Chairperson, hon Minister, hon MEC, hon members and distinguished guests, I greet you all.
Sihlalo, ngizothanda ukuqala ngokuhalalisela amapulazi amabili noma amathathu angale la ngiphuma khona, sengathi namanye amapulazi angabonela kuwona. Ngicela ukuthi uMnu Johan Engelbrecht noMnu Phillemon Bafikane Moya baqhubeke nokuphatha kahle ipulazi i-Hirsaw Estate Farm. Elinye i- Ystervarkfontein Farm eliphethwe uMnu John Mlakalaka Fieet sengathi naye angaqhubekela phambili ngokuliphatha kahle.
Linye iphutha esilenzayo, ukuthi esikhathini esiningi uma sithuthukisa abalimi abamnyama, ngokuthi sibanike imfuyo, njalo sicabanga ukubanika izinkomo zohlobo lwaManguni kuphela. Asicabangi ukuthi nabo kubalungele ukuthola amabhramani ama-bonsmara, amasimentali kanye nezinye izinhlobo. Ngqongqoshe ngijabule kakhulu ukuthi uzovula iphrojekthi yakho eMpumalanga, kodwa ukhohlwe yinto eyodwa, ubale umqombothi kodwa wangayibala imampuru. [Uhleko.]
Ngizothanda ukukhumbuza uMKhandlu Kazwelonke Wezifundazwe ukuthi kusukela emandulo ngenkathi izifika namthwalo zifika lapha eNingizimu Afrika, zathola abantu bakule ngabadi behweba ngezimbiwa, ngemfuyo, nangokudla, njalonjalo. Lokho-ke kuyakhombisa ukuthi isizwe esimpisholo sasinalo ulwazi olunzulu kwezolimo.
Imvelo ngokwayo ingufakazi omkhulu wokuthi isizwe esimpisholo singabalimi ngokwendabuko. Lokho kufakazelwa ukuthi kunenyoni ebizwa ngokuthi "ukholwane" okuthi njalo uma kuthwasa ihlobo ikhumbuze abalimi ukuthi "phezu komkhono", okusho ukuthi sekuyisikhathi sokulima.
Futhi-ke ngaphandle kokungathekisa okwamabhoxongwane alusa imfuyo ekwaluseni bebekwazi ukwetha imfuyo amagama beyazi futhi nangemibala. Uma kufuywe izinkomo bebekwazi ukuchaza izimpondo zazo ukuthi zime kanjani ezenkomo ngayinye. Okuhlaba umxhwele ukuthi bebekwazi nokuchaza imisindo eyenziwa yimfuyo ngokwehlukana kwayo njengokuthi: igalukuni uma likhala lithi: ... (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, firstly, I would like to congratulate the management of the two or three farms from the area where I come from, and I wish that other farms could also emulate them. I would like to commend Mr Johan Engelbrecht and Mr Phillemon Bafikane Moya for effectively managing the Hirsaw Estate Farm and ask them to continue to do so. The other farm is Ystervarkfontein Farm which is managed by Mr John Mlakalaka Fieet and may he also carry on doing a good job.
The one mistake we make most of the time when we develop black farmers by allocating livestock to them, is that we always think of giving them Nguni cattle only. We do not think that they are also entitled to get the brahmans, the bonsmaras, the simmentals and other kinds of livestock.
Hon Minister, I am overjoyed that you will launch your project in Mpumalanga, but you have forgotten one thing: You only mentioned the traditional umqombothi beer but you did not mention the mampuru [mampoer]. [Laughter.]
I would like to remind the NCOP that in the olden days when the immigrants first came to South Africa, they found the indigenous people trading in minerals, livestock, food, etc. This then indicates that black people had a profound knowledge of agriculture.
Even nature itself bears great testimony to the fact that black people are farmers by nature. There is a bird known as the Kholwane [cuckoo] which also testifies to that, for it always announces the arrival of spring to those who plough by singing: "Get your hoes and work", meaning that it is time to plough.
And besides the herd boys speaking figuratively, they also had the skill of giving names to livestock and they also knew these animals by colour. They could also define the shape of each cow's horns. What is most exciting is that they also knew how to distinguish the sounds made by different animals, for example when a turkey gobbles it says ...]
... want gister het ek nie kos gekry nie. [... because I didn't have anything to eat yesterday.]
Liphendule ihansi lithi... [Interjections.] [And the goose would respond by saying ...]
... ja, ja, vra nog [yes, yes, ask for more].
Eminyakeni eyedlule ubabamkhulu wayehlala eMpumalanga epulazini limbe ngase- Morgenzon. Kwabakhona umlungu ofikayo kulelo pulazi, owayengenalo ngisho nelilodwa nje idada leli, wabe esecela ukukhusela kumkhulu. Umkhulu wayenesipani zezinkabi eziyisithupha ayelima ngazo kodwa wayengenawo amalungelo wokuyothengisa umbila esigayweni. Ngakho-ke ngesikhathi esakhusele kumkhulu, wacela ukulima isiqeshana sendawo ukuze akwazi ukumelekelela uma sekuyiwa esigayweni. Kwatholakala ukuthi uma sekufikwa emakethe le ndaba ayisalungi ngoba umkhiqizo awubange usathola inani eliwufanele. Kwamthukuthelisa lokho ubabomkhulu wase ethi akasayingeni leyo. Okubuhlungu ukuthi wagcina esekhishwa ngendluzula kulelo pulazi.
Ngichaza ukuthi Ngqongqoshe, kufanele sihlonze izimakethe ezizokwazi ukuthi zisetshenziswe abelungu nabantu abamnyama, lapho esizozizwa semukelekile khona. Enye into ebuhlungu futhi eyinselele ukuthi, iningi labalimi manje seliyekile ukulima ukudla, kodwa seliyafuya kuphela njengoba sikhuluma nje. Kanti abanye abelungu banciphisa imfuyo, baphendula amapulazi aba yiziqiwi zezinyamazane.
Abanye abalimi sebelima i-organic food, okusho ukuthi esikhathini esingengakanani indaba yokudla izoba yinselele enkulu lapha kwelakithi. Bese ngibuye ngizikhalele, ukuthi uma uyilungu lePhalamende lokho akusho ukuthi uyohlala uyilo njalo. Ngakho-ke kufanelekile ukuthi nathi singamalungu ePhalamende sibe nawo amalungelo okuhlomula kulokhu okwenziwa uhulumeni, ngoba okwamanje uma uyilungu lePhalamende noma ngabe uyalithanda ipulazi kodwa kawufanele ukuba nalo. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Some years ago my grandfather was living on a certain farm in Mpumalanga near Morgenzon. A certain white man who came to live on that farm had nothing, not even a single duck. He then asked my grandfather for shelter. My grandfather had a span of six oxen he used for ploughing but he did not have rights to sell his maize at the mill. Therefore, while the man was still living in my grandfather's shelter, he asked for a piece of land to plant some maize so that my grandfather could access the mills through him. But when he got to the market he found that things did not go well because of the meagre amount that was paid out for his produce. That upset my grandfather and he said that he was not going to be part of that setup anymore. Sadly, in the end, he was forcefully removed from his farm.
What I am saying, hon Minister, is that we must identify markets that can be accessed by both black and white farmers, where we could all feel welcome. One other sad and challenging thing is that most of the farmers have stopped planting food now, and are only keeping livestock as we speak, whilst others are reducing their livestock and converting their farms into game reserves.
Some farmers are now planting organic food, meaning that in the near future food security will be a major challenge in our country. And I am also making an appeal for myself that if you are a Member of Parliament that does not mean that will always be the case. Therefore it is appropriate that we too as Members of Parliament should benefit from what the government is doing, because for now, if you are a Member of Parliament even if you like farming you cannot own a farm.]
The prevailing structure of commercial agriculture is the outcome of centuries of dispossession, labour coercion and state subsidies for the chosen few. Since 1994, commercial agriculture has continued to develop in a manner that is characterised by a growing concentration of ownership and farm size, underutilisation of vast tracts of land, capital intensity, job- shedding and casualisation of labour.
While deregulation, liberalisation and the resulting competitive pressure on the sector have eliminated many of the privileges of the large-scale farm sector, various aspects of policy and legislation still reinforce the legacy of the past, making it difficult to redistribute land to the modern and competitive smallholder sector.
At the same time, commercial agriculture has also reacted to legislation intended to protect the rights of the workers and farm dwellers by sharply reducing their number, resulting in significant job losses and the painful evictions of people living on farms.
Commercial farming has been one of the pillars of our economy. There has been a notable, consistent domestic supply of horticultural, livestock, forestry and aquacultural intermediate and final goods. To a considerable extent, this has guaranteed the local availability of food, timber and other such necessities. The demand for these goods has been high and has gradually pushed the prices to a range that the poor cannot afford.
Market forces have been dominantly dictating the distribution of intermediate and final goods. The resulting inaccessibility of goods to the toiling masses of our people has been worsened by occasional price-fixing of wheat and dairy products by the cartels, which exercise a strong monopoly on the agricultural sector in the country.
The ANC government has to ensure that the interests of the farm dwellers' children are paramount and that their rights to quality education are promoted, protected, and fulfilled. In the same vein, the ANC government must ensure that the poor are protected from the greedy and profit-chasing tendencies of some food producers and retailers.
The ANC 2009 election manifesto expressly states that -
The ANC is committed to creating an environment that ensures that there is adequate food available to all, that we grow our own food and protect the poor communities from the rising prices of food and eradicate hunger.
Yingakho-ke Ngqongqoshe ngigcizelela ukuthi sinenkinga, yalezi zinselele engizibalile. Ngakho-ke, ngicela sizibheke, lapho nabantu bakithi sebetshala ama-organic food, ngoba wonke umuntu efuna inzuzo, kodwa bayakhohlwa ukuthi akutshalwe ukudla, ngoba emva kwesikhathi sizobe sibhekene nezinkinga ezinkulu. Ngqongqoshe, i-ANC isisesekela ngokuphelele isabelomali sakho. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.) [That is why then, hon Minister, I am saying that we have major problems regarding the challenges I have just indicated. I want us therefore to look into them - even our black farmers are planting organic food just because everybody wants profit. They forget that they should plant real food because we will be facing major problems in the near future. Hon Minister, the ANC completely supports your budget. [Applause.]]
The MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Chairperson, I would like to thank all the members who participated in the debate, specially the chairperson of the select committee and the MEC of the Free State, who have greatly enriched my understanding of the sector. I understand that this is not my speciality and by listening to you today, I became a lot wiser and better informed.
I am particularly impressed by the manner in which you have spoken on behalf of your constituencies. Today, I want to tell you that for us agriculture is about improving productivity and making sure that there is economic development and growth in our agricultural sector, that we create decent employment, and that there is a skilled and capable workforce.
We are emphasising that there is an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network. This includes on-farm and off-farm settlements, fencing, roads, dams and irrigation facilities. I am just giving a brief summary because I cannot respond to all questions raised in five minutes. I have taken down copious notes. I am going to request copies of all the speeches that have been made, so that I can study and read them very carefully.
One of our important outcomes is that we will have vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities, with food security for all. Our environmental and natural assets will be well protected and continually enhanced. One of our main and key objectives is to have a better Africa and a better world as a result of our contributions to global relations.
Our first step would be to have high-level performance agreements, which we have already signed with the President. We will then convene meetings with our MECs, our stakeholders, in order to sign delivery agreements. We will also sign delivery agreements with the select committee of this House.
In these delivery agreements, we will decide who does what, by when, and with which resources. We will separate our delivery agreements into implementation forums. In these implementation forums we will look at our different committees and clusters, so that they will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating certain sections of our agricultural performance.
The lead agencies, as they exist in our provinces, will be supporting agencies. They will also map out a growth plan which we will use to produce a matrix that will give us specific instruments for each province. Those instruments will depend on what we want to achieve, what it is that we haven't achieved and how well we use our compliance, not to just talk, but to develop substance on certain issues, particularly in agriculture.
We are going to look at projects in terms of commodity-based development, where we encourage commodity-based co-operatives, as the Free State MEC has already indicated. Those co-operatives will pool their resources, and we will bring them together in a radius. That radius will then be responsible for delivering to a particular market.
We have realised that our smallholder farmers do not have the economies of scale to produce productively or commercially. So we are now taking a sectoral approach to farmers, where we promote farming in clusters. We can then use our smallholders' capacity to farm in clusters as a way of developing them into commercial farmers.
In conclusion, I wish to thank all those who have contributed to the agricultural sector and to the state of agriculture. We are asking Parliament to monitor our progress and to withhold money where we are not spending it efficiently. The national Parliament has the right to withhold money where it sees that it is not being used effectively and efficiently. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.