Chairperson and hon members, I would like to welcome especially a number of important guests here in the gallery today. We have here Mrs Maria Mathavini, who, since the last policy debate, has become the proud recipient of a home in Muyexe. She is one of 264 people who received new homes in Muyexe. [Applause.] She is also a member of the Macena Women's Group. That is an agricultural group that is supplying Spar with their fresh vegetables in Limpopo. Mr Mokete Daniel Radebe, chairperson of the Council of Stakeholders in Diyatalawa in the Free State, is sitting in the gallery. [Applause.] Mrs Delina Jantjies, who runs the community food garden at the Dysselsdorp clinic in the Western Cape, near Oudtshoorn, is here and is a very important guest. [Applause.] Mr Semomonyane Bin, the recipient of a home in North West, is also in the gallery, as is Ms Thandiwe Gladys Madondo from the Asisukume crop production co-operative in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal. [Applause.] They are our guests today, Mr Chairperson.
Ons het vanmiddag ook die verteenwoordigers van die Mamre-gemeenskap in die Wes-Kaap hier. [Applous.] Hierdie gemeenskap het 4 700 hektaar grond ontvang deur middle van die Omvattende Landelike Ontwikkelingsprogram wat ontwikkel gaan word vir huisvesting, kultuur, toerisme en landbouproduksie. Deur middel van strategiese vennootskappe op nasionale en provinsiale vlak en met die Kaapstadse Metro, gaan sowat 3 000 huisgesinne baat vind by hierdie ontwikkeling. Die beginsels van die ontwikkelingsprogram sal toegepas word in hierdie ontwikkelingsfase. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[We also have the representatives of the Mamre community from the Western Cape here with us this afternoon. [Applause.] This community received 4 700 hectares of land through the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme which will be developed for housing, culture, tourism and agricultural production. Through strategic partnerships at national and provincial level and with the Cape Town Metro, about 3 000 households will benefit from this development. The principles of this development programme will be applied in this development phase.]
I am also very happy to see traditional leaders in the House and in the gallery. At the opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders on 23 February 2010, the President underlined the important role that amakhosi have to play in the planning and implementation of rural development. He implored us to work together for the improvement of the quality of life of our people in rural communities.
The resolution of the 52nd National Conference of the ANC in 2007 on agrarian change, land reform and rural development confirmed the ANC's acute awareness of and sensitivity to the centrality of land, and the land question, as a fundamental element in the resolution of the race, gender and class contradictions in South Africa. National sovereignty is defined in terms of land. That is why, even without it being enshrined in the Constitution of the country - the supreme law - land is a national asset.
That is where the debate about agrarian change, land reform and rural development should, appropriately, begin. Without this fundamental assumption, talk of land reform and food security is superfluous. We must, and shall, fundamentally review the current land tenure system during this Medium-Term Strategic Framework period. This we shall do through rigorous engagement with all South Africans, so that we should emerge with a tenure system which will satisfy the aspirations of all South Africans, irrespective of race, gender and class.
It is, therefore, fitting and appropriate that the strategy of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform be "agrarian transformation", interpreted to denote "a rapid and fundamental change in the relations of land, livestock, cropping and community". The objective of the strategy is social cohesion and development. All anticolonial struggles are, at the core, about two things: repossession of lost land and restoring the centrality of indigenous culture.
To deepen one's appreciation of this statement, one has to look in depth at the colonialist use of land to subdue the conquered population and the use of tribal or ethnic subcultures to submerge the cross-cutting culture which characterises all tribal or ethnic groups - ubuntu or "human solidarity" in the case of Africans. The superprofiling of ethnic or tribal subcultures by colonialists is deliberately meant to create competition and conflict among them; the "divide and rule" tactic generally used to deepen subjugation. Ubuntu, the overarching African way of life, is integrally linked to land. Any attempt to restore ubuntu without concomitant land restoration is futile.
Social cohesion is a direct function of the restoration of land and indigenous culture. It is not just about allegiance to national symbols, for example the national anthem and flag, important as they are. Social cohesion is built around a people's culture. In multicultural societies, it is built around the recognition of cultural diversity as strength and using such diversity to build social cohesion. Despite cultural differences, members of communities generally share the same values and taboos and tend to use those values and taboos to develop hybrid or subcultures, which combine to hold people together.
People tend to attend the same churches and schools, play for the same clubs and become members of the same stokvels, societies, trade unions, business organisations, political parties, co-operatives, etc. These institutions create subcultures that bind them together. In rural communities, relationships are much deeper, as they tend to be historical and intergenerational. Mutuality is a way of life and would have evolved organically, nourished and cemented by shared hard and good times. In African societies, these relational values are summed up in one word: ubuntu. This is the bedrock of African culture. Colonialism and apartheid sought at all times, and by all means, to destroy it.
Of all such means, the Natives Land Act, Act 27 of 1913, and the migrant labour system are the ones that wreaked the greatest havoc in African rural communities, seriously undermining the virtues of ubuntu as people lost their basic expression of ubuntu, namely the ability to give, which disappeared with the loss of their land. They could no longer produce enough food to eat and feed themselves; they could not keep livestock; they had to survive on meagre wages, which could hardly meet their family needs, let alone allow them to be generous and share with neighbours.
Colonialism and apartheid brutalised black people, turning them into hostages of perennial hunger, related diseases and social strife and disorder. Rural development and land reform must be the catalyst in the ANC government's mission to reverse this situation. It took centuries to inflict it on black people, and it is going to take quite a while to address it, but it shall be done. That long road necessarily starts with the crafting of a new, pragmatic but fundamentally altered land tenure system for the country. Any other option will perpetuate social fragmentation and underdevelopment.
Development and its corollary, underdevelopment, as outcomes are a function of certain political choices and decisions, as well as certain administrative actions, processes, procedures and institutions. Defined in this context, development denotes social, cultural and economic progress brought about through certain political choices and decisions and realised through certain administrative actions, processes, procedures and institutions. The key parameters for measuring development, therefore, are social, cultural, political, administrative, institutional and economic. Depending on the type of political choices and decisions and administrative actions, processes, procedures and institutions put in place today, there will be progress, or underdevelopment, or stagnation.
In short, depending on the type of political choices we make, and the decisions we take now, the type of administrative actions we take, and the processes, procedures and institutions we put in place, we will either bring about the desired social cohesion and development or we will perpetuate colonial apartheid's social fragmentation and underdevelopment.
For the sake of clarity, in this text development indicators are shared growth and prosperity, full employment, relative income equality and cultural progress, while those for underdevelopment are poverty, unemployment, inequality and cultural backwardness. It is submitted here that these two opposing socioeconomic pillars, development and underdevelopment, are a function of certain political choices and decisions, as well as certain administrative actions, processes, procedures and institutions; not just any political choice or decision, nor any administrative action, process, procedure or institution. They distinguish one ideological perspective from the other.
Apartheid was an outcome of particular political choices and decisions, which were executed through a plethora of oppressive policies and laws, which were carefully crafted to achieve the set outcome. Consider the following passage taken from the words of one Maurice Evans, addressing the reduction in the Natal land quota for black people. He says:
Yet even this will mean an average of 156 acres per head of European population, and 6,8 acres for every native, while the land which will fall within the European areas is infinitely healthier, more fertile, and altogether more desirable than either present locations or the areas recommended by the Beaumont Commission.
That was a comment by one Maurice Evans. This was not an isolated case. It was the South African story in the systematic denudation and impoverishment of black people. Our effort to bring about the corrective measures necessary to tone down the anger, bitterness and pain of those who were subjected to this brutal treatment must be collective. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission adequately demonstrated the capacity of black South Africans to forgive. However, we should not take this goodwill for granted, because it is not inexhaustible. Working together, we must build our collective future on this critical social asset.
In our efforts to make rural development a reality, we have developed the comprehensive rural development framework. This has been shared with all sector departments at national and provincial level. The key thrust of the framework is an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
In our quest to create vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities, the department is implementing the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, in several wards in the country. Since the launch on 17 August 2009 by the President of our Republic in Muyexe, in the Giyani municipality in Limpopo, the department has expanded the implementation of the CRDP and is currently operating in 21 wards in the country. This work will be rolled out to 160 additional wards by 2014, as stated by the President. We have adopted all the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme, IRSDP, sites or nodes and have incorporated the lessons learnt into the CRDP. As from 1 April 2010, the war on poverty, which has prioritised 1 128 wards over the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, MTSF, period, will be relocated from the Presidency to the department.
During this period, we have also been working on building the institutional capacity of the department to deliver effectively on this mandate. A new organogram has already been approved by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration, and by National Treasury. The department is currently in the process of recruiting in order to populate this organogram. As promised during my maiden speech last year, the postsettlement support strategy has been strengthened and properly capacitated with more than 100 employees across the country. Realising that we cannot do this alone, partnerships have been developed with tertiary and research institutions. An overview of the department's overall performance has been completed and has guided the development of certain short - and medium-term strategic and operational remedies.
Of importance is that in each area where the CRDP is being implemented, a new vibrancy has been created around working together, involving communities, the three spheres of government and the private sector. This has enabled us to mobilise resources from all sectors of government to enhance delivery. An inclusive CRDP stakeholder participation model has been developed, with the council of stakeholders functioning as the planning, implementation and monitoring body. Communities themselves have become central to their own development.
We have, through the work undertaken at the CRDP sites and, in conjunction with both national, provincial and local government, introduced infrastructure such as housing, water, sanitation, agricultural inputs, community halls, multipurpose centres, fencing, renovation of schools and clinics and much more. Simultaneous with the implementation of these different projects, we have been piloting a job creation and skills training model.
The mandate of the department is derived from the five priorities of the ruling party and government's MTSF priorities. The CRDP has set us on a new course for postcolonial reconstruction and development. This shall be achieved through co-ordinated and broad-based agrarian transformation, which will focus on the following: building communities through social mobilisation and institution - building; strategic investment in both old and new social, economic, and information and communication technology infrastructure and in public amenities and facilities co-ordinated through the rural infrastructure programme; a new land reform programme implemented in the context of the reviewed land tenure system; rendering of professional and technical services, as well as effective and sustainable resource management through the component of geospatial services, technology development and disaster management; and effective provision of cadastral and deeds registration, as well as surveys and mapping services.
The department is committed to the achievement of outcome number 7 of the 12 outcomes pursued by government over the MTSF period and that is "vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities". The success of this department over the MTSF period will be measured through delivery on the following outputs: sustainable land reform, food security for all, rural development and sustainable livelihoods, and job creation linked to skills training.
I have to acknowledge that the land reform programmes implemented to date have not been successful and sustainable and have not provided the anticipated benefits to the recipients of the programme. To date, approximately 6 million hectares of land have been transferred through restitution and redistribution and much of this land is not productive and has not created economic benefit for many of the new owners. There has been an overemphasis on hectares at the expense of development and food security.
This has contributed to declining productivity on farms, a decrease in employment in the agricultural sector, and deepening poverty in the countryside. Coupled with this is a "leak-out" of the redistributed land, which results from recipients failing to honour debts with the Land Bank and other commercial banks. The monetary implications of transferring the remaining 19 million hectares of land by 2014 has been calculated at approximately R72 billion if we are to continue pursuing the willing-buyer, willing-seller model. It is clear that the current land reform environment is the result of institutional weaknesses in overall land management, policy and legislation.
One of our key responsibilities is the revitalisation of small rural towns, because they act as catalysts for development and job creation in the rural and peri-urban areas. This will be achieved by interfacing rural and peri- urban areas through infrastructure development, initiatives to meet basic human needs, enterprise development, agro-village industries and credit facilities. Key drivers in this regard will be water services, energy, sanitation, communication systems and human skills. The department will also form an integral part of the local government turnaround strategy by providing support to municipalities in the compilation of spatial development frameworks.
The challenges in our current service delivery model and fiscal constraints have compelled us to review our targets and develop alternative approaches relating to the restitution and redistribution programme. The following principles will underpin our new approach to sustainable land reform, namely the deracialisation of the rural economy for shared and sustained growth; secondly, democratic and equitable land allocation and use across gender, race, and class; and finally, a strict production discipline for guaranteed national food security.
To respond to the challenges of the collapsing land reform projects and defunct irrigation schemes in the former homelands, we have introduced a new programme called Recapitalisation and Development. The objectives of this programme are to increase production, to guarantee food security, to graduate small farmers to commercial farmers and to create employment opportunities within the agricultural sector. The core principles of the programme are mentorship, co-management and share equity.
To implement this programme, we have taken the decision to allocate 25% of our baseline land acquisition budget to it. This amounts to R900 million for the 2010-11 financial year. The centrality of the public-private partnership in this recapitalisation and development programme cannot be overemphasised. We are encouraged that organised agriculture has fully embraced this strategic intervention. We are driven by the vision to put one job in every rural household. From the CRDP entry point of mobilising and organising rural people and communities, we build the skills of unemployed people, particularly the youth, and unleash them in their own communities to do decent work.