Deputy Speaker, the ACDP fully appreciates that the land issue in South Africa is a very sensitive and emotional one, and for those reasons, supports the land restitution process. Land reform must be addressed in a responsible manner to the satisfaction of all parties concerned within constitutional parameters.
A central feature of the land reform programme has been the acquisition of land on the willing-buyer, willing-seller model. According to the memorandum to this Bill, government is concerned that the principle of market value is not interpreted correctly and applied in a uniform manner, hence the need for yet another new level of bureaucrats, the Office of the Valuer-General.
The previous speaker spoke about a productive state. Our concerns relate to how productive this Office of the Valuer-General would be and the impact it would have on our nation. The Bill gives the Valuer-General exclusive power to value property in cases of expropriation, land reform and other acquisition such as leasing by the state. Property is broadly defined to include immovable, movable as well as any right to or in property.
These provisions must also be read with the Expropriation Bill and will allow for the expropriation of not only farmland, but also of farm equipment, vehicles, irrigation systems and livestock at a value to be determined by the Valuer-General.
Last week we shared that 90% of the 5,9 million hectares of land purchased by the state for emerging farmers is no longer productive. This, we said, is a severe indictment of the land reform process. The question is: How will this Bill address that?
Minister, you are on record as saying, and I quote:
The agriculture sector's production, as a proportion of GDP, is going down ... Land has been given to people and they are not using it. No country can afford that.
Those were your words, and the ACDP agrees with that. We have to balance land restitution and land reform, understanding the sensitivities about that, against property rights, productivity and food security. That is the difficult balance we have to strike.
As previous speakers have alluded, what we failed to recognise is that the primary reason for the slow pace of land reform is not so much the willing- buyer, willing-seller principle, but incompetence and corruption within the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform itself. There, is collusion between the department and land owners, and we have to address that. Again, how will this Bill address that? This is a serious shortcoming.
Agriculture is a primary source of income for as many as five million people and their dependants in this country. Finding solutions to the land and the agricultural issues is ultimately in the best interests of the country's political and social stability and its economic future.
The ACDP has concerns about the constitutionality of this Bill and we will therefore, regrettably, not be able to support it. I thank you.