CAPE TOWN, 20 june 2002
Chairperson
Honourable Members
Fellow South Africans
We are meeting here today at a time when current trends and the overall outlook for the future in terms of our delivery on our mandate for land reform, are beginning to show positive results. We are meeting when our efforts in contributing towards pushing back the frontiers of poverty, in response to the call made by the President in his State of the Nation Address, are beginning to bear fruit. We see a clear and relatively even pattern of delivery in all our nine Provinces, as measured in terms of expenditure of our allocated budget and an increasing number of projects of good quality. These have been achieved through the comprehensive re-engineering and simplification of our procedures, as well as the decentralisation of our delivery mechanisms, which, as we indicated during our Budget Vote Speech to this House last year, were critical and necessary interventions in our quest to increase delivery.
Chairperson, we have responded positively and effectively to the call made by our fellow citizens to increase the pace of delivery; and we have not ended there, we have improved the quality of our delivery, as demonstrated both in terms of restitution claims settled and redistribution projects finalised in the previous year. In the case of restitution, we have kept our promise to focus on rural claims, thus increasing our coverage of rural poor communities. In terms of redistribution, we have, through the launch of the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) sub-programme, brought in a new era where land redistribution is part and parcel of agricultural development, thus addressing both rural food security and income generation.
We stand ready to do even better in this new financial year. In order to ensure that we keep the momentum started in the 2001/2002 financial year, we are making major strides in the areas of capacity building and management of our human resources. In terms of Restitution, we are looking forward to a more increased pace of delivery as we move towards the finalisation of the exercise of validating all claims. We also expect the delivery of LRAD to pick up pace. As we go into the final phase of putting in place the necessary legislation and policies, we expect more activity from the very important area of Spatial Planning and Information. Most importantly, we have, since the National Land Tenure Conference held in November 2001 in Durban, taken decisive steps towards addressing critical and difficult questions and begin to deliver at scale in the area of land tenure reform, in both the communal and commercial farming areas. Our framework for delivery is reflected clearly in the multi-year Strategic Plan of the Department of Land Affairs, which has been tabled before this House.
LAND RESTITUTION PROGRAMME
Once again, Chairperson, the figures in respect of the Restitution Programme show increased delivery. It is important to highlight the fact that, whereas in the past year some provinces, such as Mpumalanga, were lagging behind as the result of factors that were brought to the attention of this House, the trend of increased delivery is now the order of the day in all nine Provinces of our country. The past year has seen not only a remarkably high increase in the number of claims that have been processed, the quality of restitution settlements is also improving. This is demonstrated by the fact that the process has increasingly focused on rural claims and as a result an increasing number of rural claimants, many of whom are among the poorest and marginalised, have benefited.
I am certain Honourable Members can bear witness to the fact that during the entire period from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002, hand over ceremonies have taken place in virtually all provinces, practically every week.
At the end of March 2002, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights had settled 29 877 claims out of a total of 68 878 that have been lodged. A total of 332 243 individuals representing 62 245 households have benefited and 430 988 hectares were involved.
The Limpopo Province has settled no less than eight large community claims, all of which are in rural areas. In this province, in the true South African spirit, a great- grandson of Mr Cooksley, Mr P F Menne, assisted the Mavhungeni community in gathering evidence to support their restitution case. This is one of the cases that we have seen in several other parts of our country, where, white farmers are entering into joint ventures with emerging black farmers, thus contributing towards laying solid foundations for agricultural development.
The Northern Cape and KwaZulu/Natal provinces have distinguished themselves with settling claims covering the largest number of hectares to date, namely 221 759 ha and 61 691 ha respectively, most of which consists of high quality land. Here too the white farmers have pledged themselves to support the new black land owners, in the spirit of reconciliation.
The Northern Cape prides itself on having settled one of the oldest and most complex land restitution claims, Majeng, by an order of the Land Claims Court.
During the course of the past financial year, Mpumalanga, which had got off to a relatively slow start in previous years, has also made impressive progress. As a relatively new office, our Regional Land Claims Commissioner's office (RLCC) in that Province is now making meaningful advances in settling claims and accelerating the claims validation process, thus laying the foundation for greater progress in the near future. As we have said in the past, this Province, together with Limpopo, have the largest proportion rural of claims, most of which involve agricultural land of good quality. We have committed ourselves to speeding up the processing of these claims, so as to ensure certainty and to unlock opportunities for development. These two provinces thus remain a high priority for the ongoing validation programme, as well as for support in terms of material and human resources.
Details of claims settled per province are as follows:
Province, No of claims, Extent (ha), Households, Beneficieries
The following claims have been settled throughout the country since February 2001, many of which are rural claims which involving substantial numbers of people as beneficiaries:
GAUTENG AND NORTH WEST:
MPUMALANGA
KWAZULU NATAL
FREE STATE AND NORTHERN CAPE
WESTERN CAPE
LIMPOPO PROVINCE
EASTERN CAPE
Chairperson, the trends which are illustrated by these data underpin our commitment to addressing rural poverty and to the opening up of opportunities for agricultural and rural development.
The Commission has set out a plan to validate 33 290 land claims by December 2002 and to acknowledge all valid claims by March 2003. Invalid claims will also be dismissed by March 2003. As we speak, approximately 14 000 claims have been validated through this exercise.
The following number of claims have been prioritised on a Provincial basis to be settled by end of March 2003:
Chairperson, we have on several occasions in the past highlighted the importance of ensuring that our land delivery processes through the Restitution Programme promote the establishment of sustainable settlements and economic activity on this land. This is what is generally referred to as post-settlement support. We acknowledge that the most critical element for a successful post-settlement support programme is effective co-ordination among various government departments and agencies, as well as civil society and the private sector. As a demonstration of our commitment to this programme, the Department of Land Affairs is in the process of setting up a Post-Settlement Support Co-ordination Unit. The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has also taken the initiative of entering into a Tri-lateral Co-operation Agreement for post settlement support in restitution projects with the Land Bank and the National Development Agency.
This agreement was signed on 12 April 2002 at Makhoba, in the presence of President Thabo Mbeki.
LAND REFORM PROGRAMME
Labour Tenants:
Chairperson, we are currently engaged in the process of investigating and validating 16 3643 Labour Tenant claims that have been lodged in the wake of a campaign that we launched during the 2000/2001 financial year. Additional resources have been allocated in order to deal with these claims.
To date, 2 500 out of 12 971 labour tenant claims have been settled in Mpumalanga Province, which together with KwaZulu/Natal, have the largest proportion of such claims. The Mpumalanga claims include claims from areas such as the East Vaal region (Wakkerstroom, Ermelo, Piet Retief) where a total of 2 348 claims have been settled. In Wakkerstroom alone 400 have been settled.
A total of 2 654 out of 6 000 claims have been settled thus far in KwaZulu/Natal, 472 of these in the Vryheid district alone.
Chairperson, the Labour Tenants programme is one of the most challenging programmes because of the competing rights on the land subject to a claim.
Continuous discussions between AgriSA, the Landless People's Movement, the National Land Committee and government are taking place in order to address problems related to labour tenants.
Farm Workers
Issues of security of tenure for farm workers is an ongoing matter that is receiving attention. Some of these communities have benefited from transfer of land, which has been acquired for them in terms of the Redistribution Programme. The other matter that obviously presents us with a challenge is related to working conditions on farms which sometimes, if not most of the time, impacts on farm workers' tenure security. We are happy to say that the continuous engagement between organised agriculture and the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Land Affairs has produced a protocol in order to manage some of the labour conditions on farms.
Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development
One of the highlights of the year 2001/2002 was the launch of the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD), a sub-programme of the Land Redistribution Programme, in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga on 13 August 2001.
The Nkomazi project involved 241 LRAD grant beneficiaries. The main objective of the LRAD, in line with the Department's mission to provide access to land and to extend rights in land to the previously disadvantaged communities, is to redistribute white-owned agricultural land to blacks.
Despite having started only in October 2001, it is fair, now, to point out the fact that the department has ambitiously committed itself to implementing this programme. Actual expenditure for the LRAD Programme was relatively slow but overwhelming commitments, both in collaboration with Land Bank and at Provincial Land Reform Offices, have been recorded and implementation thereof will definitely be felt and visible during this financial year.
Progress to date on the implementation of LRAD will indicate that 4 823 beneficiaries have received the LRAD grant that has delivered about 100 000 ha of land amounting to about 164 farms. There are also 36 beneficiaries who have received a combination of grant and loan component from the land bank with the delivery of 2 203 ha of land.
Land Redistribution for Housing/Settlement
The Settlement and Land Acquisition Grant has been used to target communities who require land for housing. In support of the Urban Renewal Programme 20 154 ha of land were delivered to vulnerable communities and individuals. For example, a farm of 1 000 ha worth R4 million was acquired for residents of Alexandra in Gauteng. In the Western Cape R8 million was committed to acquire 80 ha of land for resettlement of the victims of the Cape Flats flood disaster. In addition, 8 300 ha have been acquired comprising of 8 000 ha in Mpumalanga and 300 ha in the Free State.
In the true spirit of pushing back the frontiers of poverty, 6 138 ha of land was delivered to landless people and this consisted of 13 projects which benefited 61 women and 140 farm workers.
The improved spending that we have realised in the land reform programme has been the result of a strategic focus that we have been working from as a Department, more effective financial management, as well as streamlining of implementation processes and systems to avoid duplication and delay.
Overall, Chairperson, I am happy to announce that our overall expenditure, excluding advances effected to other implementing agencies, stood at 97% as at 31 March 2002 and comparatively speaking to the last financial year it is a resounding improvement and success for land reform implementation.
Provincial MECs administer 669 000 ha of state agricultural land. They disposed of 47 978 ha or 7% in terms of the Powers of Attorney they hold.
This land was disposed of through outright sale, whilst 450 000 are currently held through leases most of whose holders have an option to buy. A detailed consultative process is planned to address areas of concern. The Department of Land Affairs administers state agricultural land to the extent of 500 000 ha. During the 2001/2002 financial year the Department disposed of 184 949 ha, which represents 37% of the state agricultural land that it is currently administering.
In order to confirm rights in land 486 cases of Extension of Security of Tenure were reported and various forms of interventions were effected to prevent evictions. Through five hundred registrations in Thaba Nchu de facto ownership has been converted to de jure. As a contribution to the implementation of the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP) a total of 8 projects were identified in the following provinces: Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Western Cape with 2 projects each, and the Free State and North West Provinces with one each.
Another critical achievement was the hosting of the National Land Tenure Conference by the Department in November 2001 that resulted in the participation of a variety of stakeholders, including traditional authorities, organised agriculture and communities. Key issues that were debated were land administration in communal areas and the finalisation of the Communal Land Rights Bill and the need to improve tenure security for farm dwellers on private land.
The Communal Land Rights Bill whose gazetting and enactment are expected in the third quarter of 2002 has been drafted. A cross-functional National Review Team examining the Communal Property Associations has been initiated while Provincial teams were set up to oversee the processes in their respective provinces.
As set out in the Departmental Strategic Plan, our Provincial Land Reform Offices have made the following plans for the 2002/2003 financial year:
LRAD Implementation
For the year 2002/ 2003 as reflected in the department's strategic plan, the planned implementation of LRAD on a provincial basis is broken down as follows:
Province, No of farms, Extent (ha), Beneficiaries
Land for Settlement
Other Redistribution Projects (Commonage & Farm Equity Projects)
Land to be delivered to Labour Tenants and Farm Workers
Province, No of farms, Beneficiaries
Land in Support of the Urban Renewal Programme
Province, No of farms, Extent (ha), Beneficiaries
LAND PLANNING AND INFORMATION
One of our major Branches, the Land Planning and Information Branch, has of four (4) Chief Directorates. These Chief Directorates offer professional and technical line functions in the fields of Deeds Registration, Spatial Planning and Information, Cadastral Surveys and Surveys and Mapping.
The main challenges facing the branch are closely related to the technical and professional nature of their duties.
In order to address the critical shortage of qualified persons from designated groups for employment equity, targeted training exercises have been embarked upon in all these components. In the Surveys & Mapping and Cadastral Surveys fields we are faced with the critical challenge of lack of representivity, coupled with limited success in recruiting people from the targeted groups. To counter this, a special bursary scheme for Surveying and Geomatics has been set up. In the current 2002 academic year, 38 students from the targeted groups have been awarded bursaries to study at universities or technikons. The number of bursaries will be increased over the next few years.
History was made in July 2001 when the first ever African Surveyor-General was appointed in Bloemfontein.
In the area of legislation and the following initiatives are noteworthy.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE SERVICES
The areas of financial and human resources management, in particular expenditure management, and the decentralisation programmes have seen great improvement over the past year.
We started the 2001/2002 financial year at a time when we had just been informed by National Treasury that our expenditure pattern for land reform implementation in the previous financial year had failed to meet set benchmarks and in the process a substantial percentage was rolled over. This called upon the Department to re-prioritise its operations and our strategic plan for the year set new and deliverable targets.
The new management's leadership and strategic focus is evident from the improved financial results of 94% spending, which represents an increase of 27% from the previous year's figures. Human Resource Management issues have equally been prioritized, with a shaper focus being placed on capacity building.
Human Resource Development
During the past financial year the Departmental Human Resource Development Plan was finalised and the Work Place Skills Plan was submitted to Public Sector Education and Training Authority. The Work Place Skills Plan will focus on Project Management, Labour Relations, Adult Basic Education and Training and Management Development Programmes to improve service delivery.
24 middle managers from Land Reform and Restitution branches were sent to the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg for training in Land Information Management, a post graduate diploma. Madam Speaker, we hope this diploma will enhance the knowledge and skills of these managers to meet the ever-demanding challenges of Land Reform. A total number of 3 001 officials were trained by the Department in the following disciplines:
Information Systems
To contribute to more effective management of information systems the Department's databases were integrated. These databases had been developed in isolation from each other, which led to data fragmentation and duplication. Steps towards integrating these disparate systems were achieved when the Restitution database and the Land Reform databases were moved onto the same technical platform. Data from the Restitution claims and Redistribution projects can now be compared for the first time, providing a powerful tool for an integrated approach to land reform.
Another achievement is the successful completion of a proof-of-concept GIS project to show that spatial data sets from a variety of sources can be integrated dynamically and seamlessly to provide planners with a single view of spatial data on one platform, whether topographical, cadastral, meteorological, agricultural or land ownership data. This was a major breakthrough, demonstrating that intelligent data warehousing and latest generation GIS technology can create spatial data layers dynamically from source-data held in different formats, stored in different platforms.
HIV/Aids Awareness
The Department has established nine Aids Committees and 86 of these members received Peer Education Training. A total of 600 staff members in the Department attended the Introduction to Aids Training Course.
CHALLENGES- LAND REFORM PROGRAMME
Our strategic focus is designed to meet head-on all the challenges facing the Department with regards to improving the pace of delivery and quality of projects and services rendered. Therefore we have set the following areas as our challenges for the current year and beyond:
FUTURE CHALLENGES - RESTITUTION
I THANK YOU