising a need to address problems in the rural areas by appointing a minister and new department to deal specifically with both rural development and land reform. The appointment of Minister Gugile Nkwinti shows how crucial this portfolio is. We extend a hand of cooperation to his department while also assuring him of our critical engagement when things go wrong. We will not be doing this for cheap political point scoring but in order to ensure that all South Africans enjoy and share the wealth of this country.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform faces numerous challenges. It inherits one of the poorly functioning departments under the previous Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs headed by Ms. Lulu Xingwana. The reality is that many landless people feel neglected in the democratic dispensation. Our collective tasks will be to address, as a matter of urgency, the following matters.

First, the target of reaching the 30% land redistribution by 2014 which seems unachievable. The previous administration sought to introduce manifestly unconstitutional laws like the Expropriation Bill to accelerate land redistribution, but this was not going to work, and would scare off investors. We need to develop legally justifiable laws that would speed up land reform processes.

Second, we need to ensure that new land owners are provided with adequate post settlement financial and material support. It is indeed an indictment that over 50% of land reform projects are failing because the state does not provide adequate support to the land reform beneficiaries. Mr. Speaker South Africa cannot afford this when millions of our people face danger of food shortages and go to bed without food.

Third, we must accelerate the settlement process of over 4000 land restitution claims which still remainunsettled, and remove bureaucratic bottlenecks which hinder the settlement process.

Fourth, the Honourable Minister must take swift steps to ensure that the over one- third vacant posts in his department are filled with efficient and properly qualified people. We cannot afford the policy of "cadre deployment" when our people go hungry and remain landless.

Morena Modulasetulo setshaba sa geso sa dinaga magae se dutse godimo ga kgatelelo e kgolo ya go hloka thuso go dinaga tseo ba di filwego.Ditshaba tse dinyaka thuso ya maseleng le hlahlo gore ba kgone go tswetsa temo pele. Nakong ya puso ya Apartheid balemi ba makgowa bao ba filwego dinaga ba be ba thuswa ka maseleng le thekgo ya mahlale a temo. Re le ba DA re ka thabela go bona Tona ya Hlabologo ya dinaga magae le Mobu a somisa tsebo ya boradi polase bao ba tlogelago di naga tsa bona. Re rata go bona hlabologo ya motheo naga ka bophara bja yona.

Re le Ba DA re dumela gore naga ke ya batho bohle gomme ditshaba tsohle di swanetse go hlabollwa ka go lekana.Re re dikgoba tsa hlabologo a di fiwe batho ka moka ba Afrika Borwa. Ditshaba tsa dinaga magae di lla ka kabo ya ditirelo tsa motheo. Ditshaba tsa dinaga magae di nyaka meets ago hlweka,ditsela tse kaone, mohlagase le mesomo. Ditshaba tsa dinaga magae di rata go bona hlabologo dinageng tsa bona, ke ka fao ba ilego bat sea karolo ka bontsi dikgethong tsa naga.Ga go presidente yeo e ka thopago dikgetho ntle le thekgo e kgolo ya badudi ba dinaga magae.

Re le ba DA re hlompha le go amogela di poelo tsa dikgetho gomme re holofetsa setshaba gore re tla se somela ka potego le boikgafo.Re tla dira bonnete bja gore ditshephiso di phethagale ka go hlokomela gore mmuso o aba ditirelo go batho bohle ba Afrika borwa.

On the Rural Development front, Mr. Speaker we will need to develop economies that are integral to their development. Although less than half of South Africa's population is rural more than two thirds of the rural population is poor. Rural infrastructure is still in a bad shape and it requires more resources. We need to actively promote rural tourism and create special economic zones offering investment incentives.