The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform on Thursday, 7 July 2011 held an inaugural meeting with the National Reference Group (NRG), to discuss policy issues in relation to the land reform sector.
The Minister Mr Gugile Nkwinti set the tone of the meeting when he told the audience that the department cannot deal with the challenges of land reform alone; it needs the buy-in of all the beneficiaries and stakeholders. The idea behind this is to have an inclusive approach in terms of finding the problems and the solutions. He noted that the go-it-alone approach has failed the previous administrations and that mistake cannot be repeated. “Help us understand better the services we are rendering as a department, the weaknesses and quality of these services,” said Minister Nkwinti. The NRG is part of the consultative process the department has embarked on in making sure that the stakeholders are given a fair chance to make inputs. The NRG and minister will meet every three months.
The NRG is an entity that represents beneficiaries from the various programmes of the department which include, among others, farm equity schemes and restitution. The representatives were appointed in the provincial workshops and each province has to have two representatives in the NRG.
Some of the issues which were noted by NRG provincial representatives in the discussions were the need for change in the willing-seller-willing-buyer approach, the concern about the re-opening of land claims since the minister promised to present the proposal to cabinet, the challenges with mentors and strategic partners, the disrupting of farming activities by claimants before their claims are settled and the overlap of the Departments of Rural Development and Land Reform and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The department had also invited experts on land reform for their contribution in the land debate which is currently in the news and also to help the department to deal with some of the challenges it is facing in dealing with restitution. Political analysts Dr Somadoda Fikeni, Samuel Kariuki, senior lecturer at Wits and Nothemba Mlonzi who represented a law firm, helped to unpack the challenges to help the beneficiaries understand the predicament the department is in and of course to help to add flesh to policy development. Moreover their analysis would help in terms of finding solutions to deal the land reform issues. Dr Fikeni said: “there should be a mass conscientisation of people about the importance of the use of land.” In fact the issue of the agricultural colleges was also noted and there was a consensus to revive these colleges.
