Date: 27/07/2005
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
Title:Didiza: Summit on Land and Agrarian Reform
Address by Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Thoko Didiza, MP, at the National Land Summit, Nasrec Johannesburg,
Programme Director
Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ministers, Deputy Minister and Members of the Executive Councils from various Provinces
Members of Parliament
Political Parties Present
Amakhosi
Representatives from Labour
Our respective stakeholders
Provincial Delegations
Ladies and Gentlemen
‘Can The Rich Afford To Help The Poor?’
Jeffrey Sachs in his book ‘The end of Poverty’ asks this very pertinent question. In attempting to answer he says I quote “It may seem highly imprudent to ask the rich to take responsibility for helping the poorest of the poor to escape from the poverty trap. Not only is it thankless and endless, it may also break the bank-or so the thinking goes. After all, haven’t the rich world’s own welfare programs proven to be too much to handle? Aren’t the rich countries in enough of fiscal mess with the problems that they have already taken on? How can the rich world possibly take responsibility for billions of people outside of their borders, in countries with rapidly growing populations? These are reasonable answers. The more one looks at it, the more one sees that the question isn’t whether the rich can afford to help the poor, but whether they can afford not ‘
Reflecting deeper on this question and answer by Jeffrey Sachs, we may have to reflect whether this is not the question we need to ask ourselves in relation to Land Reform in South Africa today.
In 1994, the democratic government inherited one of the worst racially skewed land distributions in the world; whites owning 87 and blacks 13 per cent of agricultural land. Undoing this legacy of apartheid’s highly unequal redistribution is therefore a fundamental priority for the nation. It was because of this reality that even during the negotiations periods for a peaceful settlement one of the important principles that had do be addressed was the need to undertake Land reform in South Africa We are gathered here today - as stakeholders from Government, political parties, business, farmers, workers, tenants, landless communities, civil society, faith-based organisations and traditional authorities - to honestly take stock of our Constitutional obligation to carry out the just and fair land and agrarian reform over the last decade and to also define real and concrete measures to accelerate land reform in South Africa.
This Summit takes place under the backdrop of the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter whose vision for a future democratic dispensation in South Africa contained the following important land and agrarian issues:
* “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black or White,
* The people shall share in the country wealth, * The land shall be shared among those who work it.”
The vision of the Freedom Charter was a direct opposite of and an attack on the apartheid vision that had its roots in the Native Land Act of 1913. The immediate and devastating impact of the Native Land Act in 1913 that is still evident in almost all aspects of our lives today was graphically described in the following words by Mr Sol Plaatje, the first Secretary General of the African National Congress, in his book “Native Life in South Africa”:
“Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.”
It is against this painful history of land dispossession, economic exploitation and social domination of particularly the African majority population, that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa imposed the duty and an obligation on the state, as a matter of public interest, to take legislative and other measures to effect land reform in order to facilitate restorative land justice, increased access to land and improved security of tenured.
The principle that underpinned the Freedom Charter and that is today enshrined in the Constitution, firmly asserts that never again should an individual or a group of individuals and communities in our country suffer from unjust, inhuman and unfair dispossession of their land property and material possessions.
Ladies and Gentlemen, after ten years of courageous and concerted efforts to restore the dignity and the respect of the poor, the dispossessed and landless communities, the overall assessment of government performance and its social partners is that commendable progress has been made in the delivery of land and agrarian reform in South Africa. This progress has been made in spite of the fact that the first years of democratic governance a lot of focus was on re-organisation of the state, the integration of various administrations, the drafting and promulgation of new legal statutes and the setting up of institutions to support land and agrarian reform.
Clearly in examining our progress we need to also acknowledge that there was no standard from which we had to measure ourselves, safe to say our own targets as set in the Reconstruction and development Programme. I raise this matter because any international comparison would indicate that each land reform program in a particular country would have taken its own peculiar circumstance into consideration.
Taking this reality into consideration how far have we gone as country in the past ten years? Since 1994, over 1.2 million people have benefited from the entire land reform program of government. We have delivered more than 3 million hectares of land. Our government’s housing program has also made a contribution towards land delivery.
Further, agricultural control boards were abolished to deregulate commodity and trade markets. Subsidies and tax concessions that favoured commercial farmers were withdraw and support programmes for emerging farmers and land reform beneficiaries were established. And a minimum wage for farm workers was introduced.
But progress that has been made is not enough. More, swift, resolute and resourceful efforts must still be made to transfer 30 per cent of farm land and transform the agrarian economy and to contribute to higher growth, employment creation and greater social and economic equity.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in assessing our experience we have gained confidence from the progress that has been made and have become more hopeful about our future. Furthermore, invaluable lessons that we have learnt from our experience now stands us in good stead with in the redesign and implementation of our 2014 land and agrarian reform.
From our experience, we have learnt that:
* legal processes are inherently adversarial, slow and expensive in comparison to agreements around a common vision, and negotiated processes that work better, faster and improve relations;
* integrating government programs must be integrated and collaboration between departments at all levels encouraged;
* markets by themselves do not redistribute land at the scale, quality, location and price from rich to poor and from white to black participants;
* the willing buyer, willing seller approach needs to be mediated by the reality of a failure of land markets;
* restrictions on subdivision of land forces beneficiaries to form large groups that are difficult to manage and sustain;
* state to undertake land reform is essential to maintain a healthy balance between these growth factors; * current legislation regulates evictions rather than provide protection to farm dwellers’ land rights:
* strategic partnerships such as share equity schemes need to address the question of unequal power relations (knowledge, wealth, networks, etc.)
* the neglect of the rural areas and the almost exclusive focus on urban areas has further impoverished the rural and agrarian economy, while increasing the pressure on urban and peri-urban land for sustainable human settlement.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the following measures need to be done to ensure that land and agrarian reform moves to the new trajectory that will contribute to the higher path of growth, employment and equity by 2014:
* re-affirm redistribution target of 30% agricultural land by 2014;
* establish government, business, labour and civil society partnerships that are binding with clear role, responsibilities and accountability;
* introduce pro-active acquisition of land by the state for targeted groups in the land market;
* establish a register of land needs for target groups (including labour tenants, farm workers, landless);
* identify specific interventions for targeted groups, including pro-active land acquisition by the state;
* agriculture: financing, infrastructure, marketing, training and education, technology transfer, extension and support for land reform projects such as water rights, housing, education, health, etc.);
* make land and agrarian reform a cluster priority;
* orderly management of evictions and illegal land occupations;
* introduce measures to enhance the security of tenure of farm dwellers and other vulnerable groups;
* complete restitution cases by 2008;
* implement CLARA fully
* integrate land and agrarian reform into local economic development;
* Link rural and urban areas through amongst others peri-urban small and medium holdings; * Acquire land for towns that need land for expansion;
* Complete the repeal of the Sub-division Act and sub-divide farms where necessary;
* Implement progressive land tax as a means to promote more intensive use of land, reduce farm sizes, and reduce speculative value of land;
* Manage the ownership of land by foreigners; * Strengthen the cooperation between the three spheres of government;
* Formulate post-Summit implementation strategy next three years as per the President’s extension on the settlement of outstanding claims, especially rural claims.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
27 July 2005
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
Title:Didiza: Summit on Land and Agrarian Reform
Address by Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Thoko Didiza, MP, at the National Land Summit, Nasrec Johannesburg,
Programme Director
Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ministers, Deputy Minister and Members of the Executive Councils from various Provinces
Members of Parliament
Political Parties Present
Amakhosi
Representatives from Labour
Our respective stakeholders
Provincial Delegations
Ladies and Gentlemen
‘Can The Rich Afford To Help The Poor?’
Jeffrey Sachs in his book ‘The end of Poverty’ asks this very pertinent question. In attempting to answer he says I quote “It may seem highly imprudent to ask the rich to take responsibility for helping the poorest of the poor to escape from the poverty trap. Not only is it thankless and endless, it may also break the bank-or so the thinking goes. After all, haven’t the rich world’s own welfare programs proven to be too much to handle? Aren’t the rich countries in enough of fiscal mess with the problems that they have already taken on? How can the rich world possibly take responsibility for billions of people outside of their borders, in countries with rapidly growing populations? These are reasonable answers. The more one looks at it, the more one sees that the question isn’t whether the rich can afford to help the poor, but whether they can afford not ‘
Reflecting deeper on this question and answer by Jeffrey Sachs, we may have to reflect whether this is not the question we need to ask ourselves in relation to Land Reform in South Africa today.
In 1994, the democratic government inherited one of the worst racially skewed land distributions in the world; whites owning 87 and blacks 13 per cent of agricultural land. Undoing this legacy of apartheid’s highly unequal redistribution is therefore a fundamental priority for the nation. It was because of this reality that even during the negotiations periods for a peaceful settlement one of the important principles that had do be addressed was the need to undertake Land reform in South Africa We are gathered here today - as stakeholders from Government, political parties, business, farmers, workers, tenants, landless communities, civil society, faith-based organisations and traditional authorities - to honestly take stock of our Constitutional obligation to carry out the just and fair land and agrarian reform over the last decade and to also define real and concrete measures to accelerate land reform in South Africa.
This Summit takes place under the backdrop of the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter whose vision for a future democratic dispensation in South Africa contained the following important land and agrarian issues:
* “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black or White,
* The people shall share in the country wealth, * The land shall be shared among those who work it.”
The vision of the Freedom Charter was a direct opposite of and an attack on the apartheid vision that had its roots in the Native Land Act of 1913. The immediate and devastating impact of the Native Land Act in 1913 that is still evident in almost all aspects of our lives today was graphically described in the following words by Mr Sol Plaatje, the first Secretary General of the African National Congress, in his book “Native Life in South Africa”:
“Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.”
It is against this painful history of land dispossession, economic exploitation and social domination of particularly the African majority population, that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa imposed the duty and an obligation on the state, as a matter of public interest, to take legislative and other measures to effect land reform in order to facilitate restorative land justice, increased access to land and improved security of tenured.
The principle that underpinned the Freedom Charter and that is today enshrined in the Constitution, firmly asserts that never again should an individual or a group of individuals and communities in our country suffer from unjust, inhuman and unfair dispossession of their land property and material possessions.
Ladies and Gentlemen, after ten years of courageous and concerted efforts to restore the dignity and the respect of the poor, the dispossessed and landless communities, the overall assessment of government performance and its social partners is that commendable progress has been made in the delivery of land and agrarian reform in South Africa. This progress has been made in spite of the fact that the first years of democratic governance a lot of focus was on re-organisation of the state, the integration of various administrations, the drafting and promulgation of new legal statutes and the setting up of institutions to support land and agrarian reform.
Clearly in examining our progress we need to also acknowledge that there was no standard from which we had to measure ourselves, safe to say our own targets as set in the Reconstruction and development Programme. I raise this matter because any international comparison would indicate that each land reform program in a particular country would have taken its own peculiar circumstance into consideration.
Taking this reality into consideration how far have we gone as country in the past ten years? Since 1994, over 1.2 million people have benefited from the entire land reform program of government. We have delivered more than 3 million hectares of land. Our government’s housing program has also made a contribution towards land delivery.
Further, agricultural control boards were abolished to deregulate commodity and trade markets. Subsidies and tax concessions that favoured commercial farmers were withdraw and support programmes for emerging farmers and land reform beneficiaries were established. And a minimum wage for farm workers was introduced.
But progress that has been made is not enough. More, swift, resolute and resourceful efforts must still be made to transfer 30 per cent of farm land and transform the agrarian economy and to contribute to higher growth, employment creation and greater social and economic equity.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in assessing our experience we have gained confidence from the progress that has been made and have become more hopeful about our future. Furthermore, invaluable lessons that we have learnt from our experience now stands us in good stead with in the redesign and implementation of our 2014 land and agrarian reform.
From our experience, we have learnt that:
* legal processes are inherently adversarial, slow and expensive in comparison to agreements around a common vision, and negotiated processes that work better, faster and improve relations;
* integrating government programs must be integrated and collaboration between departments at all levels encouraged;
* markets by themselves do not redistribute land at the scale, quality, location and price from rich to poor and from white to black participants;
* the willing buyer, willing seller approach needs to be mediated by the reality of a failure of land markets;
* restrictions on subdivision of land forces beneficiaries to form large groups that are difficult to manage and sustain;
* state to undertake land reform is essential to maintain a healthy balance between these growth factors; * current legislation regulates evictions rather than provide protection to farm dwellers’ land rights:
* strategic partnerships such as share equity schemes need to address the question of unequal power relations (knowledge, wealth, networks, etc.)
* the neglect of the rural areas and the almost exclusive focus on urban areas has further impoverished the rural and agrarian economy, while increasing the pressure on urban and peri-urban land for sustainable human settlement.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the following measures need to be done to ensure that land and agrarian reform moves to the new trajectory that will contribute to the higher path of growth, employment and equity by 2014:
* re-affirm redistribution target of 30% agricultural land by 2014;
* establish government, business, labour and civil society partnerships that are binding with clear role, responsibilities and accountability;
* introduce pro-active acquisition of land by the state for targeted groups in the land market;
* establish a register of land needs for target groups (including labour tenants, farm workers, landless);
* identify specific interventions for targeted groups, including pro-active land acquisition by the state;
* agriculture: financing, infrastructure, marketing, training and education, technology transfer, extension and support for land reform projects such as water rights, housing, education, health, etc.);
* make land and agrarian reform a cluster priority;
* orderly management of evictions and illegal land occupations;
* introduce measures to enhance the security of tenure of farm dwellers and other vulnerable groups;
* complete restitution cases by 2008;
* implement CLARA fully
* integrate land and agrarian reform into local economic development;
* Link rural and urban areas through amongst others peri-urban small and medium holdings; * Acquire land for towns that need land for expansion;
* Complete the repeal of the Sub-division Act and sub-divide farms where necessary;
* Implement progressive land tax as a means to promote more intensive use of land, reduce farm sizes, and reduce speculative value of land;
* Manage the ownership of land by foreigners; * Strengthen the cooperation between the three spheres of government;
* Formulate post-Summit implementation strategy next three years as per the President’s extension on the settlement of outstanding claims, especially rural claims.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
27 July 2005
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