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The Western Cape Government has established a Land Reform Advisory Desk to aid the speed of transformation in the province’s agricultural sector.

Alan Winde, MEC of Economic Opportunities, said the desk was located at Casidra’s head office in Paarl. Casidra is an implementing agency for the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. MEC Winde said: “Speeding up land reform is one of my foremost priorities.

The Land Reform Advisory Desk will offer guidance to farmers, community organisations and residents. We are putting our full weight behind efforts to get viable projects going.” MEC Winde welcomed the establishment of the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s district land reform committees.

The committees, which are convened and chaired by the National Department, have started meeting regularly. There are six committees in total – one in each of the districts across the province. They are comprised of representatives from national and provincial government, organised agriculture and civil society.

MEC Winde said the Western Cape Department of Agriculture is represented on all the committees.

“These committees will seek to identify land to meet the land reform goals set out in National Development Plan. The NDP has set a target of 20% transfer of agricultural land to previously disadvantaged South Africans by 2030, a goal which we are determined to contribute towards. The Western Cape Government will continue to strengthen the support roles we play.  One of the tools we are using is Casidra’s Land Reform Advisory Desk. The only way we will achieve the NDP targets is through a collaborative approach. I want to urge all of our partners to work together to escalate the number of land reform projects in our province, as well as improve their rate of success,” said MEC  Winde.

Issued by Western Cape Government