Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the National Council of Provinces, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Mam'uMagadla for reminding us of how important this day is. It is very humbling for me to address this august House on such an important day. We agree with our hon Minister that the murders and human rights violations of farm workers, farm dwellers and farmers can no longer be tolerated. We have to collectively fight for safety on farms. The contradictions and conflicts need the attention of both black and white.
That is why in the Free State the department of agriculture and the department of police, roads and transport have jointly donated two crime- fighting response kombis to Bultfontein DistriksLandbou, which were converted into mobile communication centres. This is intended to assist in the effective response to disasters and combating stock theft, farm killings and crime in general. And positive results have been reported already.
In working together with both black and white farmers, farm workers and farm dwellers, we are jointly going to have a clean-up campaign at Hoopstad and Bultfontein townships.
Mmoho re hlasela ditshila. [Together we are tackling dirt.]
Hon member Worth is our witness, as he is from the Free State, that the Free State agriculture budget speech was hosted jointly with the white farmers. We are in a process of building a nation.
Chair, the security of land tenure for our farm workers and farm dwellers is a constitutional matter. It is, however, regrettable that conflicts and confrontations between farmers and farm workers are still a daily occurrence.
One of the challenges facing farm workers is a lack of access to legal assistance when their basic human rights are being trampled on. This situation is created by the abject poverty in which they live. There is, therefore, a need to have an integrated, co-ordinated, interdepartmental, intersectoral, co-operative approach that involves all role-players committed to changing the current situation. It is for this reason that the Free State department of agriculture will this year call for expert advice from academia in order to support the review of the current land tenure systems, in particular the Extension of Security of Tenure Act.
As farm workers are the only labour force required to grow the agricultural economy, if the laws protecting them are weak, the sector will also collapse and vice versa. The need to support such initiatives cannot be overemphasised.
We have already collated a database of 78 cases that are still dragging at our courts of law whilst farm workers and dwellers are vulnerable on the streets. The SA Human Rights Commission and the SAPS are of great assistance in this programme.
We have invited final-year law students to go and do a case study on all the 78 cases in order to check the policy gaps and weaknesses. The outcome of such results will be presented to our farm workers summit in order to strengthen our resolutions for the summit.
The Freedom Charter states that the state shall help entrepreneurial farmers with implements, seeds, tractors and dams to save the land and assist the tillers. This is continuing to become a reality as we continue to provide farmers with mechanisation, production inputs and farming infrastructure.
Through this programme, we aim to enhance food security, farmer support and settlement. To date, 31 Free State farmers have benefited from the mechanisation programme. I must also mention that a total of 127 farmers has benefited from agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers in the different regions of the Free State.
We will continue to provide farmers with support in the new financial year through the Letsema/Ilima programme and we will implement more than 47 projects to a total amount of R26 million.
We have already completed our assessment and identified the gaps that need to be filled. The assessment is in response to the Minister's instruction that the departments of rural development and land reform and agriculture and the Land Bank compile a joint rescue plan for all the farms that are in distress. We are busy helping these farms together with the national department as led by our Minister. We will further support the development of more competitive markets. We will help farmers who are seeking to be commercialised through research and development. We will establish commodity-based co-operatives and increase the number of farmers producing for markets.
We also welcome the move by the hon Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, to distribute R50 million worth of tractors in provinces in an effort to rebuild the culture and capability of food production. This will truly support our farmers as we had already started implementing a similar programme in the previous financial year. A total of more than R2 million was spent on such an initiative.
I am glad to announce that this year, under Casp, the department of agriculture in the Free State will be implementing 63 projects to a total budget of R75 million, which will in turn support 2 191 farmers and create 284 employment opportunities.
I am glad to announce that the department of agriculture in the Free State has helped two Thabo Mofutsanyane farmers with R2,5 million and R1 million respectively, to help them become breeders of Nguni and Shorthorn cattle. We have done this to ensure that we establish black agricultural entrepreneurs in areas that are regarded as a niche.
We are venturing into areas where transformation is still to be seen. Agriculture is doing well this time, hon De Beer. Surely the times you are referring to were during the apartheid era.
The Free State province, like many other provinces, experienced an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever. This outbreak affected our agricultural business adversely. In response to the outbreak, we deployed a response team comprising veterinarians and animal health technicians in conjunction with the Department of Health.
We further procured 400 000 doses of the vaccine worth R1,2 million to immunise animals in the province. Through this response, we were protecting the investment of our farmers, particularly in the export trade, which has brought a total of R188 million into the Free State province through the export of animal products to the SADC and European countries.
In support of the Minister's policy on fisheries, I want to emphasise what she has just said: Although the province is without a coastline, this did not deter the department from identifying fish farming as a new sector in order to diversify the economy in the province.
The department is currently in the process of constructing an aquaculture training and demonstration centre at the Gariep Dam in Xhariep district. The centre is envisaged as a fingerling supply station to rural aquaculture community projects in the Free State province and outside the province. The research station will provide training to agricultural scientists, technicians and farmers.
It is hoped that the skills acquired at the centre will contribute significantly to the fishing industry, not only provincially but nationally. The project has been supported by the Chinese government with a total investment of R45 million. The project has created 100 temporary jobs during the construction phase and eventually will create six permanent technical jobs, excluding the opportunities that it will create as a business.
The impact of the project will benefit the broader SADC in terms of fish farming. Through the Minister's assistance, we have a partnership with Potatoes SA to make Kgolokweng an agriprocessing hub for frozen potatoes and instant mashed potato. We are doing this together with them.
We want to say, Chairperson, that we fully support the Minister's budget speech and the tabling here of the Vote. We are proud that she does not just talk, but is also a person who propels action. I thank you. [Applause.]
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Mhlonishwa Sihlalo, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe, abamele izifundazwe zakithi, amalungu ale Ndlu ahloniphekile, Ngqongqoshe inhliziyo yami iyajabula ukuzwa ukuthi kukhona ozokusho okwethembisayo ngalokhu okubizwa nge-food security kulelizwe lakithi. Ngiyajabula nanoma ngazi ukuthi kuzoba nezinselele ezinzima ezingase zibekhona kulokho.
Ngithi nani kufanele nithathe lokho enikubona kwenzeka kwamanye amazwe, okokulekelela uhulumeni ukuze akwazi ukwelekelela abalimi ekutheni bakwazi ukukhiqiza ukudla esingakwazi ukukuthenga ngentengo ephansi lapha ezweni lakithi. Lokho kufanele kwenzeke nalapho ngisuka khona le emakhaya, kwanja ayiphume, lapho ngazi kahle ukuthi inhlabathi isezandleni zamaKhosi.
Ngizocela ukuthi uNgqongqoshe akubhekisise ukuthi abantu bakithi bayaqeqeshwa yini kwezolimo na. Nokuthi bayanikezwa yini izinsizakusebenza zezolimo - ogandaganda njengoba uNgqongqoshe eshilo. Nanokuthi baqeqeshwa ngohlobo lwesimanje yini kanti futhi lezo zinsizakusebenza bazisebenzisa ngakho yini ukuze bakwazi ukusizakala.
Mina njengomtakaPhiwana Zulu nginombono owehlukile ukuthi kube khona ogandaganda noma izinsizakusebenza zikahulumeni ezinikezwa abantu abathile ngoba benezikhundla kodwa ngibona ukuthi kufunele bazisebenzise babuye babonelele umphakathi.
Ngithi njengoMnyango kuwumsebenzi wenu ukuqinisekisa ukuthi izisebenzi zikahulumeni kuba yizona eziphatha lezi zinsizakusebenza zikahulumeni ukuze zikwazi ukuzinikeza abalimi lapho bekhona khona. Ngoba uma uzonikeza mina kanje kuzoba sekuba nabanye abantu engingasizi ngoba ngingabathandi kahle, kanti uma unikeze umsebenzi kahulumeni uyazi ukuthi unesibopho sokuchaza ngokwenzekayo kuhulumeni. Kodwa uma ngabe unganikeza mina njengeNkosi anginasibopho sokuchazela noma ngubani ngokwenzekayo.
Lezi zinto engikhuluma ngazo Ngqongqoshe ngifisa ukuthi uzibhekisise kuzo zonke izifundazwe zakithi, futhi kubhekisiswe nokuthi izinsizakusebenza zikahulumeni ziya endaweni yoMnyango lapho nathi esizokwazi ukufinyelela khona njengabantu abakhethiwe.
Njengeqembu leNkatha siyakusekela kwisabiwomali osenzile esizonikeza izifundazwe zethu amandla okuthi zikwazi ukusiza abantu. Kufuneka ubenendlela, noma abantu abazobheka ukuthi lezo zinsizakusebenza ziyaya yini ebantwini, nokuthi futhi izinto ziyenzeka yini. Kungabi yizisebenzi zakho ezizama ukutshela abantu, kodwa akuhlalwe phansi kube nezindaba ezixoxwayo, lapho abantu besho khona ukuthi bangalima kanjani ngoba ukulima akufiki nohulumeni. Ubabamkhulu, iNkosi uDinizulu wayelima, kudliwa, kubuswa. Namanje sifisa kube njalo Ngqongqoshe, kwenzeke lokho kubhekisiswe kahle ukuthi lezi zinto ziyabasiza yini abantu.
Ngithi njengeqembu leNkatha siyasesekela isabiwomali sakho. Engicabanga ukuthi uma uNkulunkulu ekusizile uyokwazi ukuthi ubhekane naleminyaka emine ezayo esikusalele, usesikhundleni ukwazi ukusiza ukuba kuhlangatshezwane nezidingo zakithi. Ngithi nibasize ngezinto zokulima. Ngiyabonga Sihlalo. (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, our provincial representatives, hon members of this House, hon Minister, my heart is filled with joy when I hear that you are going to say something promising about what is known as food security in our country. I am joyful even though I am aware that there might be challenges with regard to that.
You also need to do what is being done in other countries that will assist the government in helping farmers produce food that we can buy at a lower price here in our country. And that should also be done where I come from - the most remote rural areas - such as places where it is a known fact that the land is in the hands of the amakhosi.
I request the Minister to check whether our people are trained for agriculture or not, as well as whether they are furnished with agricultural equipment - like tractors, as the Minister had already mentioned. Could the Minister also ensure that they receive updated training and also see whether that equipment is being used properly for farmers to be able to find all the help they need.
I, Phiwana Zulu's son, have a different opinion - that tractors or government equipment should not be allocated to some people because they hold certain positions but I am of the opinion that they should use them and reconsider the community.
I am saying that it is your duty as the department to ensure that public servants manage the allocation of this government equipment, so that they allocate them to the farmers wherever they are. Because if you allocate them to me like this, there will be other people whom I might not assist because I don't like them. But if you allocate this task to the public servants you know that they have to be accountable to the government. But if you allocate this task to me as an inkosi, nothing binds me to account to anyone.
Hon Minister, I am requesting that you look into all these things that I have mentioned which are taking place in all our provinces and also ensure that the government's property is delivered to a department's premises where we as the representatives of the people can also have access to them.
As the IFP we support this budget you have put forward that will empower our provinces to empower the people. You need to have a mechanism, or people who will see to it that that equipment gets to the people, and check to see whether things are happening. It should not be your employees who are trying to influence people, but they must sit down with them and discuss issues, where people would say how they are going to farm because agriculture did not arrive with the arrival of government. My grandfather, iNkosi Dinuzulu, was farming, so there was food and comfort. We wish the same even now, hon Minister, and that those things should happen and we should also check whether these things are helpful to the people.
I am saying that, as the IFP, we support your budget. If God helps you, you will be able to face the challenges of the next remaining four years of your term in this position and be able to assist in meeting the needs of the people. I am saying assist them with agricultural equipment. Thank you, Chairperson.]