Hon Speaker and hon Minister, the CRDP is a fine programme aimed at reducing rural spatial inequalities and stimulating the rural economy. It was launched with much fanfare at Muyexe.
The portfolio committee has, however, found that after the fanfare most of the CRDP targets are behind schedule, and accelerated urbanisation is characterised by an ever increasing incidence of rural men seeking work opportunities in other provinces and cities. The latest census shows that the Eastern Cape has the highest rate of outward migration. The fact that the majority of the Marikana victims came from the rural areas of the Eastern Cape is testimony to the failure of these initiatives.
This is a headline written in the Farmer's Weekly: "A lifetime of waiting - in vain". In an open letter to Minister Gugile Nkwinti, farmer Gideon Morule argues that the government land policy aimed at blacks is as oppressive as apartheid laws.
What steps, Minister, are you going to take to improve the impact of the CRDP, the household profiling, and the establishment of agriparks and village agricultural industries, and to ensure the sustainable success and production outcomes of the recapitalisation programme, which at the moment has very limited outcomes as far as improved agricultural production, food security and poverty alleviation are concerned?