L Xingwana: Land hand-over celebration at Bessiesvlei farm

17 June 2006

AN ERA TO ACCELERATE LAND REFORM IN THIS COUNTRY

Hon MEC for Agriculture, Mr Mandlenkosi Mayisela
Members of the Mayoral Committee in the District present here
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Tozi Gwanya, and Kgosi’s in our province
Members of Organized agriculture, especially AgriNW (helpful)
Land NGOs and other Organs of Civil Society
Claimants as well as beneficiaries
Members of the various media institutions
Businesses as well as other stakeholders represented this morning;
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

The Department of Land Affairs has declared this month as “Land Month” which
is dedicated to the achievements that we have made thus far, in reversing the
93 years of racial land dispossessions and measures we have taken to ameliorate
the pain, grief, trauma and despair occasioned by years of forced removals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the activities carried out during this month of June,
which is also the Youth Month, emphasise that we have a responsibility to
accelerate the process of transformation of our country by engaging in
programmes that will assist our people to progress.

It is important for someone to draw some historical contrast during these
specific moments in the epoch of our struggle. Yesterday, we commemorated the
30 years of reversing the educational system that sought to undermine our
dignity as African people but also celebrating the victories that the youth of
this country shaped over that period of time. The pronouncement made by the
class of 1976 that we are members of the community first, before we become
students it is very symbolic. It was a clarion call for the youth to take
ownership of their own destiny and indeed we have observed the major inroads
made by the progressive youth of this country who ensured that they contribute
in building this country.

The history of land dispossession in our country is inseparable from the
brutal system of colonialism and apartheid. Interestingly, the first Secretary
General of the ANC, Sol Plaatjie wrote a highly informative book (Native Life
in South Africa) on the impact of the 1913 Land Act, had on the rural African
masses, graphically describing the resultant further impoverishment and
subjugation of the African people.

Plaatjie, said “the Consequences of the process of land dispossession were
extremely pernicious, inhumane and had long term negative effect on black
people, whose legacy is central to our gathering today. The loss of land led to
widespread homelessness, absence of security of tenure, overcrowding, unstable
families, rural urban migration, the degradation of the soil and severe
limitations on the possibility of Africans to purse meaningful agricultural and
agro industrial activities.”

We know all us that it was a temporary victory for the colonialist and
apartheid forces. They won the battles, but would ultimately lose the war.

Recently I have been privileged to visit the United Kingdom, where we
launched a historic programme called, the Royal Agricultural Colleges
Fellowship Programme, which forms part of the Accelerated Shared Growth
Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) programme as advocated by the Hon Deputy
President, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka.

I must indicate that the programme is historic in that it forms part of the
broader government initiative programme to accelerate growth within the
agricultural sector in this country as well as making strategic and sustainable
contribution to our country and indeed to the continent as a whole.

Through the Royal Agricultural College (RAC) Fellowship Programme, Africans
who have some experience in land reform, agriculture or natural resource
management will be identified and all of us here today are potential
beneficiaries of this noble programme. Critical importance to agriculture was
the call to improve on support services to newly settled farmers in order to
create a cadre of successful black farmers, able to contribute to the broader
goals of job creation and poverty alleviation.

Ladies and Gentleman, anyone who travels over the vast expanse of this
province is immediately struck by the great variation in its landscape and the
differing contexts and conditions under which black rural people live. Just
recently, the Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Mr Gwanya visited this district,
to launch one of the effective department campaign, called the Land Restitution
Mass Awareness Campaign, it was clear that despite the breakthrough we are
making in giving the land, there challenge to provide support remain a
challenge. I think one will make a broader response as I progress with my
speech.

The picture is that there is still attachment to the soil and Mr Gwanya
clearly captured this, when he said, “while there is this historical bond that
ties us together with soil, we must equally make sure that there is optimal
productive use of the land, to benefit all of our people and indeed the entire
country.” I am here to congratulate you for the wise decision to opt for land,
as opposed to financial compensation. Use this land in such a way that you will
not only support and feed your families but also those who remain hungry are
search for jobs in the urban areas.

This message resonates from our understanding that the land is a key factor
of production as well as the cornerstone for our existence. This is true for
all nations of the world.

Understanding the importance of the land question to many of our people, the
ANC-led government passed the Restitution of Land Right Act 22 of 1994. The Act
offered a legal framework to address and resolve land question according our
South African constitution; Today through restitution, redistribution and land
tenure we have managed to restored about 4% of land to indigenous people of
this country, including about 700 000 hectares transferred under the land
restitution programme.

I am happy to announce that we have made fairly good progress in terms of
settling our claims especially given that we are almost left with 10% of the
outstanding claims national. Of the 79 696 Restitution claims lodged by 31
December 1998, 71 645 claims have been settled by 31 March 2006. The 8051 that
are still outstanding 6 975 are rural claims while 1 076 are urban claims. As
we are well the challenges about these is that the land price has borrowed the
eagle wings, land owners challenging the validity of the claims, elaborate
verification process, establishing of legal entities as well as a problems of
chieftainship.

In this province the chapter for the urban claims was closed a week ago,
when our office finalized all the urban claims by handing about 51 million
restitution awards to the claimants of Hazier, Swartruggens, Ottosdal,
Bethlehem and Old Delareyville Native Township. Although we acknowledge that no
amount of money can substitute for the suffering of our people, however, we
remain hopeful that this gesture will go a long way in redressing the
imbalances of the past.

We are very impressed about the progress we are making in resolving the
claims in this province. As we all know, the province received about 1715
claims and we have about 126 claims outstanding of those 25 are from this
particular district, (Central district)

It has taken me some time to arrive at this important point of why we are
gathering here today. But I guess it was important to reflect where we come
from so as to ensure that road we are paving is correct and very
constructive.

Today, we are gathering here to fulfil our long held conviction as advocated
in our Freedom Chart, to ensure that the land is shared among those who live in
it and that the land shall be long to those who work it.

We are today restoring the land to the Bafokeng Ba Ha Mafethe who like many
in the past suffered the heinous crime of colonial and apartheid system. They
were denied to own land through infamous Group Areas Act and other laws coupled
with migratory labour systems, which led to the breakdown of families,
dysfunctional family and spread of slums. The process led to a point where the
masses of our people declared the then government as enemy of the people. The
constitution of South Africa was adopted in order to: “Heal the divisions of
the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and
fundamental human rights.”

The commission received this particular claim for the farm Bessiesvlei no.
149 IP on the 10 January 1996 and the commission have a duty investigate all
the land claims lodged. The claim was prioritized and ultimately investigated
in terms of the rules of the commission as contained in the Act. The main
thrust of the investigation was to gather sufficient information to assist the
Commission to speedily process the claim. We know this is one of the tedious
and quite elaborate processes because the investigation includes.

The farm we are restoring today which is about 478 ha was declared a “Black
Spot,” in 1936. The declaration meant that the black people who occupied the
farm had to either sell the land under section 17 or have their land
expropriated by the state. Given the fact that the removals took place at
different periods on the farm, the owners ultimately were scattered all over
the places and some decided to seek place of residence within Mafikeng area. It
is our conviction as a government that the current use of the land, which
includes, cultivating maze, cattle and sheep farming is not compromised.

It is important to acknowledge the role played by the Lichtenburg
municipality to have approved a housing project one of the portions since the
current landowners are absentee farmer and there are no houses on the farm.

In the context of celebrating the land hand over today, we must take into
account the greater challenges that the department is currently dealing with.
Some of the challenges include the lack of skills with our new emerging
farmers; mentorship programmes, general resistance to land restitution in the
form of increase in land prices, refusal of in-loco- inspections, as well as
disputes among the claimants among the claimant communities.

To those who are challenging land restitution we are saying, you are too
late as this training is moving. To those who are not prepared to make use of
their land, this government will not sit down and watch the emergence of food
insecurity. We have put aside funds for Comprehensive Agricultural Support
Programme (CASP) and much-anticipated Micro Agricultural Financial
Institutional Schemes of South Africa (MAFISA) precisely to address the issue
of comprehensive support to land reform beneficiaries, thus to ensure
sustainability.

We are calling on, all the major stakeholders involved in the land
restitution programme to participate in the Commission programme, especially
the Land Restitution Mass Awareness Campaign (LR MAC), Business Consultative
Meeting (BCM). These programmes have managed to bring the government messages
closer to our people and ensure that there is cross intervention from all the
stakeholders involved in land reform.

It is a matter of great and outstanding concern that there is a deep-rooted
sense of deprivation and injustice amongst the majority, who daily have to live
side by side with opulent wealth of the few; accompanied by their experience
that being black still means being desperately poor with few options for
escaping the poverty gap. We know that the challenge to undo centuries of
colonial and apartheid dispossession, repression, segregation and exploitation
is huge and complex process. Redressing the imbalances in land redistribution
is a crucial precondition for the legitimacy of the new democratic order.

My message remains, land acquisition and its productive use are critical to
the success we must achieve to ensure that the goals set out in the AsgiSA
programme are realized. It is important that those among us who have the
technical expertise should find ways of assisting in this process. In this
regard, we must express our sincere appreciation to the white farmers and
farmers’ organization that have readily extended a helping hand to the new
black farmers. In this Province in particular we have very good working
relations with AgriNW. The Commission has met with them in the last few works
to consider how to give effect to the MOU that outlines the areas of
cooperation in support of the restitution process. The popular Visser case of
expropriation, which comes from this area, has been resolved as agreement has
been reached for the land cost of R2 million, which we consider to be just and
equitable compensation in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

Finally, as a department, we are leading troops in the struggle to use land
to fight poverty and underdevelopment and indeed we should not, and will not
waver in our resolve to address the land question.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
17 June 2006