L Xingwana: Land restoration for Kudung Farm community

11 November 2006

Gauteng MEC for Agriculture, Mr Khabisi Mosunkutu,
Members of Parliament,
Executive Mayor,
Councillors,
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Mr Tozi Gwanya,
Our new Commissioner for Gauteng and North West Province, Ms Tumi Seboka,
Members of National Farmers Union (Nafu) and Agriculture South Africa
(AgriSA)
The previous land owner of this farm, Mr Arno,
Land non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other organisations of civil
society,
Claimants as well as beneficiaries,
Members of the various media institutions,
Distinguished guests and fellow South Africans,
Halala bomastandi base Kudung halala,
Halala banini mhlaba base Kudung halala,
Ubuyile umhlaba, ubuyile,
Umhlaba ubuyile,

Kule veki iphelileyo sivalelene sonke eBenoni oMEC kunye noHead of
Department (HOD) babo, oDirector-General (DG), oCommissioner neSenior Manager
zakwa Land Affairs nezakwa Agriculture. Umcimbi obubilisa ibunzi ngothi
"Gijima" sinikeze abantu umhlaba wabo! Gijima abantu balime lo mhlaba ungaka
sibanika wona, gijima! Gijima abantu balime lo mhlaba bahleli kuwe
ungalinywanga, gijima! Makuphithizele wonkumntu kulinywe! Makulinywe ngumntu
wonke ingakumbi kwezindawo bezingamaphandle apho abantu baninzi khona apho
indlala idlakazelisa abantu khona.

I am so excited today that the very first thing we did "kukuya emasimini
siyolima." You have made my day so special! Today you have declared war against
poverty. History will indeed record your hard work and afford you the respect
and admiration from your own children for the legacy of working to produce
their own food for having fought against poverty, underdevelopment,
marginalisation and dependency on buying groceries from the shop.

What makes today so special is that we are launching the most important
flagship programmes of Project Gijima and that is Ilima/Letsema campaign, which
is what we were doing this morning.

From the podium on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of
the African National Congress (ANC) in Durban, President Thabo Mbeki made the
following call, "During this year we must focus on the mobilisation of our
people actually to engage in a process of continuing to be their own liberators
of occupying the frontline in the popular struggle for the reconstruction and
development of our country." The President urged all South Africans to lend a
hand in a national effort to build better life for all and indeed to further
inculcate the spirit of working together.

This is the ethos of Ilima/Letsema, working together to liberate ourselves
from the oppression of poverty, working together to produce food, to build a
house and thus provide shelter for the family. Working together to get firewood
for energy, working together to discipline and guide children as they grow.
Working together to defend our freedom, working together to build this
nation.

The concept of Letsema/Ilima has been with us since time immemorial. Ilima
has its roots in the African culture of working together. It was not only
limited to "ukulima" but to the whole way of African life.

Letsema comes from the time when African people lived in agrarian societies
where the land was the main source of livelihood; growing of crops and
livestock farming were a major social and economic activity. Each family had a
piece of land on which they lived and could cultivate.

During ilima members of different families would move from one family's land
to the next helping one another, sharing skills and offering technical
advice.

Letsema was thus a socio-economic growth strategy that helped our people for
their own development. Participants in ilima were therefore were members of
what has now been termed as 'the extended family.' Ilima is made up of family
friends and neighbours as well as volunteers.

What was important about letsema was the spirit in which it was done, the
spirit of togetherness which I envisage in this particular programme.

For this campaign to succeed in this area it has to have dedicated
champions. We need these champions at the provincial level; we agreed at the
Benoni lekgotla that the MECs should be those letsema champions. We need
letsema champions at the technical level. The HODs together with their
specialists should be champions at the technical and programme level.

We see extension officers as champions at the project level. In the same way
that our communities are demanding 'visible policing,' we want to see visible
extension officers. We must profile the work of the extension officers. In fact
I was even suggesting that extension officers should be known by their uniform
just like the conservationists who are known by their green khakis.

One thing that I like with the ilima is that it provides a job for everyone
in the community. With a proper division of labour each one has something to do
both young and old, man or woman.

At the Benoni lekgotla we made a declaration that through Ilima/Letsema, we
will leverage programmes already in existence in provinces to offer support to
small scale farming in the form of fencing, seeds, fertilisers, skills support
and irrigation. We already have the Comprehensive Agricultural Support
Programme (CASP) and similar programmes which can assist for the sustainability
of land reform and other programmes from agriculture.

My message is clear and simple, "let there be no land that lies fallow." I
would come back uninvited with my team to observe the progress you'll be making
on this field.

Fellow South Africans, we have a contract with you and indeed we have an
appointment with history to finalise all the claims by March next year, and we
have to settle all outstanding claims by 2008. We are well conscious of the
magnitude of the challenges lying ahead and we are determined to face them
head-on.

Today we are making history by restoring one of the biggest portions of land
in this province, Kudung community, Rietspruit 417 IR, which is about 3 893
hectare of land.

I was told and I observed that the area is rich with high potential
agricultural, mainly crop farming with some areas used for grazing. We should
appreciate the extent to which the claimants have gone through to finalise this
particular claim.

The commission received a land claim from the late Mr Sonnyboy Abram
Shikwane in his capacity as the chairperson of the Kudung community and also as
a direct descendant of one of the families which were forcefully removed from
Rietspruit. The claim was found to comply with the acceptance criteria as
stipulated in the Restitution of Land Right Act 22 of 1994.

The history of acquisition reflects the systematic racial dispossession
where the Berlin missionaries from Germany took advantage of the racial
practices of the then government where the black people found on the farm were
displaced and the land taken by white people.

As the German missionaries settled they found no less than 20 families that
enjoyed beneficial occupation of the farm. As more and more families came to
settle on the farm, the number of people increased. The community grew up and
came to be popularly known as Kudung. Just like in many other areas in the
country the white missionary farmer started pushing the people out of their
land. They started complaining about too much livestock from the blacks on the
farm. So they started to raise tax for their cattle, horses, pigs, donkeys,
sheep etc.

On account of this taxation, the community was unable to plough the land and
pay for their livestock levy. Consequently many people could not afford to pay
for their livestock. The situation on the farm could not get any worse when
Reverend Barh called a meeting in 1964 of the whole community to inform them
that they will be removed from Rietspruit to a place called Radium and other
parts of the country as the community was unable to pay their taxes. The
community was never given any written notices but was just told verbally.

By the beginning of 1964 the community had to sell all of their livestock as
they could not depart with them. The neighbouring farmers were patiently
waiting for the sale to take place. When people started to move the
neighbouring farmers bought the livestock at ridiculously low prices. The
community had no choice but to accept any price that the purchaser was putting
on the table. The removal started in 1964 and ended in 1965.

It is for these and similar experiences that the ANC stood up in 1912 to
resist any form of racial oppression. It is for these reasons that the ANC came
up with the Freedom Charter in 1955 to say never and never again must the black
people who own and use the land be driven out of that land in favour of the
few. It is for these reasons that in 1994 when we took over government we said
never and never again shall we allow racial land dispossession. We took a
decision for restitution and redress for all victims of racial land
dispossession. It is for this reason that we established the Land Claims
Commission and the specialised Land Claims Court.

Today we are here to say "lo mhlaba ngowenu." Today we are here to say
"lefatsi la rona."

I am glad that the commission has set up workable mechanism to deal with
settlement support services. The establishment of a Project Steering Committee
which includes the Kudung community, the commission, Sedibeng District Council,
Midvaal Local Council, Bloekomspruit agriculture, sector departments of
agriculture and land affairs and the Gauteng Housing Department is one of the
positive gestures.

The Project Steering Committee is taking care of the squatting problems.

Laba bantu baza la bazohlala emikhukhwini bashiya izindlu ezintle emakhaya.
Abawutholi nomsebenzi lo bathi bazofuna wona la emadolobheni.

Kulo mnyango wezemihlaba sinohlelo lokusiza laba bantu bathole umhlaba
bayolima. I am therefore encouraging the Steering Committee and the
municipality in particular to deal decisively and stop squatting on this land.
We want this land to be used to produce food and feed the nation.

Indeed, the involvement of the Department of Minerals and Energy will go a
long way in ensuring that available resources are used to the benefit of the
new land owners, the Kudung community.

As far as finalisation of urban claims is concerned, the Gauteng province
has done sterling work in terms of resolving these claims. By June this year
the office managed to settle all the urban claims. Gauteng is one of the
provinces that has had a fair share of problems especially in relation to the
demand for the re-opening of lodgement of new claims. Regrettably we are bound
by the Restitution Act which prescribes the cut off date as 31 December
1998.

Unless that is amended we cannot accept any new claims now. On the other
hand we want to fast track the settlement of all outstanding claims so that we
can ensure stability and certainty in the agricultural sector.

Beware of people who are selling fictitious claim forms, who promise people
that they will push the commission to accept lodgement of new claims. Don't
believe this lie. Our land reform programme is governed by the rule of law.

The President has given me a very short time, up to the year 2008, to settle
all outstanding land claims. We are left with about six thousand rural
claims.

The commissioners have told me that these are most difficult claims. I don't
care what it takes we must get all of these claims settled without any
delay.

They have also told me that land price negotiations take too long, two to
three years.

I won't allow any waste of time in protracted and fruitless negotiations. It
is for this reason that I have insisted that once we have done the land
valuation by an independent professional valuer and made an offer to the
landowner, we must not spend more than six months on price negotiations. If
negotiations fail we must expropriate without delay.

I have therefore called on the commissioner's to act swiftly on this
matter.

Their performance is measured by the number of claims settled, the number of
hectares restored and the number of people working on the restored land. I
don't have time. I must see results now and not later.

I am extremely impressed at the level of involvement of the Office of MEC
Mosunkutu and the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee in Agriculture, Ms Nomantu
Nkomo�Ralehoko for their support of the land reform work in this province. The
approach of the legislature campaign, where the commission is given an
opportunity to present its programme and progress report on a regular basis, is
one among many positive steps.

Important to note is the positive nature of the previous land owner who has
been very understanding in dealing with the issue of land restitution,
embracing the new age of hope. To Mr Arno you are the greatest symbol to those
who think that restitution is a land grab. Go and tell them that we have paid
you for the land; it was not a land seizure. Go and tell them we are keen to
have you as a good neighbour to the Kudung community and that if you have the
required experience and mentorship we are happy to see you as a strategic
partner to this claimant community.

I have seen a number of women in this project this morning. I want to see a
much more meaningful participation of women in agriculture. We have just
launched a mass movement of rural women called, Women in Agriculture and Rural
Development (WARD). Gauteng province was represented when we launched this
movement in East London in October.

I would like WARD to assist in this project so that we can see active
participation of women, youth and people with disabilities.

The purpose of WARD is to see quick access by women to support programmes
such as CASP, Micro-Agricultural Finance Schemes of South Africa (MAFISA), Land
Bank products and other capacity building programmes. In Gauteng I would like
Kudung to be the test case for the participation of women in agriculture.

I want the WARD activists to interact with you so that all can see that
women have a lot to contribute towards improving agriculture. We see women
working on farms and less and lesser men. The good projects that you are
proposing for this community will be most effective when you enable women and
youth to take the lead.

Let me wish you all the best in this project. I will be leaving this place
with a big hope for success but I want to come soon to see the crops. Ndifuna
ukunibona ngesikhathi nihlakula, ninkcenkceshela, nisebenzisana ngelima ukuze
kwande izithelo.

Phambili ngelima phambili!
Phambili ngolimo phambili
Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi! Malibongwe!
Amandla!

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
11 November 2006
Source: Department of Agriculture (http://www.nda.agric.za/)