Xingwana, MP, handover celebration at the Magwa Tea Estate in Lusikisiki and
the launch of Ilima/Letsema
18 November 2006
Programme Director
MEC for Agriculture, Mr Gugile Nkwinti
Kumnkani wamaMpondo
Mpondombini Sigcau, aah thandizulu
IiNkosi zomthonyama ezikhona
Amalungu ePalamente
Executive Mayor, MaFaku mama uChapa, uxolisile ngenxa yomngcwabo
Local Mayor, Mr Ngozi, kunye necouncillors ezikhona
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Mr Thozi Gwanya
Commissioner for the Eastern Cape Province, Ms Linda Faleni
Managers of Magwa and Majola Tea Estates
Our guests from SAFM
Mr Mnyaka and Claimants Committee
Distinguished guests
Halala bomastandi base magwa halala
Halala banini mhlaba base magwa halala
Ubuyile umhlaba, ubuyile
Ngoku bendilapha kwezinyanga zidlulileyo ndithe ndizakubuya ngoDecember
ndizonikezela lo mhlaba. Ndibuyile ke namhlanje apha kuNovember, ndisithi kuni
nanku umhlaba wenu wusebenzeni!!
Kwezi veki zimbini zidlulileyo sivalelene sonke eBenoni kunye noMEC nentloko
zeDarpment babo, oDirector-General (DG), ocommissioner nesenior managers zakwa
land affairs nezakwa agriculture. Eyona nto besijonge yona ibingu Gijima kunye
neLima. Sithi "gijima umhlaba wabantu baseMagwa ubuyele kubo! Gijima abantu
balime lo mhlaba ungaka sibanika wona gijima! Gijima abantu balime lo mhlaba
bahleli kuwo ungalinywanga! Gijima amampondo ahluthe, gijima makuphithizele
wonkumntu kulinywe! Lo mhlaba wamaMpondo utyebile, unemvula, ulungele zonke
intlobo zezityalo. Nantsi itea iyalunga, umoba, imango nebanana.
Ndivuya kakhulu namhlanje kuba siqale emasimini sayolima. Incwadi ye
Proverbs 19:15 ithi, "Ivila lilala kamnandi lithi sa kanti ngolo hlobo kungena
indlala nobuhlwempu." Namhlanje sizokuthi phantsi ngendlala, phantsi! Phantsi
ngobuhlwempu phantsi! Phambili ngolimo, phambili!
Today we have revived an age old culture yamaMpondo, the culture of
vuk'uzenzele, the culture of seizing the available opportunity and working with
our own hands to change our fate. Today the people of Magwa have declared war
against poverty. For indeed it is by rolling up our sleeves and getting to work
together to plough the fields like our great grand parents did, that we will be
able to win the war against poverty and eat from the good of our land. Today we
are saying, 'masibuyele emasimini siyo lima' like in the olden days.
Today is a special day because in the Eastern Cape we are launching the most
important flagship programme of Project Gijima, the Ilima/Letsema campaign.
This morning we have demonstrated that we have the power to change our own
situation and move away from poverty and dependency as we work together through
ilima to feed ourselves and our children.
We cannot sit back and watch our people perish when the free gift of land is
lying fallow around us. I have driven through the Eastern Cape and it is
painful to see so much productive land going to waste. I grew up here and I
have seen our parents use the land to produce food. I have seen lots of cattle
and sheep, horses and goats. I know we are victims of betterment planning which
reduced our rural homestead plots to less than a quarter of a hectare. All of
these racial practices discouraged our people from farming. But that is
history. We are living here and now! We must do something about it now. We must
turn this around here and now. It is time for social mobilisation and
concretisation. Time is now for going back to the barracks for economic
freedom. Our fight is not that of the spear and gun. Ours is that of turning
our weapons of destruction to ploughshares and agricultural equipment.
This is precisely 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 and working together to build this
nation.
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 "ubuntu",
"ukuncedana". Ilima underlines the approach where land is the main source of
livelihood; where growing of crops and livestock farming is a major social and
economic activity. During ilima members of different families move from one
family's land to the next, helping one another, sharing skills and offering
technical advice.
Again in Setswana they say, "Letsema le thata ka mong wa lona." What this
means is that 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 Heads of Department (HoDs)
together with their specialists such as Mr John Allwood and Mr Masebeni 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 am suggesting that
extension officers should be known by their uniform just like the
conservationists who are known by their green khakis.
The good thing about Ilima is that it provides a job for everyone in the
community whether young or old, man or woman. With a proper division of labour,
each one has something to do. 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 land that we worked on this morning.
Today we are making history by restoring to its rightful owners this 12 215
hectares of land which is worth R62,2 million. I was told that part of the
claimed land is currently used for tea plantation and I am glad to hear that
you the claimants have made an undertaking to maintain and grow this project.
It gives me great pleasure to note that the other land that does not fall
within the tea plantation will be used for agricultural purposes as well as
other developmental initiatives.
We are giving this land to the registered Communal Property Association
(CPA), who must remain accountable to the claimant community. It has been a
'long walk to freedom' to you as you have gone through all the pains of forced
removal where your land was taken away from you. It is for these and similar
experiences that the African National Congress (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!'
A Project Steering Committee made up of the provincial Department of
Agriculture, the OR Tambo District Council, Qawukeni Local Municipality, Ntinga
Development Agency and the provincial Department of Land Affairs shall go a
long way in ensuring sustainable development for the people of the Magwa
community.
I have invited SAFM from Limpopo and Mpumalanga to attend this Magwa event
with the view that they share their experiences in turning around commercial
agricultural projects which are owned by claimant communities. They have
visited Magwa and Majola Tea Estates and they are keen to share their
observations with your leaders. They have done a sterling job to revitalise
Mmamahlola project in Tzaneen, the Zebediela Citrus project and the Giba Banana
project. We can learn a lot from them. It is critical to have key strategic
partners in a project as big as this one.
As I said during my preliminary visit I want to see this project make a
significant contribution to the Provincial Growth Development Strategy (PGDS),
to Local Economic Development (LED), to the achievement of the municipal
Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). It must contribute to eco-tourism
development for AmaMpondo. I can't wait for the optimal use of our big rivers
for the stimulation of agricultural development in this area, the development
of the Mzimvubu Basin and the N2 road. I know Rome was not built in one day but
the spirit of Gijima must infect all of us, so that we can see the better life
for all.
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 value 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 want to see meaningful participation of women in agriculture. We have just
launched a mass movement of rural women called, Women in Agriculture and Rural
Development (WARD). 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
the Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme (CASP), Micro Agricultural
Finance Institutions of South Africa (MAFISA), Land Bank products and other
capacity building programmes. I want the WARD activists to interact with you so
that all can see that women have a lot to contribute towards improving
agriculture. 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 Land Affairs
18 November 2006
Source: Department of Land Affairs, (http://www.land.pwv.gov.za)
