... yimithetho eza kubophelela abantu abahlala emaphandleni ebukhobokeni okokoko, bahlale bekhongozele kurhulumente. [... are laws which will enslave the people from the rural areas to eternally receiving handouts from the government.] [Interjections.]
This department has a tragic track record in regard to the successful establishment of sustainable land reform projects. Recapitalisation and revitalisation are perennial. The real beneficiaries are not the rural poor, but the consultancy corps and officials with a vested interest in a highly evolved dependency on kickbacks and corruption in the supply chain process.
Fencing, for example, is poorly erected - by the thousands of kilometres! Gates are sometimes not hung and sometimes they are stolen.
Ucingo lutyiwa ziimpuku ezilalini. Olunye ucingo lupeyintwa ngepeyinti emthubi, ukuchaza ukuba yipeyinti nocingo lukarhulumente, kodwa abantu bayaluweba olowa cingo baye kubiya ngalo emakhayeni abo. Aba bantu ababanjwa nokubanjwa, kodwa kulo nyaka uzayo siza kuphinda siye kuthenga ucingo! (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Fencing is being destroyed by mice in the rural villages. Some fencing is painted in yellow to show that the fence and the paint belong to the government, but people are stealing the fence and they fence their homes. These people do not even get arrested. Next year we will, however, buy new fencing!]
Revitalised agricultural infrastructure that is not properly managed inevitably ends up being vandalised, and assets are stripped by thieves who sell it off as scrap metal or use it for their own purposes. This department's management profile is seriously compromised.
Ungaya naphi na kweliyaa phondo lethu, mhlekazi, kulaa ndawo sisuka kuyo - eMagwa, eMajola, eQamata, eKhangela, naphi na - uza kubona ukuba ulawulo alukho phaya kweziya ndawo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[You can go anywhere in our province, sir, where I come from - Magwa, Majola, Qamata and Khangela villages, anywhere - and you will see that there is absolutely no management and control in those areas.]
Hon Minister, you must know that my colleagues and I in this portfolio committee and my colleagues from the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are not going to sit in our offices. We are not going to swallow what the departmental officials feed us in these committees. We go out of our offices. We go to the Comprehensive Rural Development Projects. We go to the timber, tea and forestry plantations. We go and see what is happening or not happening.
The DA respects the fact that this Budget is derived from the blood, sweat and tears of patriotic taxpayers who expect us to use their contributions to reconstruction and development wisely, efficiently and effectively. However, despite the very best intentions of our hon chairperson, our colleagues from other political parties and our superb support staff, I have experienced the fact that the reporting and accountability of departmental officials is venal, misleading and, at times, intentionally blurred. Moreover, my travels to assess the outcomes and impact of departmental projects have exposed gross incompetence and a glaring lack of management and accountability where the department is solely involved.
On the contrary though, Minister, I wish to testify - and I commend you that where I have encountered meaningful public-private partnerships, share equity schemes linked with multidepartmental co-operation, especially with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, I have witnessed sustainable, impressive progress. I have witnessed that there are dairy farms and macadamia projects, implemented in co-operation with Amadlelo Agri in the Eastern Cape, that are a tribute to your department, to the managers of that firm and to the shareholders of that company.
The dairy manager of the Fort Hare Dairy Trust, a man by the name of Leonard Mavhungu, is running a dairy operation in Alice that is second to none in the country. [Applause.] He said something really important to me. He said: "Land does not improve our lives; it is how we use it and manage it that determines what happens to our lives." I found this really profound. [Applause.]
Proper planning and management, committed dedication, and hard work are the ingredients for the success of these projects. If you replicate this model with these measurables and indispensable tenants, land reform will be successful; food security will be improved; and jobs will be created. This, all together, results in a better life. Nothing less and nothing more will give you that result.
I would like to conclude with the contention that, despite what you and the President say, it is not the constitutional provision of willing - buyer and willing - seller that constrains land reform success. The state is not a victim, nor is it a compelled buyer, as you contend. [Time expired.] [Applause.]