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IFP: Statement by CT Msimang, Inkatha Freedom Party MP, on land reform and traditional leadership (16/04/2014)

IFP: Statement by  CT Msimang, Inkatha Freedom Party MP, on land reform and traditional leadership (16/04/2014)

16th April 2014

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The IFP believes diversity creates prosperity for all South Africans.

Land reform policies affect how we produce our own food, protect our food
security, and seize socio-economic opportunities. But when it comes to land
reform, the current government has made very little progress in the past 20
years.

The IFP plans to build trust and common purpose amongst all land users:
traditional leaders, claimants, tenants, farm workers, farm owners and
government.

We recognise that Government's restitution efforts have failed, because it does
not know how much land it owns. In KwaZulu Natal, the State owns 600,000
hectares, which emerging black farmers could own without the need for Government
to pay compensation.

Instead, land reform policies seem to target white farmers, as if they own the
only land available for restitution. Government is now threatening to
expropriate farms, because the ‘willing seller – willing buyer' policy has
proven too expensive. Moreover, Government delays buying land that is on the
market.

Absurdly, Government resettles communities on prime farming land, harming our
ability to produce food to feed us all. Where once we fed the world, we now need
the world to feed us. Meanwhile, the Property Rates Act and the Extension of
Security of Tenure Act threatens commercial farmers and their ability to compete
in a global market.

The growing number of farm murders discourages established farmers from
continuing to farm; while new farmers often do not know how to plan, manage, and
access finance for their farms.

There is no plan to accommodate tenants and farmworkers, some of who are 3rd
generation tenants. Government also lacks a plan to accommodate people migrating
to towns and cities. This means informal settlements are mushrooming, along with
frustration, crime and disease.

Traditional leaders feel Government is destroying their authority and their
right to administer communal land.

There is frustration from every quarter.

But South Africa's voters have a chance to fix these problems and make our land
work! On the 7th of May, the power is yours to fire a leadership that is
dishonest, unreliable and uncaring: a leadership that is failing to administer
our land.

The power is yours is strengthen a different leadership, a leadership that knows
how to get the land working. That is the leadership of the IFP. We know what
needs to be done and how do it. We therefore make a commitment to you about what
a vote for the IFP means.

Using our experience, IFP plans to commission a full-scale land audit to
officially determine who owns what. We will use these findings to focus on State
land, to redistribute it where necessary and to support community projects to
farm it commercially.

We recognize white, commercial farmers as citizens with rights and obligations
to their land. We therefore encourage farmers to stay and help grow our
country's economy, and we prioritise their safety. We also seek to protect
farmworkers and tenants from eviction. A new farmer must find alternative
residential rights at their own expense.

We will limit taxes that minimize a farm's profitability, such as those required
by the Property Rates Act. We will encourage partnerships and mentorships with
experienced farmers to attract and train new farmers, and to develop supporting
industries such as transport services.

We will ensure that commercially productive farms will not be used for mere
resettlement or subsistence farming. But we will encourage subsistence farming
and agricultural cooperatives within rural communities.

We also see value in building high-density housing for city dwellers that is
close to places of employment. Residents should be required to grow vegetable
gardens on the rooftops to provide for themselves and to help clean up the
environment.

There is indeed prosperity in diversity.

We therefore want to empower traditional leaders to develop communal land. An
IFP government will provide these leaders and their communities with equipment,
seeds, fertilizer and training to cultivate these lands. We also intend to
expand provisions of the Ingonyama Trust Act to all provinces, in consultation
with traditional leaders.

The IFP recognises that, since 1994, traditional leaders have slowly seen their
authority eroded. Our leaders no longer decide how communal land is
administered. Municipalities all but ignore indigenous and customary law.

Our leaders' administrative role is vague and has, for the most part, been
duplicated by municipalities. In municipal councils, our leaders' rights are
limited. No more than 20% of Amakhosi may participate in council business. They
do not have the authority of councillors and they cannot vote.

Some Amakhosi have been stripped of their rights to use customary law to
administer their communal land, try cases, settle disputes and maintain law and
order. And Traditional Authorities have no budgets to work and plan with.

The IFP believes that our diversity and traditions are the foundation of a
democratic South Africa. We plan to continue to embrace this diversity, and to
recognise the leadership role women play. We support every effort to promote and
preserve the moral fibre and regeneration of our society.

An IFP government therefore plans to protect and sustain the institution of
traditional leadership. We will respect, train and properly compensate
traditional leaders. We will help our traditional leaders promote communal
economies through self-help and self-reliance programmes and projects.

We will ensure that legislation clearly defines our leaders' role, powers and
functions, and that our leaders and their structures receive an appropriate
budget.

We will also insist that traditional leaders promote peace, stability and social
cohesion in your communities.

Our culture, customs and values define us. Be proud of who you are!

The power is yours to make our land work and to protect our heritage. Vote IFP.
The Power is YOURS!

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